New Hampshire for the New Year

Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

To wrap up the year, Rachel and I traveled to NH, first to meet her parents for a few nights at The Sugar Hill Inn and then on to Portsmouth where we met cousin Jesse and Becky.  Sugar Hill is a little town in the White Mountains, up the hill from Franconia (the proud hometown of Bode Miller).  The towns around Sugar Hill are pretty sleepy, but a great place to ski, hike or escape busy life for a few days.  We met two sisters at Franconia’s Main Street restaurant, “The Dutch Treat” that have lived there for 65 years.  We asked them for directions and they said they didn’t know the street names….just to follow the creek and take a left over the bridge. The area is also famous for the Old Man of The Mountain.  The face made of stone, which crumbled and fell in 2003.

The Old Man of the Mountain (Before and After Crumbling)

After Sugar Hill, we visited Portsmouth, which was a picture of health for small town, locally-owned businesses and downtown culture.  The weather was hovering around zero and  it snowed about 8 inches while we were there, but we stayed warm in a few great restaurants.  We loved Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Cafe for dinner and the Flatbread Company for lunch.  We also had a good new year’s meal at the Portsmouth Brewery.  The main courses were just okay, but we had fun with the paired appetizer and beer experience.

Portsmouth has a population comparable to Ithaca, and has a University nearby (UNH).  They also went through a period where their downtown suffered and many locally-owned businesses and restaurants closed.  But about 10 years ago, the local merchants and government organized to bring it back to life.  And today the town is rich with great restaurants, shops, pubs, restored buildings, historical sites, etc.  As Ithaca considers its own redesign and development of their downtown and commons, we should take notes from success stories like Portsmouth.  One difference is the proximity of Portsmouth to Boston and other vacation towns.  While Ithaca can draw people in the summer for their wineries, parks and lakes, they don’t have the same tourism draw in the middle of February.

A few pics of the town (not my own).  The blizzard was not too conducive for photography.

Downtown Portsmouth

Market Square

Portsmouth's Tugboats