On the journey to your travel destination, never overlook the town where you quickly pass through after stopping at a service station for gas, restroom, coffee or snack. There is beauty everywhere in New England — that is, if you look carefully.
Once, on our way to the great, leafy town of Hanover, N.H, we stopped at a service station in tiny Contoocook, N.H., near Concord. Taking a quick look at the area while attending to our car, I saw old homes with front porches, people out for walks, kids playing in their yards, a few mom and pop stores, a church, and an old railroad station with ancient train intact.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but I didn’t see one person on a cell phone or texting. I can’t recall the last time I saw an absence of that lack of modern technology use within a 10-minute timeframe. It was like we were in the 1950s, here in Contoocook!
While the town’s vibe was certainly pleasant, we left Contoocook with memories fading with every inch of the Route 89 highway. It was, after all, a stop along the way.
A funny thing happened, however, as we approached Hanover. I started thinking about Concootook. I thought about how unpretentious the town seemed and that those people out for a walk and playing in the yards looked pretty darned content. I considered the lack of noise — something that we get bombarded with from so many angles in suburban Boston. I looked back on a face-to-face encounter with the old train station and how locals must have tremendous pride in the town’s history. Otherwise, a strip mall would be there instead of this downtown centerpiece, right?
Contoocook, in retrospect, could have been our destination instead of the journey if we knew it better, or perhaps having a relative there to visit. If that was the case, we would embrace coming to this town for its hometown feeling and relative normalcy. Small town America does exist in our much busier world and deserves to be seen and appreciated. In fact, we had some friends move away from the suburban rat race and high expense to live in a small New Hampshire town much like Contoocook. They love their new town so much and would never come back to suburbia. I suspect Contoocook is very much like that, too, for many of its residents. Next time, we stop in Contoocook it would be great to get out of the car, walk around a little, talk with some residents, and further discover this bit of authentic New England.