NH Secrets Legends and Lore

John Stark is New Hampshire's greatest military hero. In this podcast you will come to learn that Stark not only had a soft spot for the Abenaki people but that soft spot may very well be the reason we live in the United States of America today and not England. Host Wayne King makes the case for respecting both the Abenaki and John Stark by restoring the name of the Asquamchumaukee River.

Undoubtedly one of New Hampshire's "power couples" during the 90's Wini Dean and Free Joseph left their high profile life in New Hampshire for the quiet life on the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean. Today, after nearly 15 years of island living Free is preparing to release his third CD and to relaunch his music career.

Reading Counter Culture is like reading the "Cliff or Spark Notes" of an extraordinary family's journey from the start of the 20th century to today. It is the tale of an era in American history as witnessed and acted upon by a family of first and second generation immigrants to the US - in which each decade yielded countless stories that, told over, would form the template of an American success story for the ages. Courage, tragedy, humor, resiliance, happiness, sadness and hope all were a part of the Dunfey family tableau.

I describe the book as Cliff notes because 360 pages just cannot do justice to the colorful and amazing story of this family of 14. Having been through the process of interviewing only some of the extraordinary people profiled in this memoire I can tell you that a 20-30 episode podcast series would be needed to even come close to doing justice to their legacy. Perhaps this podcast will lead to just such a series but understanding the basics of the rise of the Dunfey family is a study in the American dream and a celebration of how tenacity, hard work and a deep and abiding commitment to community, service, social justice and progressive ideals can change history.

In the summer of 1913 two cottages in the beachside community of Salisbury Massachusetts housed separate "clubs" of young single women and men from the Mills of Lowell. It was here that Leroy "Roy" Dunfey and Catherine ("Kate") Manning met, fell in love and - by labor day - were engaged. Together they would raise a family that helped reshape the world.

It was a bit of serendipity that brought Dr. Larry Spencer and his wife Eleanor to New Hampshire in the late 60's. What he expected to be a brief detour to New Hampshire from his home stomping grounds in the West, turned out to be a love story that blossomed into an environmental legacy here in the Granite State over the course of a lifetime.

From his earliest days charting his early morning walks to class by the rank smells emitted by the Pemigewasset River to its rebirth as a protected river under the NH River's Protection and Management act Larry has employed science and activism throughout his life to create an environmental legacy - not only for himself but for Plymouth State University.

His latest project, the Pemigewasset Riverside Park and Gyro Bike park is a collaboration between both private individuals, Plymouth State University and the communities of Holderness, Plymouth and Ashland as well as several local clubs. Led by Spencer and Dr. Lisa Doner, as well as the Conservation Commissions from the collaborating towns this conservation effort provides a wide range of recreational opportunities from hiking, swimming at "Secret Beach" to birding, snowmobiling and mountain biking.

Both Dr. Spencer and Dr. Donor have for years been running cleanup trips along both the Pemigewasset and Baker Rivers as well as providing volunteer time and brainpower to the task of helping to create a sustainable future for these two beautiful rivers.

I caught up with Larry Spencer recently and spoke with him about his legacy and finding time in his busy retirement.

There is something sacred about a fishing/hunting camp: off the grid, on leased land, deep in the woods. The last quarter mile of what is almost always a hike into the camp is a near-religious experience in any season. The anticipation as one nears the camp can make the heart flutter for the average camp owner.

For John Harrigan, legendary newsman and editor, New Hampshire's premier outdoor columnist and Northcountry icon, the story behind his camp is woven so thoroughly into his life that it is almost impossible to separate. Like a beautiful strand of Bittersweet whose tendrils, flowers and seeds weave through the joys and sorrows of his life.

But time waits for no man or woman. Inevitably, the time comes when the trek into camp challenges the years and reluctantly the man or woman must yield to the exigencies of the moment.

John is sanguine about this, yet he also recognizes the momentous import of this transition within the context of both his own history and that of the camp itself.

In this podcast John recalls the serendipity of securing the land, tearing down the old camp - injudiciously placed in a swampy area too close to the water and falling down after years of deferred maintenance. Then the joyous - and bittersweet - process of planning and executing the building of a new camp.

It seems almost poetic that John has opted to pass the camp along to another renowned Journalist, Gary Ghioto, who wrote for The Courier, Foster's Daily Democrat, The Boston Globe, and NH Public Radio among others and at NHPR played a central role in the reporting of the Colebrook shootings that had played such a central role in John's life.

Doug McLane is a resident of Plymouth and in my view one of New Hampshire's environmental heroes. His work in the battle to halt climate change is well known and acknowledged, but he has also been deeply immersed in the fight to restore the American Chestnut.

Doug is a board member of the NH/VT Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. He is fond of saying that  "before the chestnut blight - running from about 1904 - 1950 - decimated the North American chestnut tree population, that "A squirrel could travel from Maine to Georgia on chestnut tree branches without ever having to touch the ground." So I guess you could say that for a squirrel, the Chestnuts were the Appalachian Trail of its world.

In his 96 years Bud Thompson played the pivotal role in the founding of the Canterbury Shaker Village and, with his wife Nancy at his side, The Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum, honoring the art and spiritual oneness of the Native American people of this continent. Along the way offering up their help to also preserve the legacy of New Hampshire's only US President, Franklin Pierce.

Celebrating the Society for the Protection of NH Forests - A Conversation with Jack Savage

A Joint production of New Hampshire Secrets, Legends and Lore Podcast and The Radical Centrist Podcast.

I've been wanting to chat with Jack Savage, President of the "Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests" and I've had a growing list of things I hoped to ask him about from their part in the successful fight to stop Northern Pass recently and reaching back to the founding of the Society.

Superman Was Here - Writing and Running for Congress.

A Conversation with Elliot S! Maggin

In his Jr. year at Brandeis University Elliot Maggin wrote a term paper about how comic books and super heroes could influence the moral and intellectual development of young people. As a component of the paper he wrote a Green Arrow story where Green Arrow ran for Mayor of Star City (Sound familiar?) His teacher gave him a B+ and Maggin objected to the grade but the professor was unmoved so Maggin took his story to DC Comics who eagerly bought it and hired him to write Green Arrow and eventually Superman - and the rest, as they say, is history.

In succeeding years he would move to New Hampshire, write over a hundred Superman stories, inspire Mario Puzo to see the Superman story as a greek tragedy and to write the very first Superman movie based on Elliot's counsel.

Elliot loved New Hampshire and he claims that running for Congress against Judd Gregg was mostly just a way to try and stay in New Hampshire. Though he had always had an interest in running for office.

Elliot S! Maggin's shares his recollections of his New Hampshire years as well as the collection of icons, both real and fantasy with whom he has shared the colorful pages of history.

Even if you have not listened to the NH Secrets episode about the proposed cell phone tower on historic Cone Mountain in Thornton, NH, you have undoubtedly heard tales of small towns embattled by armies of lawyers, consultants, engineers and others over a proposal to site a cell tower on a cherished spot.

Most people respond to such a proposal with the usual frustrated sense of powerlessness, resigned to the belief that there is nothing that can be done to halt the seemingly inevitable process.

But did you know that a town has the right to hire a land-use attorney and other engineers and consultants - paid for by the applicant?

Did you know that the town can require that the applicant cover the cost of maps, alternative site plans and other studies to verify - or refute - claims made by the applicant?

These are only some of the rights outlined in the Telecommunications Act that covers the rights and responsibilities of both the companies seeking to site a tower and the communities who will be affected.