When the Phantom decamped from inside the Beltway of Washington, D.C. his friends and neighbors were puzzled. The DC suburbs have been a transient's place since just after World War II. People arrive for jobs with the federal government; administrations change; people move.
But people also grow up in those suburbs and some return, reconnect with their childhood friends, and those folks tend to stay.
And to go to New Hampshire!
A rural state with only 4 electoral votes? Purple on good years, but red mostly.
But then Phantom would explain about summer vacations at Lake Winnipesaukie and they'd say, "Well, I guess I can see that. But you're not living on the lake."
No, on the Seacoast.
New Hampshire actually does have a seacoast, 18 miles of it and the biggest town, the most working class town, is Hampton, where the Phantom lives. As you progress north along the coast the towns get more and more upscale, North Hampton, Rye and finally Portsmouth.
Portsmouth has two iconic churches--the Old North Church with its 165 foot steeple where everyone who was anyone after 1638 visited, Washington, John Paul Jones, and later Daniel Webster was a deacon there. And South Church, home to the U-U, a Unitarian church with a poster near the door which says: "Don't Believe in God? That's all right. Come on in!"
Portsmouth has an ornate theater, the Music Hall which books famous performers who do not fill stadiums but who do fill large theaters in cities--Lilly Tomlin, Aaron Neville, Lyle Lovett, Art Garfunkel. And it has the Leftist Marching Band.
On his bike ride today, the Phantom passed the new sand sculpture, which appears every year just up Rte 27 from the Old Salt restaurant, welcoming visitors, who have been late in arriving owing to COVID19. He was cheered to discover the bra-less mermaid is back. Several years ago she so shocked local residents the sculptor was cajoled into providing her with a bra, which ruined the whole thing. This year she has no bra, but no nipples, so a compromise has apparently been reached.
The tree shaded route takes the Phantom past homes which rival and surpass anything in Potomac, Maryland, and the money behind these can only be imagined. In Washington, the money was sort of expected, but where does it come from in New Hampshire? There are also trailer parks in parts of town, and other parts with very modest homes.
Route 1A, which hugs the shoreline, is ocean on one side and gargantuan mansions along the shore, most of which are visited by their wealthy owners only a few weeks a year. An ex Mrs. Koch of Koch brothers fame owns one, and she flew a big Obama banner in 2008, much to the delight of local Democrats. She hasn't been heard from since.
Along the road back from the shore is the Runnymeade Farm where Dancer's Image was raised before he won the 1968 Kentucky Derby and there's a billboard out front to commemorate that. The billboard does not mention the most interesting part of that story: That after Martin Luther King was murdered, less than a month after the Derby, Dancer's Image owner donated the winning purse to King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Kentucky Derby brass was so appalled they declared that somehow a urine from the horse showed up with a banned drug and they rescinded the win and declared another horse the winner--presumably a horse owned by someone who would not give the money to Martin Luther King's people.
1968--a year so like the present it makes one remember there are certain years where everything seems to happen intermixed with years where nothing much seems to change.
But along that same road now are Trump signs and those Trump signs are sprinkled along many wooded roads from North Hampton to Hampton.
The folks in the Washington suburbs always said those suburbs were "not the real America" by which they meant, people living there were more sophisticated and more highly educated, not to mention wealthier than small town America. Seacoast New Hampshire might be more "real America," but if it is, then America is a hard place to figure, a place of great contrasts, extreme income and wealth inequality and impenetrable political thinking.
On a clear, crisp June day, however New Hampshire comes as close to a Hobbit shire as any place the Phantom has known, one of those places you leave when you have to go on a quest, but you always hanker to get back home.
But people also grow up in those suburbs and some return, reconnect with their childhood friends, and those folks tend to stay.
And to go to New Hampshire!
A rural state with only 4 electoral votes? Purple on good years, but red mostly.
But then Phantom would explain about summer vacations at Lake Winnipesaukie and they'd say, "Well, I guess I can see that. But you're not living on the lake."
No, on the Seacoast.
 |
| Obadiah Youngblood, Beach Plum |
New Hampshire actually does have a seacoast, 18 miles of it and the biggest town, the most working class town, is Hampton, where the Phantom lives. As you progress north along the coast the towns get more and more upscale, North Hampton, Rye and finally Portsmouth.
Portsmouth has two iconic churches--the Old North Church with its 165 foot steeple where everyone who was anyone after 1638 visited, Washington, John Paul Jones, and later Daniel Webster was a deacon there. And South Church, home to the U-U, a Unitarian church with a poster near the door which says: "Don't Believe in God? That's all right. Come on in!"
Portsmouth has an ornate theater, the Music Hall which books famous performers who do not fill stadiums but who do fill large theaters in cities--Lilly Tomlin, Aaron Neville, Lyle Lovett, Art Garfunkel. And it has the Leftist Marching Band.
On his bike ride today, the Phantom passed the new sand sculpture, which appears every year just up Rte 27 from the Old Salt restaurant, welcoming visitors, who have been late in arriving owing to COVID19. He was cheered to discover the bra-less mermaid is back. Several years ago she so shocked local residents the sculptor was cajoled into providing her with a bra, which ruined the whole thing. This year she has no bra, but no nipples, so a compromise has apparently been reached.
 |
| Tough birds to photo: Woodland Road |
The tree shaded route takes the Phantom past homes which rival and surpass anything in Potomac, Maryland, and the money behind these can only be imagined. In Washington, the money was sort of expected, but where does it come from in New Hampshire? There are also trailer parks in parts of town, and other parts with very modest homes.
Route 1A, which hugs the shoreline, is ocean on one side and gargantuan mansions along the shore, most of which are visited by their wealthy owners only a few weeks a year. An ex Mrs. Koch of Koch brothers fame owns one, and she flew a big Obama banner in 2008, much to the delight of local Democrats. She hasn't been heard from since.
Along the road back from the shore is the Runnymeade Farm where Dancer's Image was raised before he won the 1968 Kentucky Derby and there's a billboard out front to commemorate that. The billboard does not mention the most interesting part of that story: That after Martin Luther King was murdered, less than a month after the Derby, Dancer's Image owner donated the winning purse to King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Kentucky Derby brass was so appalled they declared that somehow a urine from the horse showed up with a banned drug and they rescinded the win and declared another horse the winner--presumably a horse owned by someone who would not give the money to Martin Luther King's people.
1968--a year so like the present it makes one remember there are certain years where everything seems to happen intermixed with years where nothing much seems to change.
 |
| Obadiah Youngblood Rte 1 A Rocky Shore |
But along that same road now are Trump signs and those Trump signs are sprinkled along many wooded roads from North Hampton to Hampton.
The folks in the Washington suburbs always said those suburbs were "not the real America" by which they meant, people living there were more sophisticated and more highly educated, not to mention wealthier than small town America. Seacoast New Hampshire might be more "real America," but if it is, then America is a hard place to figure, a place of great contrasts, extreme income and wealth inequality and impenetrable political thinking.
On a clear, crisp June day, however New Hampshire comes as close to a Hobbit shire as any place the Phantom has known, one of those places you leave when you have to go on a quest, but you always hanker to get back home.
Phantom,
ReplyDeleteYou're right- there's a tremendous amount of beauty and history packed into New Hampshire's small coast. Can't think of a more lovely place to live- Trump supporters not withstanding. Hey, no place is perfect, but this one a true gem....I'm also a fan of the striking Seacoast paintings above-gems in their own right...
Maud
Maud,
ReplyDeleteSome day I will capture a good photo of wild turkeys. Like moose, they are very stealthy and so well camouflaged they are difficult to capture in photos.
Phantom