Support the Old Woman of the Mts She's STILL There!

06/12/2022

🔭 Here comes the planet parade! (It only took 100 years!) If you miss it on June 24, you'll have to wait until 2041 to see it again. Learn more: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/junes-night-sky-guide-june-2022

05/04/2022

New Hampshire 'Firsts'

New Hampshire is probably best known for its First-in-the-Nation Presidential Primary, held every four years; however, there are other New Hampshire ‘Firsts’ that you might not know about.

For example, in 1775, New Hampshire was the first colony to boldly declare independence from England, and it also was the first state to have a state constitution in 1776.

In 1800, the first government-issued Navy shipyard was founded on the Piscatagua River in Portsmouth and called of course - the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Ironically, the first naval officer to command the shipyard was…Commodore Isaac Hull. (Get it, ‘hull’ of a boat.) The shipyard also built the first submarine in 1917.

The first all-female strike was held in 1828 to protest mill conditions in Dover, which led New Hampshire to institute the first 10-hour work law in the nation.

Before cell phones, telecommunications cables were used to send messages. The first direct ocean telecommunications cable from Europe to America was completed in 1874 - stretching 3,100 nautical miles from Ireland to Rye, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire was the first place in the U.S. to host an international peace talk. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt used Portsmouth as a neutral ground to negotiate peace between Russia and Japan over the Russo-Japanese war. Interestingly, the aforementioned cable played a key role in literally opening up communications between the warring countries. The success of the peace treaty gave Theodore Roosevelt a Nobel Peace Prize and was the reason for the gift of the cherry trees from Japan that line the Potomac in Washington DC.

In 1909, the first credit union in the nation was organized in Manchester to help Franco-American mill workers save and borrow money. St. Mary’s Credit Cooperative Association.

The first Bird Club and Sanctuary for birds was founded in Meriden, New Hampshire, by Ernest Harold Bynes to protect the birds from plumage being used on women's hats in 1913.

The first film about skiing premiered at the National Ski Association meeting in Chicago in 1932. The film was created by Otto Schniebs of Hanover, and John McCrillis, of Newport, who also wrote the first book about skiing. (On a personal note, I grew up in the house literally beside Mr. McCrillis and his wife Hester. Wonderful people. Got to know them quite well.)

New Hampshire is also home to the first American in space Alan Shepard, and first private citizen in the space program Christa McAuliffe.

New Hampshire has led in firsts ever since the beginning of our nation and hasn’t stopped since! Our motto of ‘Live Free or Die’ has helped develop a mindset in NH citizens that we truly can be the first to think, create and achieve great things!

04/29/2022

Oooo

Welcome to NHRF! When: May 14th, 15th, 21st, & 22nd 2022 10am to 5pm Did you miss our 2021 virtual show? Check out the videos below. Day 4 Day 3 Day 2 Day 1 Thank you to everyone who helped us all to raise money for the New Hampshire Food Bank and Rockingham Nutrition & Meals on Wheels this year! Do...

06/30/2021

A New Hampshire feline is now the state's top cat.

06/30/2021

Hero.

05/28/2021

PAY ATTENTION TO ROAD SIGNS, AND GO SLOW!!! ESPECIALLY FROM DUSK TO DAWN!!!

05/25/2021

This shouldn't even be a question, in a supposed free country.

A last-minute amendment to a bill that protects the governor’s pandemic-related emergency orders would prohibit private and public K-12 schools, colleges, and employers from mandating COVID-19 vaccines.

03/27/2021

I hope this includes the letter in the post, or check out the website.

Whitefield Resident Jeanne Robillard sends NHDES a scathing letter regarding the irony in a recent pamphlet she received instructing her to “Please Help Protect Drinking Water”

Dear Gentlemen and Ladies,

I write in reference to above mentioned permit applications and the attached letter and pamphlet I received in the mail today regarding Clean Drinking Water. My property in Whitefield is located in a Source Water Protection Area (SWPA) on Burns Pond, sometimes referred to as Burns Lake. The watershed of Burns Pond is interconnected with the watershed of Forest Lake through wetlands and small streams. My well is not only drawing my drinking water from Burns Pond, I am also drinking water from Forest Lake that has percolated through the wetlands, streams, aquifers, groundwater and surface waters.

This letter was sent to me by the town to inform me that as I am "probably already aware" certain activities on my property can affect the quality of groundwater. Because my property is in a SWPA for a public water system, potential contaminants not only impact the quality of my drinking water supply, but the public water supply as well. How ironic that the DES encourages me, as a homeowner, to "Please Help Protect Drinking Water" while it simultaneously contemplates permits that would site a 130-acre landfill in the very watershed they are asking me to protect. How utterly ridiculous that the DES has asked me to "help protect this valuable source of drinking water" while it simultaneously contemplates permitting a landfill that will permanently contaminate the combined Burns Pond/Forest Lake/Johns River watersheds, watersheds further downstream, and countless homeowner wells. This is not a "maybe" contamination could happen at this site: it will occur, with certainty. All landfill liners leak. All landfills have leachate breakouts that contaminate groundwater. Countless groundwater violations at other Casella landfills in New England, as well as their current NCES landfill in Bethlehem, prove it.

My reaction to the letter and the attached DES publication that I received today was visceral. Suffice to say- you have got to be kidding me and that is putting it courteously. I fail to understand how the DES is even accepting an application for a proposed landfill at this site. I also fail to understand how the DES can contemplate these permits and the inevitable contamination to the watershed, but can publish a pamphlet asking ME to protect the drinking water! Someone please explain this to me because I am beyond angry; I am incredulous; I am livid; and I am disgusted. The pamphlet I received states ``Got Clean Drinking Water? It's up to you!" With all due respect - it is up to YOU, DES. You, and you alone, will determine the health and quality of my drinking water as you contemplate the aforementioned permits for a landfill in the heart of wetlands and multiple watersheds.

Please do not ask me, a homeowner, to protect this watershed. That is your job, DES. Please do it. Do it by denying these permit applications. The public should not even have to point out the absurdity of Casella's proposed landfill project in this location: it is, indeed, "up to you!"

Thank you.

Jeanne Robillard
Whitefield





NH Department of Environmental Services

Please contact your representative and urge them to PLEASE SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 177 which prevents landfills from being sited within 2 miles of NH State Parks. This is an issue for all NH residents as the current setback of 200ft provides little or no protection for any of our crown jewels we call our St Parks!

12/22/2020

sweet!

The aurora borealis could be visible over New Hampshire beginning Wednesday night.

04/15/2020

ASAP

04/04/2020

BUBYE CONSTITUTION

01/25/2020

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12/29/2019

BooooYaaa

The battle was quintessential David vs. Goliath.

12/20/2019

Sweet NH boys!!!

12/12/2019

We don't want it, or need it.

LITTLETON — The town’s fire chief is raising safety concerns as a Massachusetts company seeks to build the first battery energy-storage facility in New England on Foster Hill Road.

12/04/2019

Beautiful!

Ice halos in Franconia Notch...
Steve LeBaron (Highway Design Bureau) captured a rare ice halo event atop Cannon Mountain while skiing on Saturday. "It seemed to happen as the clouds were lifting." Tiny ice crystals in the atmosphere create halos by refracting and reflecting light.

11/29/2019

Franconia Notch needs a few of these

These wildlife bridges don't just help to create beautiful scenery. They also keep drivers and wildlife safer.