My Little Town

Since you've expressed an interest in where Lainie lives, I'll give it a go. My lil town isn't very big or interesting but there are some nice little places I like to frequent.
First of all, I was born and brought up in the city and moved to the 'sticks' in 1990.
Dave (my now ex husband) and I were first time home buyers and didn't have much money so we bought this mobile home that sat on just under an acre of land that is mostly wooded. What attracted me to the property at first was the quiet. It was the middle of the day in the middle of winter, and there was no traffic noise, no hustle or bustle, just peace and quiet. The back yard looked so pretty with the snow all over the ground, untouched since no one was living here at the time, and I loved the fact that the yard was partially cleared but the rest was thickly wooded. The kids were only 5 and 7 at the time so I was thinking they would have a blast playing out back, exploring the woods and they could have that dog they always asked for. I was right...once we moved here, they have been all over those woods and even made a playhouse out of big pieces of particle board which was later improved upon. We eventually added an old kitchen table and chairs out there and the kids would use it to play board games with their friends. It now stores a foosball table and some bicycles.

The road I live on is actually a main road that bypasses the 'downtown' area and kind of loops around the town center. The downtown is not very big and if you blink while driving through it, you will miss everything. The Dudley-Tucker Library is still one of my favorite haunts. For a small town library, they keep up with all the newest books and authors and if they don't have the book you are looking for, they will find it at one of the other local libraries and 'borrow' it for you.

Behind the library is the Town Office building. Many large cities have a mayor who runs the city but in small towns, most everything is run by a Town Manager. Like a Mayor, the Town Manager is elected during town elections, along with Selectmen and School Board members. Anyway, all of those elected town officials have offices in that building as well as the tax collector. UGH...I hate going there because it always costs me money! In the picture I have posted of the Library...you can sort of see the Town Office Building to the left in the background. The portion of building you see to the right of the library is a bank.


Directly across the street from the library is the Town Common. It's small and very countryish. I've enclosed a picture of the gazebo that is the centerpiece of the Common.


There are a couple of churches and another bank in the center of town along with a small corner store and two little restaurants. One is called the Longbranch and it is only open for breakfast and lunch. This is where the locals gather for the best cup of coffee in town (and all the gossip you can handle). Across the street is a pizza joint and around the corner is the VFW.

We have an elementary school, middle school and high school in town. They are in three different areas of town, and have always been over crowded since I've been here. Over the last year, they tore down the middle school which I believe was actually the high school at one time, and built a brand new school in the same location.

There is one small shopping center on the other side of town that has 5 or 6 businesses and a large grocery store that is a couple of miles from my house. The Post Office is now located at one end of the shopping center and the hardware/craft store is at the other end. In between is a pizza/sub shop, a small medical clinic and a discount furniture store. Across the parking lot is a bakery, a pet store and a video rental store. We have a McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, a bowling alley and a State Liquor store. I do my grocery shopping at the Hannaford's and I like it because it also has a pharmacy right there and I can rent DVD's too. There is also a branch of the bank I go to right there in the store and it is open in the evening as well as Sunday afternoons.

One of the larger businesses in town is the Pine Acres Campground. It is located about a half mile from my house and has seasonal sites as well as weekend sites. There is a large pond down there where my son used to go fishing and it is pretty well outfitted so you never have to leave the grounds. There's a country store, laundromat and ice cream stand there. They also have a mini golf course and water slides which are open to the public. I can smell the smoke from the campfires at night from my house.

So there it is...a little sample of small town life in New Hampshire. I have to admit, I don't shop at the shopping center because I think the items there are overpriced. But in a pinch, it beats driving 15 or 20 minutes to the nearest Wal-Mart. We don't have a movie theater or any really decent restaurants here but that's alright with me. The bigger the town gets, the less peace and quiet we are able to enjoy. If I want the fun of the big city, it's only 15-20 minutes away.