Extended stays in Concord, NH, and Remembered mariners in New Bedford, MA

A pair of daytrips reminds me that the built world gives us great looks into the past

Like most people, especially educators, Summertime means travel for me and my family. As much as we love going to faraway places that we’ve never been before, there’s plenty of discovery to be made by venturing just a short distance from home.

Hotels of Concord, NH

The Eagle Hotel has stood across the State House lawn almost as long as the legislature’s building has been used in Concord

Speaking of traveling medium-distances, my son and I recently had an appointment in our state capital city, Concord, and spent a little while afterwards walking around downtown. Concord is a modest-sized city which resembles other towns and cities in the state, which makes sense given its central location and two centuries of being the capital. That designation came about in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as the growing New Hampshire communities in the western and northern parts of the state became irritated with sending representatives to the legislature in Portsmouth, and began convening in Concord, along the central-running Merrimack River.

New Hampshire has long prided itself with a government that is kept in check by the people of the state. It has the largest state legislature in the country, an executive council independently elected from the governor, and the executive office serves for two year terms. In the 18th and 19th centuries the governor would only be in office for one year at a time.

I worked in an 18th century tavern, which is now part of a museum, in Portsmouth, and from that job came to learn a lot about how these businesses functioned and thrived thanks to the various industries present in the local economy. When Portsmouth was the capital, government was one of the main lines of work that brought people to the city, and necessitated accommodations that would replicate what they had at home.

With so many people coming into Concord to conduct the people’s business , both officially in the State House and unofficially in more relaxed settings, taverns rose up quickly in the city in the early 1800s. The Eagle Hotel, which now has a few restaurants and stores on its bottom floor, was the natural meeting place for officials because it looks out at the capitol building. Other hotels soon followed, including the Phenix and the Endicott.

The Phenix (no, I’m not spelling it wrong) with a wonderful ghost sign for flour

The Endicott Hotel, further down Main Street

Some of these places remain as hotels, others are just blocks of stores, and I doubt any of the 400 House representatives stay at these anymore. There’s plenty of modern hotels, and of course modern roads that make travel to Concord a little over an hour from even the furthest corners of the Granite State. But, like everything else in the built world, these 19th century taverns-turned-grand-hotels, are primary sources for certain.

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New Bedford’s changing demographics seen in its memorials

My family took a longer-than-expected trip to New Bedford, Massachusetts yesterday. As a dollhouse expert, my wife has long wanted to visit Flip This Dollhouse, one of the country’s largest doll house stores, which is housed in a renovated textile mill (a pretty common sight in New England). After we got our fill of tiny people and their homes, we did some exploring and eventually made our way to Seamen’s Bethel, a chapel in downtown New Bedford dedicated to its substantial maritime community.

New Bedford has a long and storied history with the sea, particularly whaling. Herman Melville placed New Bedford into American Popular Culture in 1851 with Moby-Dick, and a picture and plaque in Seamen’s Bethel recognizes him for it.

The church is known for its masthead pulpit, but I gravitated to reading all of the memorial stones placed around the sanctuary. They, like all things, tell stories, especially when analyzed as primary sources. The most informative thing that comes from these solemn reminders of the everlasting danger of seafaring is the changing ethnic demographics of New Bedford and the occupation of sailing in general.