New Hampshire Weekend, Exploring the Western White Mountains

With non-skiing, mid-westerners coming for the weekend and looking for a traditional New England experience, we decided that exploring the Western White Mountains of New Hampshire would give us plenty to do. Less populated than the retail outlet mecca on the eastern side, the Western White Mountains promised to be the welcome change that we needed and the opportunity to show off our North Country in Northern New England.

Though most of those grand hotels are gone, the deep tradition of hospitality "North of the Notch " remains today and the area has retained its small town feeling. Robert Frost , Franconia's famous poet, wrote "it's.... restful just to think about New Hampshire ... as the air is always fresh and the night stars amazingly bright!" Frost came to the White Mountains seeking relief from his hay fever and his homestead here, now The Frost Place, a nonprofit educational center for poetry and the arts owned by the town of Franconia , is where some of the poet's most enduring poems were written. A "poet-in-residence" is sponsored by the Center every year, the property features a hiking path through the woods connected by plaques bearing Frost's poetry and his former home is open in the summer months for visitors.

Located in Franconia Notch, The New England Ski Museum is right next door to the Cannon Mountain Arial Tramway , the museum is a treasure trove of artifacts outlining the history of skiing. Current displays include skis, arranged in a timeline from the earliest Alpine models, and a visual history of the 10th Mountain Division , a trained unit of American ski and mountain soldiers who fought in World War II, who, upon their return to the US, were instrumental in expanding the ski industry. We found all of the old photographs (of ski areas, mountain peaks and skiers) and copies of the old print ads pretty interesting. There is a complete history of Bode Miller's rise to Olympic stardom, from his start in the local Junior Olympics to his international fame. And the five Olympic medals earned by this native of Franconia are all on display in the museum. It was pretty cool to actually see an Olympic medal up close!

Located on Rt. 117, right in the "village" of Sugar Hill, Harman's Cheese & Country Store, is a classic "country store" with its folksy front porch, "really" aged cheddar cheese and a little bit of everything "north country". We loved it! Upon entering, we were greeted with a "hello" and a small sample table holding a variety of cheeses, spreads, jams, and crackers, all delicious. The store is filled with fun and unusual items and we spent a long time looking around, finally deciding that we NEEDED cheese... lots of it, and a few of those spreads... well, maybe a few of the jams, too! And those little crackers that were perfect with the samples? Yeah, a few packages of those, too! Harman's sells more than 11 tons of their cheddar cheese every year and we could see why.

Even in the month of March, just before anything has come into bloom and piles of gray snow tend to linger, the town of Sugar Hill with its rolling hills and iconic white churches, is a pretty place. With a population of less than 600, it was the home of the first US Ski School (opened in 1929) and was named after the sugar maple farms that still dot the hillsides. The panoramic views over both the White and Green Mountains and the grand old hotels made Sugar Hill the fashionable summer resort during the Victorian age and though most of the old hotels are long gone the Sunset Hill House and Golf Course (the oldest golf course in New Hampshire) still cradle the top of Sugar Hill's Sunset Hill enjoying spectacular views. We were told that when this unparalleled scenic location was threatened by developers a few years ago, the townspeople came together and raised the funds to purchase the development rights, forever preserving the views. A community effort that the Old Man would have been proud of!

While peeking into the windows of the Sugar Hill Historical Museum (open mid-June to mid-October and for special events) and the smallest Post Office I've ever seen, we saw fliers for the annual Fields Of Lupine Festival. The Festival, held in the spring every year, celebrates the area coming alive with fields of the purple, pink, blue, and white wildflowers that attract equally beautiful butterflies to create a dazzling display of color. Local businesses and restaurants offer special events, there are open-air markets and the local Country Inns welcome visitors to tour their lupine fields, enjoying music, wine and cheese or high tea. A very civilized and fitting celebration, all with the majestic Franconia, Presidential, and Kinsmans Mountain ranges as a backdrop, and a booklet, needed for admission and with the calendar of events and discount coupons, is a only five dollars!

Traveling along Route 117, we came to "Polly's Pancake Parlor", a fixture in Sugar Hill for over 100 years. During the depression of the thirties Polly and Wilfred (Sugar Bill) Dexter converted their carriage shed into a small tea room to generate business for their maple sugar products. They offered pancakes, waffles and French toast - "All you can eat for 50¢." and though enlarged, the menu has changed very little since then. Closed for the winter, as the building is not winterized, we were lucky enough to be there for one of their first weekends of the season. The breakfast was wonderful and with lots of choices (buckwheat, cornmeal, oatmeal buttermilk and whole wheat) for our pancakes and waffles and a variety of add-ins (like blueberries, walnuts, coconut, or chocolate chips) it took us a long time to decide on our order. Luckily, you can have a variety.... "three with whole wheat and blueberries, three with buttermilk and coconut, etc.... " with the addition of the pure maple granulated sugar, maple syrup, and maple spread, (all made right there at the Hildex Farm) and the locally smoked bacon or ham and we were in breakfast heaven! They have other stuff, too... all freshly made, but we were at Polly's PANCAKE Parlor!

Even though tables are close together (some are shared) and the resturant was full, it felt like we were having breakfast in our favorite great aunt's kitchen. The food was delicious, the service friendly, the old music sheets, advertisements, tools, and family portraits displayed around the long dining room interesting and the views out over the Presidential range was spectacular!

Discover the sweet life! Having read about Chutter'sand their Guiness Book of World Records title as the "Home of the Longest Candy Counter" I was prepared for a lot of candy but not quite prepared for what we encountered upon entering the shop. The candy counter seemed to be never-ending! The kids could barely stop jumping up and down long enough to put on the plastic gloves (in plentiful supply) so that they could fill up their bags. The multi-level candy counter runs the entire length of the store (112 feet to be exact) and has EVERYTHING you could ever want... gummies and gumballs, jelly beans and chocolate, sours and licorice, and all of the penny candy from when I was a kid like Squirrel Nuts and Mary Janes.There is another section with just "chocolate covered" everything... nuts and berries and all kinds of stuff. And the fudge with so many varieties, all made on the premises, and (at least the ones that I tasted at the "sample" counter) all fresh and tasty! The store also has a wide variety of packaged gourmet foods and "gifty" items with a woodsey-North Country theme and a really nice group of people working there. You would think that the daily traffic of candy-crazed kids would get to them but they all seemed very nice and were really helpful. Even answering a million questions about the resident fish, observing his world from a fish bowl atop one of the counters.

If you go...

Travelling along Route 302 through the picturesque town of Bethlehem we visited The Rock's Estate. Owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests , the 1,400-acre estate is located in the shadow of the Presidential Range and, as the North Country Conservation & Education Center for the Society offers both structured and self-guided tours and programs. With sweeping views of the White Mountains, the farm was once the summer home of John Jacob Glessner , a Chicago businessman and co-founder of International Harvester, and his family who would travel each summer by train, servants in tow, seeking the clean mountain air to sooth their son's hay fever. Although the main house is no longer there much of the original farm remains, including a formal garden designed by Frederick Law Olmsted , and many of the original buildings have been restored and are currently in use. Donated in 1978 by the Glessner grandchildren, with the stipulation that the property "must continue as a self-sustaining farm and must always have a crop in the field", the farm is known nationally for the Christmas trees that it has grown for the last 30 years. There is a trail system throughout the farm, open daily for hikers, and the farm offers seasonal events such as nature walks, "night-sky" explorations, Holiday craft fairs with horse-drawn carriage rides and dog-sledding, and open-to-the-public talks about a wide variety of subjects (Trees of New Hampshire and A Photographic Journey were two on the events calendar while we were there). But we arrived in March and in northern New England that means maple syrup , so we were looking forward to participating in The New Hampshire Maple Experience at Rock's.

Maple sugaring has a long history in New Hampshire and during The New Hampshire Maple Experience at The Rock's Estate we were told that you can tell if the sap is running by the smoke coming from the "sugar houses" tucked away into the woods. Sap begins to run from sugar maple trees when the the nights are still cold but the days are warming up and it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup! We were given an overview of the sugaring process, complete with a quiz on identifying maple sugar trees by their leaves and by the spacing of the branches and a visit to the Rock's sugar house.The sugar house was busy boiling water out of the sap and so filled with steam that you could barely see. After a tutorial on the process we were brought out to "tap" a tree. On a horse-drawn carriage, a wonderful touch as the day and the surroundings were just beautiful, we were delivered to a grove of maple trees, unloaded and given "tapping tools"... a hand drill, spout, and bucket... and WE TAPPED TREES! It was great to taste the clear liquid as it dripped from the tree, out of the hole we drilled and attached a spout to. Back at the barn we were treated to the finished product, served with plain donuts and sour pickles, a strange combination but very traditional and really good! Throughout the rest of our travels we found ourselves "spotting" the maple sugar lines that connect the trees, allowing the sap to collect in large, covered buckets or containers so that they can be collected by the sugar maker and transported to the "sugar shack". This has to be done daily as the sap will spoil if not boiled down within a few hours of it leaving the tree.

The Rock's Estate was a great find, we were really pleased to see all of the conservation issues addressed by the Society and we eagerly joined. Our walk to Artist's Bluff and around Echo Lake, both within Franconia Notch State Park, reminded us of how precious these surroundings are and we were grateful for the preservationists who came before us and for the fresh, clean air of the mountains. The 800,000-acre White Mountain National Forest, a powerful presence here, ensures that this area will remain primarily undeveloped and that the small towns surrounding it will retain their simple charm. Our stroll down America's Main Street and visit to a real country store brought us back to a simpler time and our nostalgia for the past lasted long after our penny candy ran out. The white church steeples against the mountain peaks, covered bridges, rolling farm land, stone walls, winding rivers, country stores, and quirky shops were what we came to the Western White Mountains for and as we headed home along the scenic by-ways we enjoyed views that probably have not changed much since the Old Man in the Mountain was first discovered. In this picturesque and welcoming setting we certainly enjoyed the "traditional" experience that we had hoped to find!