New Hampshire Photo Tour

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Beach at Ellacoya

Beach at Ellacoya, originally uploaded by sfinley_nh.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Clouds between the mountains

Clouds between the mountains, originally uploaded by nhpanda.

We rode the tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain at Franconia Notch State Park in northern New Hampshire. As you can see, it was a cloudy day but it was fantastic to see the clouds both above and below us.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Benson's Animal Farm

DSC_4806, originally uploaded by jcfreed_1999.

Benson's Animal Farm Hudson NH

From Wikipedia

The zoo was founded by John Benson in 1924 as an animal-training center, and was opened to the public in 1926 with animal exhibits, a miniature train, games and exhibits.

John Benson's career started at Lexington Park in Lexington, Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Although he was not the owner, he ran the amusement park, which was filled with all sorts of exotic animals, a theater, a women's resting building and other facilities. The women's resting house remains and is now a home. At the time trolleys took Bostonians from Massachusetts Avenue to Bedford Street and dropped them off at the park's entrance, located on the Lexington and Bedford town line. The park finally closed in 1921.
Benson then went to New Hampshire to open his own animal park. After opening to the public in 1926, Benson's was expanded in 1932-33 with the addition of a permanent Wild Animal Circus. A special "Jungle Train" ran from Boston to Hudson on Sundays, with admission to Benson's included in the ticket price. By 1934 the parking lot could accommodate 5,200 cars. In 1940 animal trainer Joe Arcaris began his association with the zoo, performing acts with lions and other animals till the late 1970s.

Benson died in 1943, and Boston Garden Corp. bought the property the next year. The park was closed to the public during WWII, and re-opened in 1945. Starting in the 1960s, it went into a period of decline in maintenance and attendance. It was sold in 1979 to Arthur Provencher, who reversed its decline for a while with an influx of money. Although many people tried to convince Arthur to develop the property into a large paved amusement park, he was determined to preserve its status as an animal farm, with its primary focus being the animals, and not amusement rides. His main interest was always the beauty of the animals, which had inspired him for most of his life. However, the farm remained unprofitable.

Toward the end of its existence as a zoo, it had a wide variety of animals, including trained lions, bears of several different species, llamas, a gorilla, elephants, monkeys, and many kinds of birds. With declining finances in the 1980s, the park added features to add family interest. After an unsuccessful association with outside investors, Provencher filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1985. In 1987, in a final effort to save the park, he changed it to an amusement park, whose full name was "New England's Playworld Amusement Park and Zoo," notable for a huge statue of Mighty Mouse. This change failed to stem the decline, and the park went out of business at the end of the 1987 season.

Since 2001 there have been efforts by local people to restore the grounds as a park.

Benson's Animal Farm

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Mary E. Prescott Pier | Prescott Park

Mary E. Prescott Pier | Prescott Park, originally uploaded by Philip Case.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Pretty Weed

Pretty Weed, originally uploaded by judy stalus.

Anyone know what this little weed is? It has a seed head like a dandelion on steroids.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Porter Street HDR

Porter Street HDR, originally uploaded by Philip Case.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

365:186 Flax to yarn

365:186 Flax to yarn, originally uploaded by pennacook.

Today was busy. Went flying this morning. Then it was off to a Lincoln celebration in Dover, NH. Evidently, Lincoln came to the area in 1860. They had done a recreation of an actor playing Lincoln escorted downtown, but our timing was off, so we missed that. They had a Civil War encampment set up along with a few other historical actors/actresses. One display was this spinning display, where women were turning flax into yarn. This is step two in the process, separating the flax on these steel teeth. Bokeh'd in the background is a spinning wheel.

Project 365, Day 186.