2010 Olympic Gold Medalist and 2009 Overall World Cup Champion freestyle skier Hannah Kearney will be at Mount Sunapee Resort on Saturday, February 12 courtesy of Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Hannah and staff from Dartmouth-Hitchcock will be in the Spruce Lodge lobby from 11:30am until 3:00pm interacting with guests at the resort. Hannah will have her Olympic Gold Medal with her and guests can get autographs and photos with Hannah. She will also be presenting the awards for the Tecnica Cup that will be held at Mount Sunapee on Saturday for Senior, JI and JII alpine racers.
When: Saturday, February 26th from 8:30 a.m-11:30 a.m. Where: Tucker Mountain Maple Co-op 224 Tucker Mountain Rd. Andover, NH This event is being co-sponsored by the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association and the UNH Cooperative Extension. There is a $10 fee for members of NHTOA/NHTHC and $15, for non-members. This is a perfect course for hobby or backyard maple producers who might be thinking about expanding or upgrading their operations. This is a hands-on workshop covering such subjects as: sugarhouse design and safety, “professional” evaporator designs and sizing, tubing fundamentals, filtering and canning options, etc. Dress accordingly, as the class will be in the sugarhouse and outside in the woods. With a little luck, there might even be some sap to boil! To sign up, call: 603-224-9699 Class size is limited to 20, so call early!
I associate a treasury of colorful Sutton tales with a theatrical legacy dating back to Vaudeville performers. Many performers did live in and around South Sutton in the early part of the 1900s. Although most of the stories of their early acts are now forgotten, at least one tale lives on.
There is a snake charmer buried in an unmarked grave with a hollow iron pipe connected to his casket so his snakes could come and see him after his death. This otherwise unmarked grave is said to be near some vague landmarks in a patch of woods along a back dirt road; it’s an area I’ve come to know very well over the past 25 years.
As teenagers, we would invariably invoke the story of the snake charmer’s grave when walking along that dark road on moonless nights. That story was more than enough to quicken my pace, although I was sure it was just a myth, re-told by local kids to scare wide-eyed citified visitors like me.
Turns out, the story is true.
The snake charmer was Winfield Scott Littlehale, third generation of the Littlehale family to inhabit a now-vanished farm located at the foot of the steep granite knob where I live.
Littlehale was an eccentric, a farmer and a seasonal exhibitor of native wild animals, some of whom he had trained to perform simple tricks. He kept and displayed exotics: a prairie dog, an alligator, a parrot, and a monkey as well as some oddities in his traveling show including albinos and a “fox-dog” named Judy.
A 1956 memoir written by the late Chet Wright of Sutton, Sketches Here And There, recounts details of “Littlehale's Museum,” as it was known before the turn of the 20th century. As a boy of 10 or 12, Wright worked for Littlehale and eventually made a name for himself as a Vaudeville-era ventriloquist.
I remember Wright as an aged, nearly deaf proprietor of a general store overlooking Blaisdell Lake. His reminiscences are perhaps the only stories ever recorded about Littlehale’s menagerie.
According to Wright, Littlehale took his “Museum” on the country fair circuit in the fall and in the winter he rented a vacant store in a city and exhibited there for two or three weeks before moving on to another city.
“His show consisted of small animals such as mice, doves, guinea pigs, porcupines, rabbits, foxes, coons, woodchucks, crows, snakes, bobcats, turtles, monkeys, and a big alligator. He also had some very odd freaks such as a white crow, a white porcupine, white woodchuck, and a white squirrel. He had some small cages about three feet long with doors on each end, and by taking off these doors and putting the cages end to end, he made one long cage which he called ‘Littlehale’s Happy Family‚’…
Littlehale was quite a large man. He had a white horse and a buckboard, and when he got into the buckboard it nearly dragged on the ground… One of his attractions was a parrot whose talk was not exactly the Sunday-school type. He used to have a little perch on the side of his ticket box for the parrot to sit on, and when anyone came along and walked by instead of buying a ticket, the parrot would say ‘Cheap cus’.”
Littlehale died in March 1904. The circumstances of his burial are nearly as strange as his career. He was interred in the ox pasture behind his farm, somewhat diagonally due to difficulties in digging his grave. According to the obituary published in The Boston Globe:
“His burial in the pasture back of his home was in accordance with his expressed wish. He had selected the spot on the hillside, close beside two great boulders, and had buried some of his most cherished animal pets there, including the fox dog, which he had prized so highly. He asked that he might sleep with them in a casket of plain oak plank and his directions were faithfully carried out.”
The second description of Littlehale’s grave at the end of Chet Wright’s Chapter titled “My First Job in Show Business” contained an important missing clue to the location of the grave.
“Littlehale left full instructions for his burial. There was to be ‘no flowers, no singing‚’ and the coffin was to be made of two-inch oak plank… the town carpenters made the coffin according to instructions and the village blacksmith made the iron handles… Littlehale wished to be buried on the hill back of the house, between two rocks, under a big pine tree. A pipe was to be put into the ground so the snakes could come and see him. The details were carried out as he wished. Thus ends the story of one of Sutton’s best known showmen.”
The snake charmer story was re-told by successive generations but was nearly forgotten by the time that I first heard it. New residents of town don’t seem much interested in old local folklore. I hadn’t suspected there was any truth to the tale at all until I met Dr. Chan Blodgett, Littlehale’s great grandson.
Blodgett shared family photos of Littlehale’s cape house that burned in 1909. He also shared old postcards of a Victorian style inn subsequently built on the Littlehale house site by the Blodgetts. More importantly, Blodgett shared my desire to find the actual location of his great-grandfather Littlehale’s grave. We compared the two, slightly different descriptions of the gravesite. Fitting the pieces together, Blodgett and I soon found ourselves in the woods with a metal detector.
We spent a late autumn afternoon using the metal detector to search for the hollow iron pipe or any indication of buried metal - barbed wire, an old horseshoe, tin cans, shotgun shells, iron coffin handles - whatever. At the last possible site located between two great granite boulders and under a huge and ancient pasture pine, the metal detector beeped and flashed as we traced a rectangular pattern resembling the outline of a buried coffin. Late afternoon was rapidly fading to dusk.
“Maybe you ought to poke around here some more?” Blodgett suggested. “See if you can find something more convincing? Maybe you’ll find the iron pipe?”
“No thanks” I said. With the hair was bristling on the back of my neck as it grew ever darker, I was convinced we’d found the grave. Instead of digging around in the woods further, I contacted the absentee landowner to see what he knew, if anything, about the grave.
He purchased the tract of forestland 20 years earlier from Realtors who had no definitive knowledge of an unmarked grave - at least no knowledge they felt the need to disclose to potential buyers. Perhaps in the absence of a grave marker, the true story was in the process of becoming a local myth? An old iron pipe stuck in the ground is a feature that could easily disappear in a century. Obviously, stranger things had already happened.
Then the landowner produced an old survey map from his files with a handwritten notation: “Supposed location of the grave of W.S. Littlehale.” Case closed.
That night, I had a vivid dream of a white porcupine. Then about a week later, I actually saw one!
A pure white, albino porcupine with little pink eyes and pink palms perched in a roadside tree not far from Littlehale’s grave! The whole affair was getting creepy. Poke around that grave some more? I don’t think so! I don’t need the wrath of any ghost of a former inhabitant of the place where I now live.
Besides, I’d become fond of old Littlehale.
According to Chet Wright, “Littlehale had a great by-word ‘Yes I swear damn my soul!’” On occasion, I say that incantation aloud while working around our farm. The effect is immediate and electric.
It feels to me like Littlehale is ever just around the curve in the road, his buckboard wagon springs sagging under his weight. In pre-dawn gloom, Littlehale manifests in the creaking sound of the old-fashioned hand pump on our well, or the whinny of our horse, or the chatter of a squirrel.
A former neighbor named Don Lowe, once told me how the show people originally came to populate South Sutton. He said sometime before 1900, a rickety, horse-drawn wagon from an asylum for drunken performers broke an axle on a steep curve, spilling its passengers along the road. The liberated performance artists who literally just fell off the wagon performed a collective escape act, eluding authorities that made only a cursory search of the rugged countryside. In time, the harmless eccentrics founded a colony of Vaudevillians in the sleepy hollow of South Sutton.
And to that, Lowe raised his glass and winked.
Lowe knew that a good local story should end with a wink. The very act of telling a tale well gives it the quality of legend – even when it’s true. Perhaps the finest crop ever raised in the hill-farms and villages of once-rural New Hampshire is a handsome crop of local folklore; the stories that lie yet unharvested, their edges just touching like two great boulders deep in the woods of an old abandoned hillside ox pasture.
This tale was written by Dave Anderson for the Concord Monitor, date unknown. Dave is director of education for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. He can be reached via e-mail at danderson@spnhf.org or through the Forest Society web-site: http://www.spnhf.org
In 1952, some attendees at New London's Old Home Day conceived the idea of founding an Historical Society to mark the upcoming 175th anniversary of the town's incorporation. A committee was selected to begin the undertaking. On July 31, 1954, the day of New London's celebration of its 175th anniversary, an organizational meeting of the New London Historical Society was held at the Town Hall. "The purpose of this new organization was to develop interest in the history of the area, to collect and preserve memorabilia and historically significant objects, and to educate and inform a growing population of the importance of our past to present day life." For a number of years, since they had no site of their own, the members of the Society met at a variety of locations in town. However, in 1963, Walter Bucklin donated some farmland on Little Lake Suanpee Road where the Society began to assemble its collection of original and reproduction buildings (a total of 16) which host exhibits that depict aspects of 19th century life in the New London area. The Historical Society offers a series of programs year-round, including a Holiday Open House, dessert socials with speakers on a variety of subjects, school visits, and many other special events and exhibits, all of which are open to the public. Visit their web site at A window to the past: New London Historical Society.
This very short list of local farms was obtained from a really wonderful web site where you can find out about much more than just apple-picking! Pick Your Own! Visit the site for tons more information!
Apple Hill Farm - Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, black currants, apples & flowers 580 Mountain Road, Concord, NH 03301. Phone: 603-224-8862 Email: applehill@fcgnetworks.net. Open: June-November, varies with picking season. Special Events: Call or email for calendar
Appleview Orchard - apples, pumpkins, raspberries (red), strawberries, other vegetables, already-picked produce (of the pyo crop), gift shop, snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, Bouncy castle or moon bounce, petting zoo, farm animals, birthday parties, school tours, 1266 Upper City Road, Pittsfield, NH 03263. Phone: 603-435-3553 Email: apples@applevieworchard.com. Open: Daily from 10 am to 6 pm for picking Late August through Late November; Late May to Late November Ice Cream and Gift Shop open Daily! Click here for current open hours, days and dates. Directions: Appleview Orchard is located just over a mile off New Hampshire Route 28, situated atop beautiful Jenness Hill. We are only about 20 minutes from downtown Concord; yet we are a world away from it all!. Click here for a map and directions. New in 2010 Haunted Halloween!. Payment: Cash, Check, Debit cards, Visa/MasterCard.
Carter Hill Orchard - apples, blueberries, pumpkins, raspberries, Cider mill (fresh apple cider made on the premises), prepicked produce, gift shop, snacks and refreshment stand, restrooms, picnic area, school tours, 73 Carter Hill Road, Concord, NH 03303. Phone: (603) 225-2625 Email: carterhillorchard@comcast.net. Directions: From I-93 take Exit 15W, go to the end of the exit and take a right (this is North State Street). At the second set of lights (between the Sovereign Bank and Irving Gas Station) take a left onto Penacook Street. Follow road straight fro approximately 4 1/2 miles. Stay to the left of the V in the road. A half mile later, you'll see Carter Hill Orchard on the left. Click here for a map and directions. Picking updates: Click here for picking updates. Crops are usually available in August, September, October, November. Open: seven days a week; 9 am to 6 pm in September and October, and 9 am to 5 pm from November 1 to December 22; We close for the season at noon on December 23. Click here for current open hours, days and dates.
Gould Hill Orchards - apples, pumpkins, 656 Gould Hill Road, Hopkinton, NH 03229. Phone: 603-746-3811 Email: info@gouldhillfarm.com. Open: Apples from Labor Day to late October - daily 10am to 5pm. Click here for current open hours, days and dates. Directions: Click here for a map and directions. Payment: Cash, Check, Debit cards, Visa/MasterCard, Discover. (UPDATED: March 26, 2010)
New London’s town library has come a long way from its opening in 1897 and in 1900, when it was housed in a single room at the Grange Hall and was supported by a $100 grant from the State of New Hampshire. At that time, there were 312 library cards in use and a circulation of 2,677 volumes. It was in 1900, that local resident Mrs. James Tracy began her long interest in the library by donating subscriptions to a dozen of the leading American magazines.
Mrs. Tracy had earlier purchased the old Morgan Homestead at the corner of South Pleasant and Main Street. This building was used as the Hospital until 1923, when the Hospital moved to its new quarters. Mrs. Tracy then undertook extensive renovations to the old building and transformed it into one of the finest small-town libraries in the country. At the Town Meeting of 1926, the deed to the property passed to the Town, accompanied by a generous gift in trust of $125,000 for the maintenance of the building and library facilities. In its new beautifully renovated quarters and landscaped grounds, the Library became a community center for many kinds of activities.
Since then Tracy Memorial Library has undergone additional refurbishings and renovations, including the “new” Community Gardens at the rear of the building, meant to replicate many of the original gardens. Today, the Library contains 34,400 volumes, circulates 92,066 items per year, and serves a population of 4,438 residents. It is home to many enlightening and fun programs and events; offers a web catalogue; has a wonderful children’s area with special offerings for children of all ages; provides access to innumerable sources of information and continues as an essential part of the New London and area communities.
Visit their website at: Tracy Memorial Library
