Where Do You Live? Day 7

This is my favorite historic building in town. Not because of its looks (the library and train depot are more my taste in architecture) but because of its rich cultural history and my family's connection to it. This is the Historic Belknap Mill, a former hosiery mill, built in 1823.

My family is French-Canadian, and when times were tough in Québec, they headed south to work in the mills. My mother's family settled in Laconia and worked at the many mills that lined the river. My Dad's family settled in Manchester, NH and worked at the great Amoskeag Mills, at one time, the largest textile mill in the world.
This is a picture of the Busiel Mill next door. It currently houses offices. And beyond that is city hall.
The Belknap and Busiel Mills are one of New Hampshire's most prized landmarks. They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Every spring the mill runs a program for school kids called "My First Day of Work in a Mill". From the Belknap Mill's website: "We take the children back to 1918, when production was at its peak, and the Belknap Mill was shipping socks overseas to soldiers fighting in the trenches. Children take on the identities of people who worked in this mill and learn the different jobs to make the socks. In addition to taking pride in their heritage and practicing good management and teamwork, they also learn business applications they can use for the rest of their lives."

I love this program and I've been volunteering there for three years now. I've graduated from a tour guide to a role player. I have a BLAST with those kids! I love chatting them up with what little French I know and see their little faces scrunch up, "huh?"

This pathway runs between the buildings. I wonder where it goes? Let's go see.
It leads to this bridge that crosses the Winnipesaukee river. In the back is Avery Dam. Across the river is Avery Hill, also known as French hill because that's where the French-Canadians settled. Every morning the mill would ring its bell, typically at sunrise, to let workers know it was time to report to work. They would walk down the hill and return at sunset.
Turning your head in the opposite direction, you would see another old mill, still being used by various manufacturing concerns. The grassy area next it it is now called Stewart Park, but was the site of Cormier Hosiery Mill, started by my grandfather, Alcide Cormier in 1939. He started out as a turner boy working in one of the other mills and learned the trade through years of hard work.

Here's the Gazebo built behind the mill where they have summer concerts. Inside the mill is an art gallery, concert hall and the only industrial knitting museum in the United States.

If you take a walk between city hall and the Busiel mill you will find these odd contraptions. They are sluice gates that used to let water through canals that ran under the mills to the turbines that would power them.

Here's a close up of the area behind the sluice gates. It's hard to make out, but if you look carefully to the right of the door, you will see bricks that form an archway. It used to be open below that and the water would run under the building there. When the Busiel mill was through with the water, it kept going onto the Belknap Mill and through their turbine. If you visit, the Belknap Mill still has their turbine set up.

The aerial shot was taken by Bill Hemmell of Lakes Region Aerial Photo. The building at the top is city hall, in the middle is the Busiel Mill, then the Belknap Mill at the bottom. You can see the pedestrian bridge and Avery dam above it. At the bottom center, you can barely see the gazebo.

Polar Caves Field Trip

Yes, another field trip! Yesterday, I spent spectacular day with the third graders from Woodland Heights Elementary investigating the Polar Caves. For those of you that don't live nearby, they are a series of caves that were formed when the retreating glacier broke off part of the nearby cliff thereby forming the caves from the tumbled rocks. They are wonderfully refreshing in the summer. One cave still had ice in it!

As you can see below, I brought my trusty little sketchbook. Good thing because my camera batteries died before I took one pic! These were all done with pilot pen and colored pencil on a pale green mulberry paper.

This was the view from the highest point we were allowed to go. But as you can see, the cliff and boulders towered way above us.

Well, this guy thought he was hot stuff. He spread his feathers (a good 8-10 foot span) for us and his mate and shook them. We were wondering if the kids were going to get an even bigger show!

I was fascinated by how he looked from the side and back. Long gray feathers were held upright to support the showy feathers, which were cupped forward. I guess these were the tail feathers. Under that were gray downy feathers. The black, white, blue and rust feathers were his wings.

The female was very plain in comparison—brown with an irridescent patch of blue on her neck.

They had other exotic birds there—mostly colorful pheasant from China, Tibet and the Himalayas.

Some of the rocks had some large leafed lichen growing on them, about the size of a maple leaf I'd say. Others had single fern fronds growing out of the moss. All very cool!

A Field Trip to Prescott Farm

On Tuesday, I spent the day with my son's third grade class learning about ecology (the realtionship between organisms and their habitats. See Megan, I WAS listening!) at Prescott Farm in Gilford. We learned all about seeds, plants, how long it takes to make 1" of topsoil (see if you can find the answer in my sketchbook), and pollenation. I sure learned a lot as you can see by my sketchbook. I had no idea what a bobolink was so I looked it up when I came home. The farm is part of the Audubon Society of NH and has hiking trails. I'd like to go back with the family this summer.

Here's a page from my new handy dandy sketchbook.
This page was created on parchment paper with
fine pointed sepia Pitt pen and colored pencils.

This page was created on #140 lb. Fabriano Uno watercolor
paper with a fine pointed sepia Pitt pen and colored pencils.