Tonight on New Hampshire Crossroads.

We grab our paddles and head upstream for a crazy day of fresh water fun with over 200 canoeists.

It's the 16th annual Great Smith River Canoe Race in Wolfeboro.

I guess we're the only ones that got the black tie invitation.

Then we travel just up the road to Bow Lake and Strafford and see the grave of a 15 year old Civil War soldier.

And we join a quarter of a million people for a day in the sun, at the last Open House at Pease Air Force Base.

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

Theme Music Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible by grants from Shaw’s Supermarkets, providing quality and service in all their stores located in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

First NH Banks, serving the financial needs of individuals, corporations, and local governments throughout New Hampshire.

Continental Cablevision, providing quality cable service and community programing throughout New Hampshire.

And the Union Leader Corporation, publisher of New Hampshire's statewide newspapers.

We're right for New Hampshire.

Today, we're at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium up in Concord, where workmen are putting finishing touches on the facility for the grand opening, which takes place on the solstice.

That is the 21st of June, and it will be open to the general public on the 22nd of June.

I'm sure you're going to want to stop by sometime this summer because the facility is just gorgeous.

In our first story, we attend the Great Smith River Canoe Race up in Wolfeboro.

This is an interesting race for both beginner and experienced paddler.

The course includes lake paddling and whitewater and two portages.

But most importantly here the emphasis is on fun.

So, sixth year?

Yep.

Started in 84.

We missed a year and we're back, back again this year.

Just you know, something a little bit different.

Yep.

I guess we're the only ones that got the black tie invitation.

Music J-7 is Thibodeau.

My grandson, he gets roped into being an Indian because I am.

And we've always raced as Indians with, whether it's been a female that I've been with or a male.

Why we've always raced as Indians in the race.

Has it brought you good luck in the past?

Absolutely not.

For you, that was the year.

16 years ago, John Markowitz and I worked at Kingswood High School teaching together, and he was looking for a fundraising device for Outward Bound scholarships.

So Barry Lucci and I had paddled against each other for years, and I finally moved up here and we started paddling together.

The three of us just got together, and we kind of got the idea of running a race that would be kind of unique with covering three lakes, couple of portages, little whitewater, and it turned out first year we had like 40 boats.

And I don't know what they've got this year, but it's it's up there, over 200 probably.

So it's grown pretty well.

Music We’re a legend in our own mind.

So.

You have a good time.

We finish.

We do under 40 minutes.

To that point, and then - Yeah, I just have to move - So am I being interviewed at this point?

We just want to know something, what you should do to warm yourself up for a canoe race?

Oh.

Let's see.

I can’t think, what do we have to do to warm ourselves up for canoe race?

Good breakfast.

Yeah.

No, I actually had a light breakfast today.

I'd like to welcome all of you to the 16th Annual Smith River Canoe Race.

Music Music Come on, Bobby!

Music Turn around!

Turn around!

Music Good job, Ryan.

Good job, Judy.

Nice going, boys.

That’s the way.

Go!

Good job, boys!

Whose first place?

You guys?

Yeah, yeah.

Hey.

Nice.

Thank you.

Okay, these are great.

Music Boat I-15, (inaudible) In case you're interested, the best men's time for the day was 23 minutes and 41 seconds.

And the best women's time was 33 minutes and 53 seconds.

And, of course, everybody had a terrific time.

And they raised lots of money for the Lions Clubs’ special projects, things like summer camp and scholarships and eye care equipment for those that need it.

In the state of New Hampshire, there are two towns that sound almost identical.

One is Stratford, which is in the northwestern part of the state, and the other is Strafford, which is in the southeastern part of the state.

Now, back before there were zip codes, the post office was always delivering mail to the wrong town.

I understand that still happens occasionally.

Well, next we go Just Up the Road to one of those two towns.

It's the one without the T. This is the dam at Bow Lake, located in Bow Lake Village, which is part of Strafford, New Hampshire, right in the middle of Strafford County.

And this dam, which dates to 1832, is made out of granite.

1832.

Been here 150 plus years, and it holds back the waters of beautiful Bow Lake, one of the loveliest lakes in the southern part of the state.

And it's here at Bow Lake that we start our Just Up the Road today.

From Bow Lake Village, we will travel north on Route 202A, about two and a half miles to Center Strafford, then another four miles on 202A and we turn west to what the map shows as Strafford Corners.

But this is a place the natives call Crown Point.

But we start here at Bow Lake Village, and behind me you see the Bow Lake Grange Hall, which actually is the Bow Lake Community Club nowadays.

This is the third building that was on this site.

The first building was a general store that was owned by G. W. Janus, who went on to become the Mayor of Cincinnati.

The building is used for lots of things, including amateur theater.

The Bow Lake Players perform three plays a year here.

They started in 1978 with Ten Nights in a Bar Room, a play which director Justine Leighton tells us is part of local history.

Bout a hundred and, a hundred years ago, the Waldron store, which you'll see a little later, there was Ten Nights in a Bar Room and we have a letter in our possession that says, I went to visit the, down at Bow Lake and went to the theater and saw Ten Nights in a Bar Room.

So that was our first production.

Now we've met Justine Leighton and this is her husband, Roger.

Roger's mother helped write the town history.

She was one of three that wrote the history.

She wrote, like, the pioneers of Strafford and the mills and the roads of Strafford, and some others wrote other sections of the history book.

I've been told by people in this town, in fact, by one of the select persons, that that you are the authority on history in the town now.

No, I'm not the authority.

I just use my mother's book to answer questions with it.

Now, the main road that goes through Bow Lake Village is the Province Road, which is one of the oldest highways in the state.

It's the oldest true highway.

There's, there were older highways.

But this Governor Wentworth was trying to beat the governor of New York in settling Vermont.

And he built the road to open up Vermont.

On Province Road, you will find the building where the original Ten Nights in a Bar Room was performed, Waldron Store.

The store used to sit at a dangerous intersection.

You may recall the story that New Hampshire Crossroads did about the moving of the store.

And next to Waldron's store, the first of the town's three Baptist churches.

Now, the highway from Bow Lake Village to Center Strafford is called Roller Coaster Road for obvious reasons.

Music And at the end of Roller Coaster Road, the National Guard Training Site, which used to be the Austin Cate Secondary School, a private school that also served the town.

Nowadays, Guard Captain Keith Sullivan is in charge.

Well, we have an officer candidate program.

We run several NCO courses for our noncommissioned officers, and we run our program for enlistees prior to going to Basic Training.

When is it used?

Weekends?

That's used primarily on the weekends.

However, there are some training programs that run through the week.

The Guard has been here two and a half years, but the academy buildings date from 1933.

Roger Leighton attended school from the very first day.

It was built in the fall of 1933.

We had our classes in the old dormitories and this was completed round December of 1933.

The Austin Cate Academy was an outgrowth of the old Austin Academy, which was housed just up the road in this 150 year old building, which is now the town's Historical Society.

Accurate right down to its public accommodations.

And just up the road, the second of the town's three Baptist churches.

This actually is the Third Baptist Church, but it's the second we have seen.

Three miles north of town, Route 202A crosses the Mohawk River.

One of the original settlements in town used to be here.

We are now in what is known as Johnson Borough, and obviously it got its name from the Johnsons.

They settled further up the Mohawk River, and this was an early settlement, but probably was settled primarily for the forest products and not for the farming potential.

And I would judge it was around ten homesteads in this valley.

And there's not a one left.

There's not a one left now.

And we end our Just Up the Road today here in the graveyard at the Baptist church at Crown Point, and this beautiful old stone which reads, The soldier boy, Herbert E, son of George W. and Sarah A. Howard, died in Fairfax County, Virginia, November 2nd, 1864, age 15 years, 11 months and 26 days.

Member of the Fourth Company, Heavy Artillery, New Hampshire Volunteers.

He died at his post, beloved and lamented.

Well, that's our Just Up the Road for today.

Let's see.

We had an old dam site, a little theater group, the National Guard Training Academy and Historical Society, and three Baptist churches, all in about ten miles.

Hey!

Happy motoring!

Justine Leighton and the Lakeside Players will be presenting Steel Magnolias this weekend, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and next weekend the 8th and the 9th as well.

Tickets are $6 at the door and the play starts promptly at 8:00.

Lorus and Margery Milne traveled over a million miles collecting material for the 55 books which they wrote together, books about natural history and children's books.

But they returned home to Durham, where for 25 years they lived and taught.

Lorus died a few years ago, but Margery continues the work, observing and documenting, which is just what she was doing in the woods near Durham when we caught up with her.

(no dialogue) Oh, here they are.

These rare orchids.

And yet they're not so rare.

They're protected.

They're endangered here in New England because they're so showy that people are inclined to want to pick them.

When you think that they're even along the roadside here, and people just go by them and don't realize they're passing orchids, they're very small, inconspicuous.

(birdsong) There are about 15,000 different kinds of orchids all over the world.

In New England, the lady slip is found in all kinds of soil, rocky ledges, moist areas.

And you're lucky if you see them.

(birdsong) Orchids are very special.

We hear about them all through our life, but we must remember that they are endangered and we just have to admire them and let them be.

(no dialogue) They are what you would call ephemeral plants, here today and gone tomorrow.

If you want to see them, you have to get out right now.

They won't be here next month, and not even all of June.

(no dialogue) The pink lady slipper is on New Hampshire's list of Species of Special Concern, which means that it is monitored closely by field biologists in the state.

And they tell us, do not pick this flower.

And also, efforts to transplant this flower to home gardens almost inevitably are unsuccessful.

So to enjoy the pink lady slipper, go where it lives and leave it there.

As you probably know, Pease Air Force Base will be closing this fall.

Well, this last Saturday, under beautiful blue skies, the Air Force held one final Open House so that New Englanders could enjoy the grace and the spectacle of American air power.

New Hampshire Crossroads stopped by as well to record the sights and the sounds of one of the biggest air shows in America.

Music Get your Air Force coffee mugs, $5, right here.

This year only, they won't be here next year.

We'll be gone.

Get your Air Force coffee mugs!

Yeah.

Let's go.

Come on.

You can sit inside.

You can sit in with them if you want.

I got a better hat right here.

Look at that.

Sit up straight.

Sit up straight for me.

Got it on?

All right.

See that lady right there?

I want you to give her a nice thumbs up right like that.

And I want you to fly that plane.

I think it's great.

What do you think of it, Eric?

About what?

Bout all the jets?

Good.

Good?

What do you guys think of it?

Oh, I think it's great.

It's good, good for all the people.

And, you know, we have a good time.

I like to show off the aircraft.

It's an F-16C model.

It's about the best combination air to air to ground fighter in the world.

Pulls more g than any other thing you see around here and keeps it going.

And what else?

Single engine, single seat fighter.

It's about the best one there is.

There's been a lot of speculation about what will happen with the base.

There's been talk of turning it into a commercial airstrip, an industrial office park, even an amusement park.

But with the bases closing less than seven months away.

There are still no concrete plans for what to do with it.

What this is, it's a design for a base closure t shirt.

Majority of the maintenance people here on Pease are going to Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Compared to, compared to New Mexico, this is a country club, so we're considering the move kind of a burn in hell for ourselves because we're, you know with the base closure, we have to go where they tell us to go to.

So this is just something we drew up during work time and had the t shirts printed out and decided to sell them here at the Air Show as a collector's edition type thing.

You know, everybody familiar with the base closure knows that there's a lot of a lot of weird things going on with it.

And so.

We can't, we can't comment on that.

This is New Hampshire Crossroads!

New Hampshire Crossroads?

I think Portsmouth is a beautiful area.

And I'm going to be I'm going to hate to leave the area.

Good politician.

Yeah.

Well, I have mixed feelings about that.

I kind of like it here.

But then again, I want to go because I don't like the weather too much either.

Where are you from originally?

Minnesota.

Minnesota.

You don't like it - Well it rains here a lot more than it does out there.

Music There you go.

All right?

Look up.

Look mean, look mean.

All set now?

Look me, look right at me over here.

Okay?

All right.

You can let it go now.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, your United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron takes pleasure in performing for you, this our 20th flight demonstration of the 1990 season.

This is Lieutenant John Foley, narrator for the Blue Angels.

Since 1946, the Blue Angels have had the rare privilege of demonstrating to the American public the precision techniques of naval aviation, hoping to inspire our young men and women to pursue careers in the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

The maneuvers you will see demonstrated here this afternoon are coordinated tactical techniques developed by Navy and Marine pilots, both in peacetime training and actual combat.

(jet plane engine noises) When they start to gain altitude, a lot more folks can see it than just here on the tarmac at Pease Air Force Base, too.

Now they're totally inverted.

And now slipping into the typical that copyright diamond position.

Blue Angel Diamond.

That is the crowd pleaser, that shows how the FA-18 can sneak up on the enemy.

It has done a magnificent job of throwing this crowd into cheering as they snuck up from behind the audience, brought them to their feet, as flights five and six came through, one down the runway and one from the back of the crowd.

John, you want to call that tactical surprise?

I think that's a very good summation.

Music That was awesome.

Nearly a quarter of a million people turned out for the Open House this last weekend.

And although this is the last show that will be sponsored by the U.S.

Air Force, the New Hampshire Air National Guard hopes to remain at the facility and continue the tradition of air shows on the coast.

Only time and the decisions of the Pease Redevelopment Commission will tell whether this will become a reality.

Well, thank you for joining us.

Next week we will meet internationally acclaimed New Hampshire artist Sigmund Abeles, whose pastels and paintings are included in some major collections and museums throughout the world.

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

Theme Music Presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads is made possible by grants from Shaw’s Supermarkets, providing quality and service in all their stores located in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

First NH Banks, serving the financial needs of individuals, corporations, and local governments throughout New Hampshire.

Continental Cablevision, providing quality cable service and community programing throughout New Hampshire.

And the Union Leader Corporation, publisher of New Hampshire's statewide newspapers.

We're right for New Hampshire.

Theme Music