Above: “Colorful Old Barns, New Boston, NH” fine art photograph by Edward M. Fielding – framed in barn wood.
New Hampshire is a beautiful state full of natural wonders but also lovely villages nestled in valleys, linked by uncrowded twisty country roads.
Traveling on the highways say from Boston to the White Mountains for skiing, hiking or shopping, one might get the impression that the state is nothing more than a highway running through forests but exit the highway and explore and you’ll find beautiful old towns like New Boston, NH on the outskirts of Manchester.
Unlike the urban/suburban sprawl found around most large cities in the US these days, New Hampshire quickly becomes rural and scenic once you leave the highway. Take any exit and within minutes you’ll be wandering through forests and small village centers with country stores, a post office, a bank and not much more.
New Boston, NH is particularly scenic. Once the site of hundreds of mills along the river banks producing products like pianos for the Boston market.
In 1820, the town had 25 sawmills, six grain mills, two clothing mills, two carding mills, two tanneries and a bark mill. It also had 14 schoolhouses and a tavern. The Great Village Fire of 1887, which started when a spark from a cooper’s shop set a barn on fire, destroyed nearly 40 buildings in the lower village. In 1893, the railroad came to New Boston, and farm produce was sent by rail to city markets. The train line was abandoned in the mid-1970s, and the former rail bed is today a walking path.
– Wikipedia