ahschneid

Nov 8, 20236 min read

New Hampshire

We arrived in Gorham New Hampshire on 23 Oct 2023 for three nights. Our campsite at Moose Brook State Park was primitive camping (no water, no electric, no sewer hookups), and the weather was cloudy, cold and wet dank most of our time there. Those conditions made for some power challenges with no sunshine to charge our solar panel. In the interim, our generator had stopped working (Steve tests it twice per month). With no electric hook up we were relying solely on one 12 volt battery in the RV for refrigerator, propane heat and light power. At 5 am Steve awoke to a low RV battery alarm and the propane heat blower not working. Around 8 am we had to take our camper battery in to a local place recommended by the campground manager. The guy checked our battery and said it wasn't ruined and it just needed to be fully charged, so he did that. The same guy was able to repair our generator too! We've been blessed to find trustworthy people when we've been in need and in a new area where we know no one.

Our stay in New Hampshire wasn't all power issues. We took the Cog Railway up two thirds of the way to Mount Washington. For a few weeks before New Hampshire, Steve had been saying he'd really like to hike up to the summit (the windiest place in the world-231 mph). Unfortunately, the day we were there, the temps had dropped to the mid 20's and it had snowed 4-6" the night before, causing them to close the station at the top of Mount Washington. We opted for taking the Cog Railway above tree line as far up as it would go. The Cog Railway is fascinating in itself. From the train we could even see in the distance a rest station for Appalachian Trail through-hikers. It was on top of a mountain and snow covered the day we saw it.

The Cog Railway website explains: The Cog Railway was yet another astonishing accomplishment in a year and an era that would see many. So to really understand the The Cog, it helps to consider it within the context of its foundation year: 1869.

By 1869, the first Industrial Revolution had already transformed nearly every aspect of society with the introduction of the steam engine and the telegraph. Inventions as humble as the waffle iron or as magnificent as the Suez Canal made their debut alongside the Cog that year.

But perhaps most consequential of all was the completion of the Transcontinental Railway at Promontory, Utah on May 10th. Robber baron and Central Pacific RR President Leland Stanford drove the Golden Spike that symbolized the joining of a great iron road from Omaha and points east all the way to San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean.

The social fabric of the nation was changing as well. The fifteenth amendment to the US Constitution was first proposed in 1869 and was ratified the following year. The amendment states that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” thereby granting voter rights to freed slaves.

But notably, not to women, and in New York City, reformer and women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association in May of that year. The Wyoming Territory, not yet the 44th state, became the first organized political entity in the country (and the first in the world) to guarantee women the right to vote in 1869.

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, tourism was on the rise, mostly made possible by the rapid expansion of rail travel throughout the Northeast. By 1869 there were hundreds of hotels and inns in the region (two of them on the summit), and the most luxurious of them were known as Grand Hotels.

To serve visitors to the Cog Railway, Sylvester Marsh built the Fabyan House (above) at the top of Base Station Road; it burned during construction but was rebuilt and finally opened in 1874. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1951, a fate sadly shared by most other nineteenth century wooden hotels.

Today, only three Grand hotels remain in northern New Hampshire: The Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa in Whitefield and the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, both still in operation. Further north, The Balsams in Dixville Notch is currently closed awaiting redevelopment.

In the Cog Railway Museum, there was an exhibit showing cog railway construction workers on payday. They rigged up a speedy way to get down the mountain on a plywood seat that would slide down the rails. The fastest trip down once was 2 minutes and 45 seconds!

After our trip on the Cog Railway, we drove to the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods. Even if you're not staying at the hotel, you're allowed to walk in and see the hotel common areas and go out on their terrace which has awesome views. This hotel also has a bar in the basement that was open during Prohibition. This bar served alcohol in tea cups. Legend has it that a watchman would watch for law enforcement agents through a hole in the wall created by removing one brick. If the watchman saw the law coming, he would yell "Drink up!" , then all customers would down their alcoholic drinks and waitstaff would immediately fill their tea cups with tea. By the time law enforcement reached the "bar", there was trace of alcohol to be found. We went down to the basement to see this bar and it was interesting to see. Below are our pictures from our day on the Cog Railway and seeing the Omni Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire.

Cog Railway at Mount Washington 24 October 2023

Cog Railway at Mount Washington 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

(Mountain Ash trees with red berries) Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Hiker coming down Mount Washington New Hampshire 24 October 2023

German Shepard waiting for his master Mount Washington New Hampshire 24 October 2023

Another hiker coming down Mount Washington New Hampshire 24 October 2023

A man and his dog Mount Washington New Hampshire 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

(View of Adams Mountain from) Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023

Mount Washington New Hampshire Cog Railway 24 October 2023 (Darlene, our narrator)

Darlene lives in Bethlehem NH and she shared a story about receiving an alert on her phone a couple of years ago. The alert showed the security camera on her back deck catching a bear rearranging her furniture and finally getting to the drip pan on her grill. The bear removed the drip pan and licked it completely clean then threw it down and left. Darlene said their drip pan had never been cleaner.