Diving in to Celebrate 70 Years on Winnipesaukee

Diving in to Celebrate 70 Years on Winnipesaukee 

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

When Alexis Wallace asked herself the question, “How does an arthritic, asthmatic, cancer survivor celebrate 70 years on Lake Winnipesaukee?” she already had the answer. 

Alexis Wallace waves and smiles before her Lake Winnipesaukee swim to raise awareness and funds for the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. Courtesy photo

By jumping in the lake and swimming.

With a self-deprecating sense of humor, Alexis has found the lighter moments amid cancer (she is now cancer-free), and the aches and pains felt as the years move on. But there is one thing she is serious about: Working to protect the water quality of Lake Winnipesaukee, a place she loves dearly. 

Thus, last summer, she decided to challenge herself to do a swim of two miles near her Wolfeboro home to raise awareness and donations for the Lake Winnipesaukee Association.

Alexis is aware of the problems Winnipesaukee may face in the future, from too much traffic to cyanobacteria to a score of other issues. She speaks with warmth for and admiration of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association (LWA) and their tireless work to ensure the lake is in good condition. 

Why is this so important to Alexis? She explains, “My parents summered on the lake in the 1940s and bought our place in Wolfeboro in 1953. I am from suburban Boston, Massachusetts, but we came up here in the summer and made great memories at our cottage in Wolfeboro.”

The cottage wasn’t large, but it fit the description of a typical 1940s to 1960s “summer camp” on the lake. Knotty pine paneled walls, a few bedrooms, and the lake nearby. The parents relaxed, hosted barbecues and the kids frolicked in Winnipesaukee and played outside every day. These were simple, innocent pleasures that built a lifetime of fond memories for Alexis. 

As an adult, Alexis was a New Hampshire public school counselor and had a private practice as a counselor. With this schedule, she continued to summer in Wolfeboro, and now retired, she and her family spend six months of the year at their beloved family cottage on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. 

From the first, Alexis was in the water, and the lake was a huge playground for her and her siblings. Being comfortable in the water started young, and she recalls, “My Dad taught me to water ski when I was five years old. It took about 24 tries, but I was finally waterskiing!”

Life on the lake gave a lot of freedom to Alexis, and she loved to swim. “I remember swimming across Winter Harbor to our neighbors’ cottage.

Perhaps that childhood swim set the stage for Alexis, as a retired adult, to challenge herself to another swim, this time to mark 70 years on Winnipesaukee.

The first fundraising swim for the LWA took place in August of 2020 was two miles from Keewaydin Point to Carry Beach. Alexis admits it was a rather quiet happening. She did not create huge fanfare but trained ahead of time and coordinated her swim with family and a few friends.

Alexis learned a lot from that first swim last year and used what she ascertained for her second swim, this year on Tuesday, August 24. She slipped into the water at 5:50 am from a boat with her boat escort encouraging her to complete the swim.

The August 2021 swim was in a different location. “I settled on Rattlesnake Island area for this year’s swim,” she explains. “I swam easterly towards Wolfeboro in the early morning. It was 2 ½ miles and it took me about 1 ½ hours; I was done with the swim by 7:20 am,” she says.

She identified ahead of time a point to start her swim near Rattlesnake Island and stresses she always stayed close to shore during the swim. It was remarkably quiet and peaceful on the lake at that early morning hour, and she assumed few people saw her but learned later, via the Everything Lake Winnipesaukee Facebook page that indeed someone had seen her swim.

Coordinating her swim meant getting a permit before the swim. Alexis got a permit from the NH Marine Patrol, who she credits with being incredibly supportive and helpful. 

Training for the swim with a coach from April into the summer, Alexis found that pacing herself would be important. Her coach, Maury McKinney, at Agiochoook Aquatics in Intervale, was helpful as Alexis trained and prepared for her August swim. 

Such a swim might seem daunting, but Alexis had a method of “crawl, backstroke, float” which worked well so she did not overtire. “I found,” she laughed, “that I wasn’t tired and could’ve kept going longer!” Being in the water is something Alexis is used to, and she swims almost every day. “If it’s cold, I wear a wet suit; I swim about ¾ of a mile daily. And I swim along the shore for safety in case I get tired,” she explains.

Certainly, this year’s swim was a bit more of a challenge than her first swim because she swam longer and in a new location vs. near her Wolfeboro cottage. But it was a success, and she plans to do another swim in 2022. 

At present, Alexis is scouting for a location for her summer of 2022 swim. She hopes to do a swim each summer from a different Lake Winnipesaukee town, and she says if anyone has a suggestion of a spot or town, she would love to hear from them. (See contact information at the end of this story.)

Although Alexis was “in utero” 70 years ago, it still counts for a 70-year celebration of her time spent on the lake. It was the start of her Lake Winnipesaukee residency, and she has always had a love of the lake. 

Perhaps that is why she wants to help raise awareness for lake quality issues and the important work of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. 

Alexis adds, “When I was a child, I could look out across the water near our cottage and see a big rock in the water. But not now. Why is that? Because the water is cloudy and not as clear.”

It is a sobering statement, but it underscores the fact that the lake water has changed. It is the good work of the Lake Winnipesaukee Association that gives Alexis’s hope for the future of Winnipesaukee and other area bodies of water.

After her swim, Alexis climbed back in the boat and the group headed home. After getting warm and into dry clothes, she contacted the LWA to let them know she had completed her second swim, giving them her finish time. She adds, “The weather conditions were ideal, which is what I want for a swim. There was no wind, and it was very calm, and it did not rain. We watched the weather and picked a week that would be good.”

Alexis explains that her 2022 swim will probably be in August, and she is hoping to do the swim in a more densely populated area to raise greater awareness for the LWA. Perhaps a swim in the Moultonboro area or in Paugus Bay. “I would like to complete a three-mile swim challenge in 2022.”

The first year Alexis did the swim, she admits she was somewhat apprehensive, as one would be when doing something different. This year, she recalls, she was more excited and less apprehensive when she jumped in the water. 

On the LWA Go Fund Me page for her swim (Making Waves for Winni), Alexis is quoted as saying, ““I am at an age where I care deeply about future generations. This is our family's 74th year on the lake. Currently, the fifth generation of our family is enjoying Lake Winnipesaukee, and we want to make sure that the lake quality stays pristine for our children and grandchildren.” 

Alexis certainly brought awareness of lake issues and the LWA to her friends, family, and others and will continue to do so each summer with another swim. 

So how does a woman with some health issues celebrate 70 years on Lake Winnipesaukee when she cares deeply about the lake and the environment? 

For Alexis, it is easy: she just dives right in.

For information about the Lake Winnipesaukee Association, visit www.winnipesaukee.org. If you would like to suggest a location for Alexis’ 2022 swim, you can communicate with her via The Laker at pressreleases@thelaker.com and your message will be passed along to Alexis.

(Alexis would like to mention and thank those who participated in her swim: NH Marine Patrol; all who donated to LWA; captain of the escort boat during the swim: Barbara Weiss; observer on the escort boat: Jeff Wallace; Nick at Dive Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro for equipment and support; Maury McKinney, swim coach at Agiochoook Aquatics in Intervale and Bayside Nails for a blue nail polish pedicure for Alexis as a reminder to “Keep Winni Blue.”)

The direct link for the Go Fund Me page should you wish to learn more or make a donation, is https://www.gofundme.com/f/make-waves-for-winni?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet+spider2v&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer.

Food Truck Fun with Pours & Petals

Food Truck Fun with Pours & Petals

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

You might’ve seen the cute green and white vintage style food truck around the Lakes Region this summer. If you stopped to check it out on a hot summer’s day, you likely couldn’t resist ordering a refreshing drink made by the owner of the truck, Erin Doonan.

That eye-catching truck is called Pours & Petals and it is unique, offering hot and cold beverages, cider donuts, cookies and other treats…and also fresh garden flowers from Winnipesaukee Woods Farm. (Thus the name Pours & Petals.)

Lemonade from Pours & Petals.

“I opened the business on Memorial Day weekend of this year,” Erin says as she sets up on a recent summer morning in Meredith by Hermit Woods Winery & Deli (on Main Street). “It has gone very well this season, and I set up at various locations each week.”

Erin’s food truck has gained a following at the locations where she can be found each week. Should a customer want morning Wayfarer coffee, she has iced or hot coffee, and also Cider Bellies Doughnuts, which are very popular. There are also chocolate chip cookies and other snacks, including fresh berry parfait bowls, and summer salad.

Those who order coffee can choose hot or nitro cold brew iced coffee. And then there is the lemonade, handcrafted and popular on a hot summer’s day. You can choose plain lemonade, or add on natural flavors, such as blueberry lavender, cherry, strawberry, raspberry lime, blackberry mint, mixed berry, honey rose, strawberry basil, pomegranate, orange, green tea or black tea lemonade. Other iced drinks include iced chai, sweet or unsweetened tea, or green tea among others.

Why so many iced drinks, one might ask? Erin smiles as she explains, “I like iced beverages and I wanted to offer a menu that had things I have come to love. I drink iced coffee and I have made my own lemonade since I was a teenager.” (As a teen, Erin worked in the food service industry at an ice cream stand.)

Pours & Petals started when Erin and her boyfriend took on the ambitious project of renovating a 14-foot long 1960 Coleman Woodman camper. She found the camper online and once purchased, Erin decided to gut the vehicle. 

Pours & Petals food truck in Meredith by Hermit Woods Winery.

“I chose this particular camper because it is the perfect length,” she says. “And it is light weight at about 1,400 pounds.” Erin did not want a vehicle that would be too bulky to drive and she can manage the food truck, although it was a learning curve.

It had been used by the previous owner as a camper, and Erin found it when browsing on Craigslist. “We stripped it to the bare bones and replaced everything,” she explained. 

In order for the truck to be a fully-functional kitchen, it was necessary for Erin to do a lot of research for food requirements and codes. She learned that the process of creating her own food truck would not be a straight-forward effort. 

“It took eight months to renovate it and it sat in our driveway during the renovation,” she recalls. Not surprisingly, there was some water damage to the camper due to its age, and Erin was very thorough in gutting it and putting plywood on the interior walls and then adding a light tin back splash which makes the interior very bright and cheerful. They also did rewiring and added new custom Pella windows. (Some of the original 1960 windows remain as well.) The food truck has commercial refrigeration and four-tap kegerator for drinks.

The result, when finished, is an eye-catching and charming food truck with the Pours & Petals logo on the exterior. The truck is cream and green colored; the green sticker wrap was added by a graphics company. At one end of the truck, there are flower holders so Erin can offer bouquets of fresh flowers from Winnipesaukee Woods Farm. 

Once renovated, it was time to take the food truck, with its tasty menu and bouquets of fresh flowers, on the road. Erin says she has received nothing but great and enthusiastic comments from the public. Indeed, how can anyone resist stopping at the truck and smiling when seeing the menu, the flowers and the cheerful exterior of Pours & Petals?

Erin says the positive reception from customers pushes her to keep moving forward, because operating the food truck is a 24/7 business. “I just love the good reaction I have had!” she adds.

Originally from Massachusetts, Erin and her family spent many summers in the Lakes Region, and her love of the area is why she settled here permanently. After high school, she moved to the Lakes Region full-time and she has been here for six years now.

“I have a passion for event management,” she explains. “I always knew I wanted to do something with food and events.” It seems unlikely she dreamed of owning and operating a busy food truck, but the unique and fun business fits the bill for Erin and has offered something wonderful for the area.

Now that Pours & Petals is off and running, Erin is moving forward with private events and weddings. She says she can customize the truck for each customer’s needs, such as offering lemonade and a dessert service for an evening event, and for a morning gathering, coffee and pastries. 

Erin Doonan with her 1960 vintage food truck, Pours & Petals.

She also offers personalized catering with access to a full kitchen service and has taken on food requests for private events. The ability to sell flowers will add something extra to an event. Customers can hire the food truck for bachelorette parties, weddings, rehearsal dinners and business opening events, as well as neighborhood parties. One can only imagine how fun and popular the food truck will be at a wedding or party.

As we head into the autumn, Erin will be altering the menu to offer hot cider and hot chocolate, among other warming goodies for chillier weather. She also hopes to be at winter festivals and holiday events, and is currently looking at winterizing the food truck. 

Pours & Petals can be found at Hermit Woods Winery in Meredith, Gilford Country Store on Lake Shore Road in Gilford and other locations weekly, with her schedule posted on her social media and at www.poursandpetalsevents.com.

Her future goals for next year will be to continue to attend local farmers markets and craft fairs, as well offering personalized, private event services. This seems a sensible plan in the warm summer months when shoppers at these markets become hot and thirsty outdoors. 

Should you spot a charming vintage white and green food truck with flowers for sale, as well as a cheerful young woman serving customers who are ordering cooling lemonade or warm morning coffee, you have found Erin and Pours & Petals! 

For information about the food truck, email erin@poursandpetalsevents.com or visit www.poursandpetalsevents.com.

Step into History at NH Boat Museum

Day Tripping

Step into History at NH Boat Museum

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

When you step inside the NH Boat Museum, you step into history. Each and every time I visit, I am surprised at the beauty of the antique boats on display – most of them wooden, sleek and breathtaking. 

While I have a passing knowledge of many things Lakes Region/New Hampshire, I am not particularly informed about the vast history of boating in the area. A tour of the NH Boat Museum, located on Center St. in Wolfeboro, always increases my knowledge, and this year’s exhibits and some new (to the museum) boats add to the enjoyment of a visit.

Nickerson rowboat.

This season, the exhibit is “Locally Produced” and it is all about boats and boating items produced in the area. Viewers are treated to the origins of boating and how it grew in the Lakes Region.

If you like old photos that show how people used the lakes area for boating, waterskiing and other pastimes, you will like the exhibit.

How did the museum come to begin and find a home in Wolfeboro? A love of antique boats and their history led to the formation of the museum in 1992. According to information at www.nhbm.org, “Originally the museum was called the ‘New Hampshire Antique and Classic Boat Museum’ and then modified in order to better reflect the museum’s mission. After moving around Lake Winnipesaukee for a few years, in 2000 NHBM found a permanent home in Wolfeboro in the former Allen ‘A’ Resort theater and dance hall.  The Allen ‘A’ hall, a large, barrel-round, Quonset hut style building built in 1954, cannot be missed on Route 28 north on the edge of town. Visitors can also experience the thrill of riding in a replica vintage boat in NHBM’s very own 1928-style Hacker Craft mahogany triple cockpit, the Millie B.”

I visited the NH Boat Museum on a steamy and hot mid-July afternoon, and an employee at the front desk greeted me and led the way into the museum with its high ceilings and at the far end, a stage area where bands once played for the Allen A guests. As I gazed into the room, I caught sight of the incredible wooden boats – one of which looked so charming I could barely wait to see it up close. (More on this later.) 

This is the second season for the fabulous “Locally Produced” exhibit and there are returning favorite items, as well as new things in the show.

The first display focuses on the early days of waterski manufacturing in the area. As a lover of all things old, I adored this portion of the museum displays. Information told that the increasing power and speed of boats on the lakes in the 1920s led to the idea of skiing behind a boat. It seemed like a rather logical – if perhaps at first daring – idea. The thrilling sport caught on; by the 1950s, waterskiing was one of the fastest growing recreational sports in the country. It also seems logical that New Hampshire and specifically the Lakes Region was front-and-center when it came to waterskiing. Two national brands of skis were manufactured in Laconia: AquaSport and Northland. 

One of my favorite posters in the exhibit was a large advertisement that told of the National Water Ski Championships which were held from August 21-23 in 1959. The Weirs Ski Club was involved in the event. 

An AquaSport Water Ski Rope Tow in its original box was a great part of the exhibit, along with old photos of local water skiers and water skis. 

NH Boat Museum executive director, Martha Cummings, joined me on the tour, and pointed out the Nickerson boat, which she told me was back at the museum. The Nickerson rowboat is a long wooden boat that was quite utilitarian, and used to carry passengers and luggage and deliveries of goods to the Winnipesaukee islands. It was also used often on Lake Wentworth.  According to exhibit information, Nicerkson Boat Works was located on Old Route 16 in Ossipee, New Hampshire. With a simple and sturdy design, the rowboats had flat bottoms so a person could stand up in them without capsizing. Although the boats were once common, today they are quite rare. Thus, the rowboat at the museum is quite interestubgm and those who are boating fans will want to see this gem.

Boat license plate display.

Martha smiled as she pointed to a wall of boat license plates nearby. “It is the collection of Doug Hamel, and is a complete group of boat plates from 1916 to 1988.”

The boat that had caught my eye when I entered the museum was next on our tour and Martha told me it was from the collection of a Sunapee area family collection. “We just got the boat at the end of 2020,” she explained. 

I could imagine the lucky family that got to ride in such a wooden boat, with its glass windowed cabin and sleek driver’s area. Built by FW Johnson, the boat is a gorgeous vessel. FW Johnson was the son of an Alton, New Hampshire blacksmith and was a carriage builder. Later, FW turned to boat building at his property, the FW Johnson Launch Company on Gold St. in Lakeport, New Hampshire. He was best remembered for his building of “Laker” style launches so popular in the early 1900s.

Next to the first boat, a huge old wooden boat is a shining thing of beauty and it did not take much imagination to dream about the days when this boat plied the waters of Winnipesaukee with a driver at the wheel and a party of genteel folks with picnic baskets lounging on board as they moved over the water.

The beautiful Regina wooden boat.

The boat is called the Regina and it is part of the NH Boat Museum’s permanent collection. It was constructed by Goodhue & Hawkins in 1913 and is only one of six of this type: long-necked launches commonly known as Lakers. Five of the ultra-elegant boats still reside on Lake Winnipesaukee; the location of the sixth of unknown.

“If you stand here,” Martha suggested, indicating that I stand facing the very front of the boat, looking down the length of the Regina, “you will see my favorite view.” Indeed, when one stands with feet firmly placed on the floor and gazes down the length of the boat, you are treated to the sleek lines and artistry of the Laker’s construction. It has a “cut water” that Martha loves and one can easily imagine the grace as the Regina cut through the waters of the lake.

The Regina was a donation to the NH Boat Museum from Howard Newton and the gift was an incredibly generous one. (Fun fact: it is believed the boat was originally built for the estate of Lydia Pinkham, known as “the Queen of Patent Medicine.” The boat was built after Lydia had passed away, and was kept in her Alton Bay property until obtained by a boat enthusiast.) A charming exhibit of Lydia’s patent medicine and her story are also on display.

The quest to locate and own the boat is one of the examples of just why the NH Boat Museum is beloved to so many – the understanding that these old boats are a huge part of the country’s recreational history.

A large part of the story of boating in the Lakes Region cannot be told without focusing greatly on Goodhue & Hawkins, whose business in Wolfeboro in the early 1900s led to the popularity of boating. 

A time line display of the business tells us that Goodhue & Hawkins opened in 1903 when Nathaniel H. Goodhue and Chester E. Hawkins began operations on Sewall Road in Wolfeboro. They offered a wide range of services, including boat repair of steam and gasoline yachts and launches. Soon, the business was building custom wooden speed launches to carry passengers, as well as renting boats. Between 1903 and 1933, they were building Goodhue Lakers, the long deck launches. The hulls were framed and planked at a boat yard on Clark Point and floated to Sewall Road, where their engines were installed and the craftsman-style finishing woodwork was completed.

The history of the company and also boating in the Lakes Region takes the visitor through the years and all the types of boats to the present-day Goodhue Boat Company.

Before I was done viewing the Goodhue & Hawkins timeline area, I studied the unique, original blueprints that are on display. They are the original drawings for the Laker boat.

The Locally Produced exhibit also offers a look at boats built at the Laconia Car Company. Originally, the company built passenger and freight railcars and trolleys. Later, they built boats. The original production debuted at the 1928 New York Boat Show. Information in the exhibit tells us two boats were offered by the company: a 12 ft. Speedster and a 16 ft. Sportser. The wooden boat named Zip is on display and another part of the history of boating in the Lakes Region.

On the museum stage area, there is a massive amount of information and delightful displays and photos pertaining to rowing. The exhibit is titled “Who’s in the Boat?” and it begins with a wall-sized display of the 1852 Harvard vs. Yale first intercollegiate rowing competition. The rowing event was held on Lake Winnipesaukee in Center Harbor and 1,000 people cheered on the competitors. 

Three very long and thin boats for rowing sit in pride of place and one, a donation from Wolfeboro’s Brewster Academy, was found and pulled from the school’s lakeside area. The museum repaired the bow and it is yet another piece of area boating history.

The rowing exhibit runs deep and follows Women in Rowing and also Diversity in Rowing.

When last I talked to Martha, the NH Boat Museum was working on a campaign for fundraising for a new permanent home for the facility. "We hit $1.1 million and we own the land on Bay Street in Wolfeboro,” she said. “We are now pushing forward with fundraising to break ground with a goal of spring, 2022.” 

As we finished the tour, I also enjoyed a display of flotation devices, ranging from a Cork Life Jacket that reminded me of the ones worn in the movie Titanic. The jackets were made until 1913, followed by the Kapok Vest until the 1940s. Also on view is a 1943 Kapok “Horse Collar” life vest in the orange color most of us are familiar with; other vests are on display.

And, not to be ignored, on the main floor, there is also an extensive exhibit about the M/S Mount Washington (after all, no exhibit on Lakes Region boating would be complete without a history of this major player of boating on the lake).

There also is a children’s area with activities, so that no one in the family is overlooked when it comes to boating.

Martha adds, “We are open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday we are open from noon to 4 pm. We are closed on Mondays,” she explained. (The NH Boat Museum is open until mid-October.)

I encourage you to visit and dream about the days when millionaires and hard-working boat builders took to the waters of area lakes, and left us with so much history and those wonderful boats for all to enjoy today.

For information on the programs and membership and riding on the Millie B, call 603-569-4554 or visit www.nhbm.org.

A Unique View – the Paintings of Jane E. Pappe

A Unique View – the Paintings of Jane E. Pappe

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

There is something about Jane Pappe’s paintings that make the viewer want to see more. If you see one of her colorful landscapes while browsing through social media, you simply have to stop and take a second, and a third look. 

“That scene looks familiar,” you might think when gazing at an oil painting done by Jane of a roadside field or a barn or a view of Newfound Lake. The paintings pull you in due to the color and Jane’s unique vision of each area she chooses to interpret in paint.

The road to Plymouth, NH

A resident of the Newfound Lake region, Jane spends her summers in her area home, painting, painting and painting for hours the various scenes she loves. Some might wonder why Jane, originally from the Boston area, would choose to spend her precious summer months in a rural, rather isolated home. “I love it here,” Jane says with a laugh, explaining the woods and the quiet are highly enjoyable and conducive for her work.

Interior of antique shop on Newfound Lake

Jane also relishes the chances to drive around the Lakes Region and all over New Hampshire, where she often stops and takes photos of scenes she sees. It could be a field, a barn, a cottage (she adores the little summer cottages seen all over the area, tucked among a stand of pine trees or by a lake or pond), and an old wooden boat on the lake or an exterior of a country store in a quiet village. Things others might pass by and not look at twice cause Jane to stop and take a photo to add to the many pictures she keeps as references for her oil paintings.

“I drive around, take some photos, and take more photos as I go,” Jane explains. “In the future, I might see one of those images as a painting.”

Jane started painting about 30 years ago and says her mother always valued creativity and encouraged Jane and her sisters to make things when they were growing up. Working in Boston as a secretary and with a family, Jane might have been busy, but she never abandoned that urge to paint. 

When visiting friends in the village of Hill, New Hampshire, Jane and her husband fell in love with the area and decided to look for a house or property to build a summer home. The idea was to spend summers in the Newfound Lake/Bristol area and take their motor home to Texas in the winters. They found land in Alexandria, New Hampshire and built a summer home there.

“We liked the idea of being in the woods,” Jane says. “And we met great people; our neighbors helped us find people to build our house here.”

Boat scene

Living in the area, Jane inevitably was drawn to the places we now see in her paintings. “I like lake houses, and as I painted scenes and cottages and posted them on Facebook, others saw the paintings. Now and then, a photographer would send me a photo of a scene and give me permission to use it for a painting.”

Painting, Jane discovered, is a great creative outlet for her. “I go around Newfound Lake and take photos and use then as a reference for paintings I do later at home.” Sometimes, Jane paints on site, but when the weather is not cooperating or the scene is too close to a busy road, for example, she takes photos and paints a scene later indoors.

A specialty for Jane is her love of lake houses and when she posts them on a Newfound group page, they are eagerly and positively received. 

When Jane was driving around the Newfound Lake area and headed a bit north, she discovered the Rumney Village Store and was captivated by the rural charm of the exterior of the shop. She asked the owner for permission to do a painting of the shop and gifted it to the owner when it was completed. The owner asked her to do more and she now sells Jane’s paintings in the shop. “I just dropped off some paintings at the store,” Jane says. “The paintings are of animals: two bear pictures and a pig and chickens.”

Although Jane is largely self-taught as an artist, she takes art workshops from others and names Carol Marine as an she has studied with and admires. Jane is unafraid to take workshops and always wants to learn new painting skills. She also says she studies You Tube art videos. All these things have increased Jane’s skill as a painter and her vision of the world around her is unique and captivating.

Jane paints every day, and says while she loves to paint outdoors, the ticks have made it a challenge. Always busy, when this interview took place, Jane was working on a painting of two Adirondack chairs and flowers and the lake. 

A captivating scene from the lake_n

In her travels, she has captured such unique things as an antique car parade in the Newfound area and there are the views we all recognize from our own travels here, there and all over the area. 

Her favorite subjects these days are cottages, landscapes and animals. 

Generous with her talents, Jane has donated a beautiful painting for the Newfound Lake Association’s raffle, which will be held in September The scene is of red buildings and a river in autumn. It is titled Newfound River and it is a beautiful area landscape. Visit www.newfoundlake.org and go to the Raffle page to view the work and purchase tickets.

There is indeed something about Jane’s paintings that make you want to see more. Her vision of scenes and cottages, flowers and animals evoke a feeling that we have indeed come home to New Hampshire and its most comforting places.

For information and to see more of Jane’s work, visit her Facebook page at Jane E. Pappe. She also posts some of her work on the Newfound Lake Community Facebook page.

Remembering the Women of World War II

Day Tripping

Remembering the Women of World War II

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

Poster from the Wright Museum exhibit

Perhaps the pandemic has made me overly emotional, although I doubt if anyone visiting the Wright Museum of World War II on Center Street in Wolfeboro would not experience some strong feelings. 

When I recently visited, it was to see the current exhibits titled “WASP: The Untold Story” and “Women and the War Effort: Recruiting Posters of World War II”. Both exhibits are on view until June 10.

I did not get out much during the 2020/2021 pandemic, and like many people, I felt a bit isolated. And so I decided to revisit the Wright Museum, one of my all-time favorite places. With parents who were just married during World War II, they talked often about that time in their lives. I recall hearing the names Truman, FDR, Hitler, and the the words “the bomb”. I never realized, until I felt the fear and confusion brought on by the recent pandemic, how the times we live in can affect us for the rest of our lives. 

Because I had World War II-era parents, I have always felt an affinity for the Wright Museum. It takes me back, in a sense, to the time my parents lived through. And so, a chance to view the exhibit, which focuses on the many contributions made by American women during the war years, was of interest.

Entering the museum on a weekday in mid-May, I was eager to see the exhibit. First, I chatted with a museum employee and a volunteer; both were welcoming and knowledgeable. They told me a bit about what was planned for the upcoming season and then invited me to go through the war vehicle room. (To call the huge space a “room” seems wrong because it is full of actual World War II jeeps and other vehicles…and a plane extended from the ceiling.)

This is where my emotional feelings started, and it came from glancing up at the doorway to the exhibit. “Oh how sparkly!” I thought to myself when seeing an area of silver hanging above. Curious, I looked at it more closely and realized the silver curtain was actually dog tags. I felt sad from the impact those hanging tags had on me. I read information on the wall that told me the 1,203 blank dog tags were a “stark visual reminder honoring the bravery and sacrifice of the servicemen from New Hampshire who never returned from WWII. The dog tags have no names on them and you can’t discern what race they were or whether they were Democrats or Republicans, or Jews or Muslims, Protestants or Catholics – the one thing that is important to remember is that they were all Americans united in common struggle to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today.” It was a powerful visual and I challenge anyone who sees these tags to not become emotional. 

On the second level, I entered the large exhibit room, where the women in the war posters and photos is on display. First on my tour was the WASP: The Untold Story exhibit, curated by the National WASP Museum, Sweetwater, Texas. (WASP stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots.) Information tells the viewer something we probably already assumed: World War II changed so much for women. Prior to the war, women were not allowed to join the military except as nurses. After the U.S. entered the war in 1942, Congress passed a law allowing women to serve in certain military roles, although they were not drafted. Women could, at that time, fill non-combat roles, which freed men for overseas duty. 

The Women’s Army Corps (WACS) and the Navy and Marine Corps as well as the Coast Guard, all formed in 1942. But at that time, the Air Force did not accept women into its ranks. However, when men were overseas and planes needed to be delivered from the factories to military bases, the most sensible way was to fly them to the bases. Without male pilots available, the Air Force turned to women to pilot the planes. The idea was that if a woman had a private pilot’s license, she could receive further training from the Air Force to fly various military aircraft. In 1943, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (or WASPs) was formed. 

After initial training, the women lived at and got more training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. The exhibit shows us the sometimes difficult conditions and such facts as at first, the females had to wear men’s military clothing and use men’s equipment. The public and military could also be sexist, and WASPs felt the sting of being treated poorly at times. 

Among the many photos in the exhibit, one I found particularly poignant was a black-and-white image of two women with their backs to the camera, gazing over a Texas field as the sun set. One could feel their loneliness and all the emotions the uncertainty of war and being away from loved ones could cause. 

The exhibit shows us the strength and courage of these female pilots, the things they did to pass the time and how they lived in Texas.

 You can see the closeness of the women, as they played games, socialized and worked together. These women also were very skilled pilots, and their war time contributions should never be overlooked. 

In the museum I also found the poster exhibit to be fascinating. This was the stuff of World War II public relations and the posters were a sort of news method to get the word out about aiding the war effort. A colorful array of posters promoted war nurses and the WAVES. One poster of a little girl with a headline of “wish I could join too” as she gazes at a photo of a female officer, urged the viewer to “Serve your country in the WAVES.”

Another poster invites the viewer to “become a nurse” with a delightful color photo of a young woman with her nurse’s cap being straightened by someone with American flag cuffs.

The war-era posters told us, through their brightly colored, eye-catching photos, to become a nurse, or join the WACS. 

As I toured the exhibit, I was reminded of all these people endured. Our recent pandemic worry has given me but a taste of living through tough times. I glanced at other museum goers, mostly the elderly and wondered what their remembrances might be. One men, dressed in a crisp white shirt and his military hat, was wheeled around the museum exhibit by a woman and I felt tears come into my eyes when I heard him tell her, “this was the best day I’ve had in a long time.”

 A visit to the Wright Museum might be a pastime for some, but for those who served in a war, it is much more than a mere visit. If you go to the museum – and I recommend you do – take your time and see everything from the time tunnel to the military vehicles to the exhibits taking place. If you happen to overhear the comments or remembrances of a veteran touring the museum, be prepared to feel some emotion, the biggest of which will be gratitude for their service.

The past year with its pandemic worries has been a long one. But as I finished my tour of the Wright Museum, I realized it was not the pandemic that made me emotional. It was instead the things I saw, the service of the veterans and average American citizens, like my parents, that made me realize all they sacrificed, as Memorial Day will soon come around, 

The Wright Museum is open daily until October 31 from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday to Saturday and from noon to 4 pm on Sunday. The museum is located at 77 Center Street in Wolfeboro. Call 603-569-1212 or visit www.wrightmuseum.org. for information and a list of events. 

(The next exhibit will be “WWI in America” on view from June 16 to August 11.)

Spectators at Cathedral Ledge ski jumping, part of the 1922 White Mountains Winter Carnival. Photo courtesy Conway Public Library Henney History Room.

Yesteryear

Winter Fun at the First White Mountains Winter Carnival

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

If you lived in NH’s White Mountains in the winter of 1922, you were likely weary of war and illness. Not long before, World War I and a pandemic that swept the globe took a toll on people everywhere. The Conway area felt the effects of the war and the pandemic as well and in the succeeding years, everyone was making attempts to move on with life.

During the winter of 1922, what was there to do to fill the long winter days? According to a February 1922 issue of The Reporter, the newspaper for the Conway area, you could attend a “photoplay attraction” at the Masonic Hall in North Conway where Hoot Gibson and Molly Malone starred in the movie “Red Courage”. You could also take in Bert Lytell in “The Idle Rich”, a satire. There were church services and Grange meetings and Ladies Aid gatherings, but the big entertainment was the first event of its kind in the town: the White Mountains Winter Carnival.

The carnival got a lot of attention in The Reporter; in fact, it took up the entire front page in the February 2, 1922 edition. A headline read that the event had “Thrilling Ski Jumping, Good Horse Racing, Hockey Games, Wonderful Skating and Other Exciting Sports”. 

People were hungry for some fun – even if temperatures were likely chilly – and crowds started to arrive on Wednesday of the previous week. By Sunday, all available lodgings in the Conway area were full. “The people came to enjoy themselves,” the article told readers. Some brought personal winter sporting equipment and others bought skates and other gear when they arrived in town. 

Spectators at Cathedral Ledge ski jumping, part of the 1922 White Mountains Winter Carnival. Photo courtesy Conway Public Library Henney History Room.

The first annual carnival began on Thursday, January 26, 1922 and activities were plentiful. Visitors could take a snowshoe hike, go for a fun ride on the toboggan chutes, or climb the many area mountains. A skating rink and a ski jump were busy for the duration of the carnival. 

In the area, sled dog master extraordinaire, Arthur Walden of Tamworth, made an appearance accompanied by his famed sled dog team. The crowds loved Walden and the dogs and appreciated that the team made an appearance each day. 

By Tuesday, the sporting events were well underway, including over 500 people who came to see the new ski jump at Cathedral Ledge. A Canadian ski jump champion and members of the Nansen Ski Club tried out the jump. The ski jump was built at the bottom of Cathedral Ledge off West Side Road in Conway to be used for the first winter carnival. Old photos show spectators aplenty for the thrilling jump portion of the weekend carnival events.

Elsewhere the main street was converted into a trotting park for horse racing and the sidewalks were lined with spectators. The races were a thrilling few hours of entertainment for those who had been house bound from winter weather.

The big day for the winter carnival was Friday, and the presenters and volunteers pulled out all the stops to create a lot of fun for everyone. Trains brought carnival goers from Bartlett, Glen and Jackson and others arrived from south of the Conway area. An amazing 2,000 people, according to The Reporter, were at Cathedral Ledge to see the ski jumping. Some competitors made perfect jumps and some did not, but it was an event people talked about long after.  

In an effort to promote further outdoor events, men from Washington, DC were on hand with representatives from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. They were there to take “moving pictures” of the sporting events to promote and further an interest in winter outdoor activities in the White Mountain National Forest. 

This was a time when some people still used horses for transportation, although automobiles were becoming more widespread. To see horses in town was not uncommon. What was unusual was seeing the horses racing through the town at high speeds. According to The Reporter, the crowds were heavy to watch the skijoring races at the winter carnival. Skijoring is a sport wherein horses pull skiers at a high speed and in Conway, it was a big draw at the carnival.

Ice skating was extremely popular in the 1800s and into the 1900s and brought a lot of inexpensive fun to families. Many villages, as well as cities, had skating ponds where everyone went for skating and socializing in the winter. The Winter Carnival in North Conway offered a place where everyone could skate and also watch the skating races. The men’s relay race with four men per team was popular during the Carnival with each man skating 335 yards for a timed race. At the ice skating area, hockey games also were held between Portland High and Deering High Schools. Portland won and was challenged by a group of local pick-up teens, offering a lot of competitive action for spectators.

Also on the ice, according to a 1922 front page story in The Reporter, “an audience was not lacking to witness some of the most wonderful skating performed by Mr. and Mrs. Nat Niles and Theresa Weld, all of Boston. Mr. Niles represented the United States at the Olympic games at Antwerp, and Theresa Weld is the champion woman skater in this country. They not only performed in the morning but also for an hour in the afternoon.”

If you were visiting or lived in the Conway area, you could see competitions at the toboggan chutes at Russell Cottages. Guests from all the hotels in the area were joined by Arthur Walden and his famed sled dog team as they watched the toboggan performers.

The big social portion of the Winter Carnival – and the closing event for the weekend – was a masquerade ball on Saturday evening. The ball took place at the ice rink with the start of the event reserved for masqueraded attendees. Unmasked attendees got to guess who was behind the masks and prizes were awarded for the three top costumes. At that time, everyone was allowed on the rink to enjoy a final evening of ice skating. 

Plans were underway for a second carnival and in the winter of 1923, the event was again well attended with ski jumping, ice skating and more. 

 (Thanks to Bob Cottrell and Conway Public Library for assistance with this article.)

Chasing the Light: the Photography of Jay Philbrick

Chasing the Light: the Photography of Jay Philbrick

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

Images courtesy Philbrick Photography

For North Conway area photographer, Jay Philbrick, it is all about the light. To capture the light, which can be elusive, he will get up long before the sun rises. Also, he will travel to hard-to-reach locations, even if it means using his skills as a climber or driving with his wife, Vicki, for thousands of miles to the western United States, for example.

Photo trips are made easier by a van

Many people know Jay for his amazing “cliff photos” of models and just-married couples taken in the Conway area. The shots are beautiful, showing the valley far below and sometimes mist rising from the treetops or the sun rising, while a bride and groom embrace on a cliff outcropping. The shots have garnered accolades for Jay, but such work has taken years of experience as a climber, and of course, as a professional photographer, to achieve. In 2008, Jay won Digital Wedding Forum’s Wedding Photographer of the Year award in the couples category for the first cliff shot.

Along with these dramatic photographs, Jay and Vicki have done, over the years, a range of work from studio photos to senior portraits, landscapes, inspiration photo shoots in all sorts of places around the world, to photographing individual models and weddings. 

Jay is originally from Connecticut and as a kid, he says he was fortunate to make family trips for mountain climbing in the Conway area. As a teenager, he took lots of photos to record the places he was climbing or hiking. “My first camera was an Olympus; it’s a relic now but I still have it,” says Jay. He had no idea at the time that taking those early photos was a prediction of his chosen art form years later.

“I was an Air Force pilot for 14 years,” he continues. “I was stationed all over before Vicki and I moved to North Conway in 1994. After moving to the area, I became a full-time certified climbing guide and did that until 2000.”

Jay says he realized he needed to “make some real money” at that point. He had done photography all his life, but more as a hobby. Vicki had a darkroom (she has a degree in photography) and has always worked alongside Jay as they shoot at locations all over the world. She has also stepped in as a model at times and some of Jay’s best work is of Vicki in places such as the desert or perched high on a rock formation.

Serendipitously, at the time he wanted to make some “real money”, Jay photographed a wedding. “I was totally surprised that I enjoyed photographing a wedding,” he recalls. “But I saw then that photography is a great way to capture emotions.” 

A beautiful photo combining a model in red dress with a field and sky.

Jay has a talent for photographing what others might not see in the everyday world. A wedding, for example, would seem to be an occasion where the photographer lines up the family and wedding party and bride and groom for some traditional shots. Jay can do that, but his work goes far beyond. “I am interested in capturing different perspectives. I can get those shots because Vicki works with me. She gets the traditional shots, which allows me to work on the shots that capture different perspectives.”

He says, looking back, he was very lucky to get those wedding shots that interested him. “The biggest take-away is that it is really important to be into what you are trying to photograph,” he adds.

In 2008, the first “cliff shot” combined his experience of climbing with a wedding. He worked on the photos with a couple who had hired him to photograph their wedding. Jay learned, when meeting with the couple, that they were both climbers and loved to pursue the sport in the Conway area where they had a second home. 

“I had wanted to do a cliff shot for about five years,” Jay recalls. “I had an idea to photograph a couple on the cliff. I told this couple about it, and they were excited with the idea. We decided to do the photo shoot and scheduled it for a few days after their wedding.”

The first day they set up for the shots, the weather did not cooperate and they had to reschedule for the next day, knowing the couple had to return home from their honeymoon very soon. With every safety precaution in place – Jay works with Marc Chauvin, an internationally certified mountain climbing guide from the North Conway area (www.chauvinguides.com) who does the rigging and accompanies the couple or model(s) for the cliff shots – the first cliff session took place with the bride in her gown and the groom in a suit. The weather was still uncooperative, rainy and misty, but they took the photos because of the couple’s schedule. Jay felt he had not gotten the shots he envisioned due to the weather. But when he got home and began to process the photos, he realized the haze/fog made for great images. 

The next cliff session was in 2010 and then another took place in 2012. As awareness of the cliff photos spread, NH Chronicle did a segment and it won a NH Emmy. 

Jay always stresses that the models are fully anchored and nothing in the photos is fake. The ropes and anchors are hidden by the camera angles but the shots are real; there is no photo-shopping. Marc Chauvin goes down onto the cliff with the couple and safety is everything. 

Certainly, these unusual and beautiful shots are not the only work Jay does. His photos encompass magazine work, model sessions, and more. 

A breathtaking cliff shot by Philbrick Photography

A few years ago, Jay and Vicki outfitted a van so they could live in it short term and travel to pursue photography and outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, skiing, and climbing. This led them to make the decision to drive to the western United States, often for weeks at a time. They camped at various remote locations and worked with models to get great “desert shots” as Jay refers to the images. Again, his ability to find the unusual and beautiful in the every day have to be seen to be believed.

Much of Jay’s work relies upon the ever-changing light and glowing sunrises and sunsets. He often photographs dancers and other models in downtown North Conway as the sun rises and the sky turns from inky black to gray to pink. The shots are breathtaking and rely upon Jay’s fascination with the light.

These days, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jay and Vicki are curtailing their travels and staying closer to home in the Conway area. With years of experience as photographers, they can now pick and choose what work they wish to take on; they certainly hope to return to the western part of the country in the future. 

For now, when the mood strikes, they get away from it all and into nature by packing up the van and going off grid in New England for a bit. They embrace the quiet, the chance to hike and be in the woods, and always, Jay looks for the fascinating, elusive and wonderful light.

To view Jay’s photographs, visit www.philbrickphoto.com. 

 (Editor’s note: The cliff shots Jay Philbrick achieves are always done with a hired, experienced internationally certified mountain climbing guide; do not try this at home!)