Tonight on New Hampshire Crossroads, we take a look at some of the stories we broadcast when we first went on the air over ten years ago.

First, a look at the Memorial Drawbridge in Portsmouth.

And then all is vanity.

At least, when it comes to New Hampshire license plates, that is.

And finally, it's up to Ashland to spend some time with Milton Grayton, who has learned more about covered bridges than practically any other man in America.

Hi, I'm Fritz Wetherbee, and this is New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible by grants from First NH Banks, serving the financial needs of individuals, corporations, and local governments throughout New Hampshire.

The Union Leader Corporation, publisher of New Hampshire's statewide newspapers, delivering a world of color to you every morning.

Upton, Sanders and Smith of Concord, New Hampshire, providing a full range of legal services throughout the state of New Hampshire since 1908.

And Clarion Somerset Hotel and Apartments of Nashua, New Hampshire, where we make living fun.

Tonight we will be showcasing some of the very first stories that New Hampshire Crossroads broadcast when it first went on the air 11 years ago.

And we are here in the basement of the Memorial Union Building at the University of New Hampshire, because it is here that Channel 11 was located for most of its history, from 1959 until four years ago, when we moved to our new facility outside of town.

And as you can see, it is still a television facility.

This is ITV, which is Interactive TV.

It's television where people can talk back and forth, and this facility is tied in with three other facilities also associated with the University of New Hampshire that are located around the state.

Now, Chip Neal was one of the original producers of the Crossroads programs back when they first went on the air.

And Chip, boy, this is the same facility that we used to be in, but it sure looks different to me.

You're absolutely right, Fritz.

I would never have recognized it, but this space that we're in right now, this Interactive Television studio classroom, is in the same space where Channel 11 studios used to be.

The place where we used to tape shows like Your Time and the Garden Show and the Nightly News.

There are a lot of memories, a lot of nostalgia here, just like the first season of New Hampshire Crossroads, which is what we're showcasing tonight.

As a matter of fact, the very first story we're going to show you tonight is one of the first stories that I ever did for New Hampshire Crossroads.

And as you'll see, it's sort of a whimsical look at the Memorial Drawbridge down in Portsmouth.

So come with us now, back to the first season of New Hampshire Crossroads.

This story is about a drawbridge.

Everything you always wanted to know about drawbridges, but got too old to find out.

Why don't we go back now and pick up where you left off years ago?

What's in that little house?

Music Who runs that bridge?

Music How does it work, anyway?

Music Mr.

Charles Boudin has been working on the bridge for the past 12 years.

Eight gateman formed the operator.

Pretty good job.

You see a lot of, a lot of going on.

A lot of people, a lot of boats, especially in the summertime.

Think people notice you up here?

Some, majority no.

The span itself, when you open it for a full lift, is 129ft.

But like I said, you're actually, well, you could be 149ft, or you could be 159ft, depending on the the condition of the tide if it’s high or low, whichever condition it’s in.

It can get pretty hairy because you get the wind blowing, as I said.

And this bridge will probably, I'd say she'd sway at least eight inches to a foot in a heavy wind.

(alarm sounds) Music (alarm sounds) Music There you go.

On the Portsmouth side of the Memorial Drawbridge, this is Chip Neal for Crossroads.

Well, speaking of somebody who may be a little sensitive on the subject, I noticed you, too, have lost some hair over the years, although in a different place than I have.

Lots of it since that story.

And also the hair seems to have turned a different color.

So it has.

Another thing I've done since that story is I don't shoot my own stories anymore.

I actually held the camera on top of that little house, 200ft in the air, and shot as the ship went under the bridge.

I don't do that anymore.

That gave me too much gray hair.

Now I get those young, hungry cam operators to do that for me.

I didn't know that you ever did operate camera.

Oh, yeah.

That's something.

Yeah.

Well our next story is a little bit calmer.

It's about vanity plates, which we have had certainly ten years, because that's when the story was done.

As a matter of fact, probably 30 years we've had vanity plates.

And speaking of vanity, you'll notice that somebody in this piece is a little bit thinner.

Who?

Music Imaleo.

I wonder what that means?

Army.

We all know what that means.

And all of these are vanity plates.

You know, there's over 100,000 of us now traveling around New Hampshire with vanity plates on our cars.

For those of you who don't know what they are, those are these nifty little personalized billboards that we get from the Department of Motor Vehicles and attached to the front and the backs of our cars.

They're made at the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord.

They're conceived out there by you with an amazing amount of ingenuity and creativity.

Why, you know what I think?

I think if we could harness all that mental energy, we could eliminate acid rain or maybe even make a car that lasts more than ten years, or maybe even balance the state budget.

Well, maybe not balance the state budget, but I think you get the idea.

Vanity plates, for me, are like a unique New Hampshire spice that's spread over the driving scenery for our enhanced driving pleasure.

I think it makes driving more fun, more personal.

You get to know a little something about the owner of a car without even actually knowing them.

Music We average about, well, at this time, about a thousand new issues a month that are being processed through here and sent to the prison for manufacture.

Well, I'm doing 10 to 20 in the frozen Granite State And every day I go to work to stamp out license plates Well, every day I go to work and every night I cry because every license plate I'll make tells me to Live free or die Live free or die Oh Lord, tell me why can't they say seatbelts fastened or Oklahoma is OK Vacation land sounds mighty great I wouldn't mind stampin’ out the Garden State.

It’s enough to make me cry Live free or die Why do we see so many vanity places as we travel the highways and byways of New Hampshire?

The main reason that vanity plates are so popular in the Granite State is that they're so cheap.

$7 and you too can join the fun.

Just mail or deliver your application to the Department of Safety in Concord.

The rules?

They're simple.

The person responsible for the vanity plate program, Jean Frost, explains.

Initial plates may contain up to six characters.

These characters can be a combination of letters, numbers.

There's a dash, a plus, or an ampersand available.

These also count as a character.

An initial plate must consist of two or more letters, and these letters cannot be combination of letters that we issue in other plate issues within the state.

For example, a commercial plate is distinguished by a series of letters beginning with an A. They also have a list of no nos.

They may not be morally, ethically, racially, or in any other manner offensive to good taste, and they must not appeal to prurient interest or suggest obscene interpretations.

Now guess who has the honor of detecting those crafty few who try to slip one through?

People are very clever.

Clever to the point that a lot of things that we get presented to us at the counter or in the mail, we really have to think about.

And the thing that makes us think the most is when we get numbers substituted for letters.

You just can't pick them out.

A lot of times there's something that you have to study for a while.

Sometimes they even get issued from the counter and I get them in here in the form of the shipper card which we used to order and it’s, oh my.

And what is Jean's favorite vanity plate?

I think the favorite one I have that I use often is P B number 4 U Go.

And this belongs to a lady who is the mother of eight children.

And this is what she has on her plate: pee before you go.

Very appropriate.

And finally, the most important question.

Does Jean Frost, who is in charge of all of the vanity plates in New Hampshire, have her own vanity plate?

Yes, I do.

I have several, as a matter of fact.

Just have my nickname, that’s all.

Music Now listen up, all you would-be vanity plate owners.

That extra $7, most of which goes to support driver education in New Hampshire, will probably go up to $17 on July 1st.

Why?

You guessed it - to help balance the state budget.

So enjoy while you can.

Music Okay Fritz, I have a little quiz for you.

Back when we shot that story, vanity plates cost $5.

How much do you think they cost now?

I have no idea.

$25.

Well, that's why I don't have vanity plates.

By the way, this room is?

Well, the university calls it the entertainment center, but it sits on space that we used to call the newsroom at Channel 11.

Gosh, I remember.

Boy, some things really change.

Some things stay the same, though.

Like covered bridges, which is - Our next story.

Music Covered bridges.

Romantic images.

Currier and Ives prints.

Horse drawn sleighs traveling through.

Those are some of the images you might get when you mention that word to most people.

But I met a gentleman today who has a whole different image when you mention the word covered bridge to him.

Music When most of us look at a covered bridge, we don't normally think about who built it or how it was built.

We simply enjoy its beauty and then move on.

But for Milton Grayton, it's a different story.

He knows who built it, how they built it, and he has even built a few of his own.

He's probably the only person in the country still building authentic highway covered bridges.

Milton Grayton and his son Arnold run the family business from this group of buildings behind his home in Ashland, New Hampshire.

(machinery noises) Well, the wooden bridge, it had to be wood.

Any place that a tree or timber couldn't reach all the way across without breaking down with the yoke of oxen.

Then it had to be a truss built up of some kind.

And when you build a truss up, perhaps if it had no roof on it at four years, you'd say, well, we'd better start wondering whether this is going to fall on the river because the the planks members put together and it rains, and then it gets mildewed in between and you can't (inaudible) it.

So that's the reason the cover.

But with the cover, it could last a thousand years.

(no dialogue) Initially, I had worked for some of the bigger contractors as troubleshooter and on rigging and the like, and something that they some little minor thing that they didn't have in their organization.

And I filled that spot.

Then after the war, there were some bridges in Vermont.

Some we moved for the Corps of Engineers, and we took down one in West Plymouth.

And when we took it down, it fell down 4th of July, or somebody put it down the river.

That's immaterial.

But it was down there and I had bought, the woman sold it to me because she couldn't move it for a gift shop at that point.

So I had said once when I looked at it, that made good blocking because it had been all torn to pieces.

Everybody during the war had torn all the boards off and the like.

So she sold it to me.

And, when I took out what I wanted, somebody came along and said, what are you going to do with the rest of that?

I said, I don't know.

This is what I want.

And they said, well, that's a that's a hazard in the river there.

You own this whole bridge and you're going to take it out of there and do away with it.

So when I took it apart, you found good joints that were as bright as that.

Built a hundred years, they were framed so perfectly that the light hadn't got in there yet.

So I thought anything that had as much care taken in the framing as that did didn't deserve to be wrecked.

The youngest one we haven't worked on repairing it, was 100, over 100 years old.

The oldest was 140, 146 years old.

(no dialogue) As much of the woodworking as possible is done here in the shop, and then trucked to the bridge site for assembling and finishing.

These parts are for a new bridge they are building in Bellows Falls, Vermont.

This is the location where the old Halls Bridge was before it fell in the river.

It was, it reached from over there to this, just behind this pile of, of gravel.

And the truck that came across is said to have weighed 30 tons.

And my guess would have been that he wouldn't have gotten all of his wheels into the, onto the bridge, but he got to the middle, which is a great tribute to this poor little bridge that was here 111 years or such a matter and always performed well.

So we're utilizing the old abutments, the old granite abutments over the other side, and we're going to avoid having any concrete or anything unsightly in it.

So to replace the bridge that was here, they decided instead of repairing that or knitting it together, that it would be so light, it would be better to build a new bridge that would be stronger and take fire equipment.

So the new one has, is being built up in the field just within sight of us here, and will be brought down where there's a road there in the snow now, and head toward the other abutment across the river.

Arnold Grayton has been working full time with his father since 1955.

Well, last July we started, we laid out some bed timbers, perfectly level, 140ft long by 20ft wide, timber every eight feet.

And on that we laid out the side that's nearest the sun, the west side, laying out down flat, driving the trunnels in.

We took that side up with four gin poles.

Then we did the the same thing with the east side, laid that out, tipped it up, and then it was a long ways, it was 40ft away from the other side.

So we had to roll them together to get them 16ft apart so that we could set our floor joists.

And, and that's about where we are now, is we’re completing the floor joists and starting to lay the deck.

Once we get the deck done, then we'll work with the gin pole to set these trusses, well you can see one where my father is there, now.

We'll lift those trusses up for the roof with the gin pole.

After we complete the roof, then we'll put the boarding on the sides, and then we'll jack it up and put it on rolls and make like two railroad tracks right down through here and bring it across on shore and across the river.

And that's exactly the way it happened the following June.

Of course, it was accompanied by quite a bit of celebration and just plain good times.

Music New Hampshire has about 46 covered bridges, and Vermont, 95 or 96.

And as much as we would like to claim this distinction, New England does not have the most covered bridges.

Pennsylvania does.

But if Milton Grayton has anything to do with it, we'll be catching up any time now.

This is the Henniker Bridge, which the Grayton’s built from scratch ten years ago, making it the first authentic covered bridge built in the United States this century.

The covered bridge is the cheapest way of getting a ten ton load across the river over a 100 year period.

Nobody will dispute that, nobody with any knowledge.

You can't build it for a 100 ton load without spoiling it.

You build it for too heavy a load, and you've taken all the grace out of it.

You've got a timber structure, but nothing that you could fall in love with.

It'd be like sending Miss New Hampshire to down to Atlantic City with a suit made out of grain bags.

She'd be rugged, but she wouldn't get the prize.

If it's kept reasonably clean and the roof kept on it a hundred years, certainly it wouldn't deserve a birthday party even.

This is the Cornish Windsor Bridge, which is the longest two-span covered bridge in the country.

So we do have a distinction in the covered bridge department, but maybe not for long.

The bridge is 460ft long and it takes cars two way traffic and it should be repaired.

It's in it's in bad repair or in repair that you can't trust, because a lot of iron has been added to it over the years, and you can't tell how much rust there is in the, in the bolts that they put in it.

So it was going to be fixed and in conjunction with building a new bridge.

But now there's no funds for the new bridge.

So it leaves this one alone with nothing to lean back on to get money to fix.

So our state of New Hampshire and Vermont likewise have no money to put in it.

And it's a damn shame, because when it goes in the river, they'll have to pay to have it taken out, probably nearly half as much as it cost to fix it.

Following his instincts to save this covered bridge, if he can, Milton Grayton has suggested that the state and local governments give him the $100,000 it will cost to fish the bridge out of the water after it collapses.

In return, he will make the bridge safe and jack it up three feet higher, then turn it into a toll bridge, which the state could eventually buy back when financial times are better.

I don’t know what what luck we’ll have with an arrangement like that, but of course, the proper thing to do if they can raise the money is for the state to go ahead and, and fix it as any other bridge.

So beware.

New Hampshire's covered bridges are under the loving care and protection of Milton Grayton and although some people might call him a radical.

I'm not a radical.

But if you believe in saving something, you believe in saving it.

Most people, I think, are glad the Graytons are here in New Hampshire.

Music I have some updates on that story.

Milton Grayton is now in a nursing home doing the best he can, struggling with Alzheimer's disease, but his son Arnold carries on the family business and works on covered bridges occasionally.

As far as the Cornish Windsor Bridge goes, the one that Milton was trying to save, well, the state decided to restore the bridge, not the way Milton wanted, but the way they wanted with steel instead of the wood.

Wow.

Well, thank you, Chip, and thank you for joining us.

Next week we're going to travel over to Rochester and profile something brand new in law enforcement.

It's cops on mountain bikes.

Until then, for New Hampshire Crossroads with Chip Neal, I'm Fritz Wetherbee.

It's something on one side, it says, Confucius.

And the other side it says Tao Te Ching.

We’ll be reading those and talking about those today.

So that's some texts of the philosophers, before we get to the book, Three Ways of Thought.

Theme Music You should also have a sheet that says Selections from the Book of (inaudible).

Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible by grants from First NH Banks, serving the financial needs of individuals, corporations, and local governments throughout New Hampshire.

The Union Leader Corporation, publisher of New Hampshire's statewide newspapers, delivering a world of color to you every morning.

Upton, Sanders and Smith of Concord, New Hampshire, providing a full range of legal services throughout the state of New Hampshire since 1908.

And Clarion Somerset Hotel and Apartments of Nashua, New Hampshire, where we make living fun.

Theme Music