in Thoreau’s Journal:

With this flower, so much more flowerlike or noticeable than any yet—begins a new era in the flower season. 

[My Our Town Transition, first posted April 1, 2024]

I’ve heard from many people that once you’ve lived in Sandwich, NH you may leave it but it never leaves you.   But as of April 1st, in the narrow sense, the me that’s part of Our Town will not live here any longer.   So, no more “Our Town” from me.  

Some of you may know that in addition to a zillion photos of the Sandwich landscape, I have accumulated a similar amount of research on Henry David Thoreau’s amazing, 2,000,000 word, daily Journal which he kept from 1836 until his death in 1862.  Thoreau came to New Hampshire fairly often, once camped in Center Harbor, and climbed Red Hill.  But to the best of my knowledge, he never made it to Sandwich.

Whether by the vagaries of the gods, or the harbingers of climate change, the climate in Sandwich has become fairly similar to that of Concord, Massachusetts in the mid-1800s. Most of Thoreau’s close observations of weather, flora, and fauna in Concord then, are abundant in Sandwich now.  So I’m thinking of making a daily post from Thoreau’s Journal coupled with an archival photo taken here in Our Town that illustrates it. I will give this a certain subject heading and see if I can take us through a few years of Thoreau Comes to Sandwich.  Despite the fact that he never did.  But his Journal still can.  

I can say, in many ways, Thoreau’s Journal has been my guide for living in Sandwich, showing me what to see, how to get off the beaten path, how to set priorities and, how to keep a clear mind.

Last, I want to thank all the folks who’ve given me feedback on my daily Our Town posts.  It’s given me great pleasure to share my excursions at Chicks Corner and farther afield.  I hope my fascination with both the small and the grand details of where we live has come across.  It is something we who live–and have lived here–all share. From my own experience I surmise this can change your life.  My hope for you all is that you know this to be true for yourselves.