This is the house I stayed in for a couple of nights in Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. In the driveway to the right is the car I have hired for 7 weeks, a Toyota Avalon.

I left Providence by train for Boston and then took the Red Line commuter rail to the area called Cambridge where I hired the car. Cambridge is near the edge of Boston I would leave by and I picked up the car just after mid-day, so I minimised my encounter with Boston drivers as much as I could, having been warned about them.

It was still scary leaving a multi-storey car park in an automatic, driving on the right of the road and trying to find my way to I93 (the interstate that goes north to New Hampshire). I managed it, but not without a few heart stopping moments and several wrong turns. Once on the I93, it was easy enough, though 5 lanes each direction is new for me. It was only about 70 miles to Concord, but I was exhausted by the time I arrived.

However Concord is a lovely quiet small town. I doubt anyone there is employed other than by state or local government, or they work servicing those who are so employed.

The AirBnB was lovely, in a nice neighbourhood about 10 minutes walk from the centre,

This mini book exchange was just round the corner. Five minutes walk away from town was a lovely public park, White Park (named for the donor).

The baseball diamond

Then it was off to the centre.

The main official buildings are all close together. The State House is just round a corner to the left, and beyond the State House is the main shopping street. Not a lot else in the town, the likes of Walmart and car dealerships are a couple of miles outside, across a river.

They are very proud of the State House and its dome covered in gold. Part of the building dates from 1819, but it has been extended and remodelled since.

This time there wasn’t even a metal detector to pass to get inside. I was offered a free tour, joined by three American ladies (sisters), but actually I learnt nothing that wasn’t on the leaflet I was also given.

This is where the state representatives have met since 1819 – all 400 of them! New Hampshire is quite large in size, but its population is only 1.33 million, so it is the most over-represented state in the US.

This is where the 24 State Senators meet, and take the real decisions.

Fortunately for those paying local taxes, each representative and senator is only entitled to $200 plus travelling expenses for their entire two year term of office. This does mean that it is mostly the well to do and the retired who stand for office.

The corridors are lined with paintings of the state governors, and they now have a problem. Each governor chooses how to be portrayed (must be alone) and lately they have chosen very large full length portraits, and the building is rapidly running out of wall space.

Two cases of old flags line the entrance hall. They are the actual flags New Hampshire units used in battle during the Civil War. They are very very proud of them.

I only spent two nights in Concord, before driving north to Whitefield in the White Mountains. En route I stopped at the former Shaker village near Canterbury. It is free unless you want to see inside the four buildings that have been restored.

Canterbury was established in 1792 as the 7th Shaker Community. Its last inhabitant died in 1992, since when it has been a museum. There is still one small Shaker Community left in Maine. At its height in the 1850s, Canterbury had 300 residents and 3000 acres. Now the site has about 900 acres, most of it woodland.

This display at the entrance gives some idea of their lifestyle.

Shakers were probably always doomed to die out as they were celibate, and relied on attracting new recruits who were of the same religious conviction.

The location is wonderful, in rolling countryside, with the village on the top of a hill, but there was a very sad feel to the place now it is empty.

Someone is farming the land around, as these contented cattle testify, and there are still extensive orchards.

There were also some small plots of vegetables, which seem to be a University of New Hampshire project.

I believe they were self sufficient, growing what they required. They mainly worked with wood, and as the river was not able to produce power for mills, they constructed dams for nine mill ponds to drive sawmills. Apparently they made a lot of money.

This is one of the two remaining mill ponds. The mills no longer exist, and even the dams of these two have had to be rebuilt in recent years.

Canterbury seems to have specialised in producing specially designed besoms, as well as Shaker furniture.

I went for a walk through the woods and round the mill ponds to break my journey. At this time of year Michaelmas daisies and golden rod provide quite a lot of colour. The golden rod is much shorter than the garden varieties I have seen in England.

In general New Hampshire drivers drive well and courteously, but they do not pay too much attention to speed limits. Often I am driving at the speed limit and vehicles pass me at some speed. Of course the State motto is “Live free or die”. There is very little traffic away from the Interstate highways, so most drivers get away with it.

My next post will be mainly about walks I did once I got into the White Mountains and the Lakes Region.

The leaves are just starting to shows signs of changing colour.