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Franconia/SugarHill/ Franconia Notch State Park, south of Franconia. The wonders of one of the nation's most spectacular parks are well known. Thousands visit the Flume, a 700-foot-long gorge with cascades and pools (adults, $8), and the Basin and gaze at the rock outcroppings, most notably what’s left of the fallen Old Man of the Mountain, the Granite State’s longtime icon, which collapsed in 2003. Echo Lake at the foot of Cannon Mountain is fine for swimming. Cannon Mountain has retired its original 1938 aerial tramway but a modern replacement carries tourists to the summit for the views that skiers cherish – and gets them back down without the challenges that hardy skiers take for granted. Summit barbecues are offered on summer Saturdays from 4:30 to 7 for $7 (plus $10 for the tram ride). In the large visitor center at the southern entrance to the park, a good fifteen-minute movie chronicles years of change in the area and advises, “when you see Franconia Notch today, remember it will never be quite the same again.” Cannon Mountain. In an era of plasticized, free-wheeling skiing and snowboarding, the serious ski areas with character are few and far between. One of the last and best is Cannon, which considers itself the first major ski mountain in the Northeast (1937). Operated as a state park, it remains virginal and free of commercialism. The setting is reminiscent of the Alps, when you view the sheer cliffs and avalanche country across Franconia Notch on Lafayette Mountain and the majestic peaks of the Presidential Range beyond. From the summit, much of the skiing varies from tough to frightening, as befits the site of America's first racing trail and the first World Cup competition. But there is plenty of intermediate and novice skiing as well. New England Ski Museum, next to the tram station at Cannon Mountain, Franconia. Skiers in particular enjoy this small museum that houses the most extensive collection of historic ski equipment, clothing, photography and literature in the Northeast. The maroon parka belonging to the founder of the National Ski Patrol is shown, as is a photo of him taken at Peckett’s-on-Sugar-Hill. One of the more fascinating exhibits traces the evolution of ski equipment. “Ski Tracks” is an informative and impressive thirteen-minute audio-visual show with 450 slides tracing the history of New England skiing. (603) 823-7177 or (800) 639-4181. www.nesm.org.
Open daily noon to 5, Memorial Day-Columbus Day and December-March.
Free. Sugar Hill Historical Museum, Main Street, Sugar Hill. Sugar Hill people say not to miss this choice small place, and they're right. Established as a Bicentennial project by proud descendants of Sugar Hill founders, it displays an excellent collection in a modern, uncluttered setting and gives a feel for the uncommon history of this small hilltop town, named for the sugar maples that still produce maple syrup ("everyone who can, taps the trees," reports the museum director). The life of the community is thoroughly chronicled in photographs and artifacts. The Cobleigh Room recreates a stagecoach tavern kitchen from nearby Lisbon, and the Carriage Barn contains mountain wagons and horse-drawn sleighs, including one from the Butternut estate that used to belong to Bette Davis. (603) 823-8142. Open July to mid-October,
Thursday-Saturday 1 to 4 and by appointment. Free. Sunset Hill Golf Course, Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill. Atop a ridge that lives up to its name, this
1,977-yard golf course put into play in 1897 is the oldest nine-hole
layout in New Hampshire. The clubhouse is also the oldest extant
clubhouse for any course in the state (built in 1899 for the 1900
season) and remains practically unchanged Shopping. In Sugar Hill, Harman's Cheese and Country Store, a tiny place with a large mail-order business, proclaims “the world's greatest cheddar cheese.” Many of its food and local items are one of a kind, according to owner Maxine Aldrich, who with daughter Brenda is carrying on the late Harman family tradition. Sugar Hill Antiques and P.C. Anderson Handmade Furniture appeal to special interests. In Franconia, the Garnet Hill factory store stocks firsts and seconds of fine bedclothes (English flannel sheets, comforters and the like), as well as pricey children’s clothing, all in natural fibers. Stop at the Quality Bakery (home of Grateful Bread) for a loaf of soy-sesame bread. Two dozen varieties of breads and rolls are made; “we mill our own flour and our sourdough starter came from Germany 50 years ago,” said the owner. We liked the local handcrafts displayed by volunteers at Noah's Ark, a shop run by the Church of Christ. A special place near Bethlehem is the Bethlehem Flower Farm, 4123 Main St. (on Route 302 east toward Twin Mountain), which specializes in daylilies. Owners Joan and Bob Schafer grow more than 100 varieties, with names like Precious One, Christmas Carol and Gentle Shepherd, which Joan will dig for purchasers straight out of the fields. Also on the premises are a woodland walk that takes about twenty minutes, The Gift Barn and Abigail's Country Collectibles, and Lily's Cafe where you may get a light lunch or ice cream. Bob says "we have the world's best chili," served with a corn muffin. Open Memorial Day to Columbus Day, Thursday-Sunday 10 to 5. Another seasonal outing that draws customers from
near and far involves the Christmas Tree Farm at the 2,000-acre Rocks
Estate at 4 Christmas Lane, Bethlehem. Named for the glacial
boulders that were removed from the fields to make sweeping stone walls,
The Rocks is a National Register working farm and forest with 55,000
Christmas trees in the ground. Six miles of trails are open to the
public year-round for hiking and cross-country skiing. Extra-Special
The Frost Place, Ridge Road off Route 116, Franconia. The farmhouse in which the poet lived from 1915 to 1920 and in which he summered through 1938 is a low-key attraction not to be missed. It was here he wrote most of his best-known works, a spokesman said of the property opened by the town of Franconia as a Bicentennial project in 1976. The house remains essentially unchanged from the 1920s. Each summer a different visiting poet occupies most of it, but the front room and a rear barn are open with displays of Frost memorabilia, including his handwritten “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and a rare, large photo of Frost at age 40 working at his desk in the room. Out back, a half-mile nature trail has plaques with Frost's poems appropriate to the site; in two cases, the poems are on the locations where he wrote them. As if the poetry and setting weren't enough, the stand of woods happens to contain every variety of wildflower indigenous to Northern New England. (603) 823-5510. www.frostplace.com. Open daily
except Tuesday 1 to 5, July to Columbus Day; also weekends, Memorial Day
through June. Adults, $3. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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