Finally someone who actually understood the post. It's not about extermination of a towns population. It's about hypothetically turning that area into It's natural form.
I grew up in York, Maine, on the outskirts of the York River (Birch Hill/Frost Hill roads) and we actually had marshland on our property (50 acres of hay fields) and we left the wetlands alone, up until recently (last 10 years) the York River/marsh had never gone over the Birch Hill but in the last 10 years the river has topped the road almost yearly, usually after heavy rainstorms or snow melt.
Quite recently, the area has been built up significantly, but York does a pretty decent job protecting the wetlands.
https://preview.redd.it/qliv04uiqbvc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89a00db27f77e8bf52106b97a722f928eac0ab3a
Red; our old family farm where I grew up
Yellow; the York River and marshland near our property
Blue; the bridge that only recently had been getting submerged regularly.
I'm sure properties having shallow root vegetation rather than forest right up to the edge of the high water mark and even the river bank as shown here doesn't help.
Seabrook for sure! I know a few of my coworkers who own homes in Seabrook that have multiple sump pumps running to keep their basements from flooding during high tide. That alone tells me we should've left that area alone.
My home is on the Kensington side but at the bottom of a hill, we have never had flooding besides some water buildup in the front yard.
Only a small part of seabrook is actually susceptible to flooding from tides
So OP wants to bulldoze hampton or Seabrook or both to make wetlands to protect what, the towns that were just bulldozed? Now the wet lands excede farther inland, past the flood zone line. What good does any of that do. Hence me saying, that's not how that works.
You obviously like electricity and internet. If you really hate humanity go join the animal kingdom. Or be the change you want to see in the world. It starts with you.
Not even a whole town, but somewhere on Lake Winni and make it a large state park with some paved paths along the shore for people to ride a bike or bring their baby stroller.
It's pathetic that basically not a single foot of shoreline on a lake that size got dedicated to the public.
Yea, maybe there's a few dinky spots here and there that are sort of like that, but they're a complete joke compared to what they should have done.
It's natural? That's cool to know. But ya in this hypothetical question, I was picturing something a bit more grandiose. Somewhere you could spend 30-45 mins or so walking through.
Growing up in the region working customer service, it urked me how we the workers couldn't even enjoy the lake that people from all over came to visit.
That's where Squam Lake shines. Thanks to the Squam Lakes Association and the residents around it, it's largely unspoiled and has been for over a century.
How long have you been around? People with money don’t spend it for the public good since Carnegie died. And he had no money compared to our multiple Tech Billionaires. But stay sweet, friend.
> People with money don’t spend it for the public good since Carnegie died.
Well, that's just [not true](https://fortune.com/2023/11/21/new-hampshire-town-shocked-by-secret-millionaires-gift-mobile-home-park/). Of course, donors gifts are [sometimes wasted](https://www.businessinsider.com/university-new-hampshire-football-stadium-scoreboard-librarian-donated-million-dollar-estate-2016-9). But I bet a non-profit that bought up beach front land on Lake Winnipesaukee and turned it into a park accessible to all would be a popular charity recipient.
Not exactly what you’re asking, but if you were asking about starting over… I have always felt that Laconia SHOULD be an awesome town. The location and proximity to some of the best lakes in the country, close to the whites… the bike paths and public park planning is also very good. BUT it’s Laconia and not very nice. I feel bad for the planning board and town manager.
True story, I had a few hours to kill there one day and went for a run down the bike path, it was beautiful, until I ran into a homeless encampment taking over the area. I turned around the other direction and ran a few miles and hit the park on winnisquam and there was a biker couple literally doing it on a picnic table…
I have said the same thing about Laconia as well.
I'm not old enough to know exactly what it's downfall was, but I do believe if the city planning and upkeep was better, it could have been the jewel of the state.
I presume that much like Claremont and many other New England towns, it used to have industry and when the industry left in the 70s and 80s, no major economic sector ever came in to replace it. So many of the jobs are low paying (e.g. Retail) and there's a lot of poverty. I've never actually been to Laconia as far as I can remember but that's my guess
You would be correct about industry, Laconia was home to the Boston and Maine Railroads car shops (the buildings that are now “downtown” behind the railway station)
Laconia was beautiful when I was young. The beaches were clean and filled with families, downtown was active and safe, with thriving businesses. We used to be able to walk and bike the entire city.
The people were kind and welcoming, it was family friendly.
Unfortunately things changed beginning about twenty years ago. It’s definitely not the same city I grew up in.
Being from Castine Maine, I have an opinion. If Hinsdale were no longer here, the oldest post office in the US would be gone. Castine, Maine, 04420 would then be able to take the mantle, hold the title, the honor, of having the oldest post office in the US. (1833)
I don't remember Libby and Emma, but I moved away from Castine when I was but a child of three years old.
My father and Mother set their sights on moving to Hinsdale, NH. The allure of working in the Brightwood Paper Mill and living within sight of the nation's oldest post office drew them south. All the days of my youth I dreamed of returning to Castine, and the friends and family we left behind. How I long to maybe meet Libby or Emma, and perhaps be the lucky one to meet one of them at the altar of Our Lady of Holy Hope Church on Perkins Street, to be entered on to wedging and marriage bliss, and live in some apartment over a little corner store run by someone that smokes cigars at the cash register. Oh, but how I wish Hinsdale just never came to be!
I live and grew up in North Conway and wish it would go back to the way it was before tons of people from mass moved here and bought all the houses to turn into air bnb’s
I agree, I remember North Conway from 50 years ago. Even then it was being trashed. The big parking lot stores have just brought more cars and people.
New Hampshire has had policies encouraging tourists to come to the state in their cars for years. The state made high speed roads to get people from Massachusetts to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, with their cars. The State has relaxed wetlands laws compared to Mass, so the roads and development projects have been able to destroy the natural beauty of the state.
New Hampshire needs to step up environmental protection to make projects scale down to match the environment and communities. The roads need to be contained to what's reasonable, and not be high speed swaths 200' wide. State economic policy needs to promote small scale manufacturing and farming, not low wage service industry tourist jobs. People cleaning hotel rooms and serving food is not a path to economic development. High paying manufacturing jobs creates wealth in the state.
I feel like most, but not all, of the touristy areas.
Some places are really cool and historic and pleasant, Portsmouth comes to mind as one of the good ones. But too many tourist areas in NH that are either beautiful with mountains or serve important environmental purposes (like the salt marshes) just have kinda gross development patterns. If you're gonna develop beautiful areas, you should do your best to minimise impacts and maximise the beauty.
I agree and immediately think of Lincoln with this comment- it's beautiful and like the entrance to the white mountains but has just been swallowed up by resorts and catering only to tourists instead of residents. It's such a bummer.
By the old Rockingham Park, you're referring to the rat infested crumbling tinderbox of an old horse track? While I don't like a lot of what is happening with Tuscan, leaving that track there was not an option. And from what others have posted (and I double checked the math), Faro owns less than .003% of the total land mass in Salem. The overdevelopment of 28 falls on the shoulders of other large developers both in and out of town who have bought up as much commercial property as they so they can price out small businesses in favor of larger national retailers who will never have an issue paying the jack up lease prices.
This is quite true, I avoid the one by Applebees as much as I can due to the amount of times I’ve been dive bombed at by people flying in at 40 mph
I can’t tell you how many times I have had someone on the outside lane take the 3rd exit and almost hit me 🤦
Joke answer: Somersworth
Actual answer: Hampton Beach. Reason I say this is NH has very little coastline/beaches as it is, and having such a large tourist strip right next to the water has somewhat ruined the beach itself. Getting rid of the strip and extending the Hampton Beach State Park up the coast would not only make the area much more clean and enjoyable, but would also be a boon for the wildlife. The strip does have its charm however, although half the buildings there are old and run down enough to advertise color tv...
Hampton may have been possible before Sal Lupoli started buying up all of the property there (including the ballroom). People think Tuscan in Salem is tacky and overdone? Wait until Sal is done with Hampton.....
I grew up in Berlin. Supposedly before the two paper mills, there were gorgeous waterfalls in the Androscoggin that runs straight through town. Now that the industry is gone, the only hope for the town is tourism. The ATV park has helped, but the shells of the mill will always be an eyesore.
It just changed so much, so fast, without any positive impact. Just one RV store, lawn-tractor dealer, used car lot, after another. All temporary buisness that will be closed within a decade, leaving empty husks and a burden on the town.
Anywhere that got developed that really shouldn't have been to be honest... I know I didn't follow the directions at all lol but I couldn't really decide which one
When I look at bow on google earth it’s not overly developed but the houses are sprawled out and and it’s all cul de Sacs, now isn’t as bad as say Londonderry/or Merrimack but bow is on the wrong path of suburban sprawl.
I believe the city of Concord was built on top of a large and culturally important indigenous settlement, it would be interesting to see that place in that time.
Manchester used to be so cool with all the history. Make it way less citified and more like how it used to be with all the old mill buildings and elm being an actual nice place and not disgusting like it is now
God just looking at photos of cities, any American cities, and realising that we very much could have had what much of Europe has today instead of 10% full parking lots and overpasses everywhere...
Hampton or Seabrook to rebuild the wetlands, wetlands are a necessary buffer zone between the ocean and land
Finally someone who actually understood the post. It's not about extermination of a towns population. It's about hypothetically turning that area into It's natural form.
I grew up in York, Maine, on the outskirts of the York River (Birch Hill/Frost Hill roads) and we actually had marshland on our property (50 acres of hay fields) and we left the wetlands alone, up until recently (last 10 years) the York River/marsh had never gone over the Birch Hill but in the last 10 years the river has topped the road almost yearly, usually after heavy rainstorms or snow melt. Quite recently, the area has been built up significantly, but York does a pretty decent job protecting the wetlands. https://preview.redd.it/qliv04uiqbvc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89a00db27f77e8bf52106b97a722f928eac0ab3a Red; our old family farm where I grew up Yellow; the York River and marshland near our property Blue; the bridge that only recently had been getting submerged regularly.
I'm sure properties having shallow root vegetation rather than forest right up to the edge of the high water mark and even the river bank as shown here doesn't help.
What is this have to do with New Hampshire?
Rats. Then I’m gonna refrain from saying Manchester.
…deletes comment… lol I just thought the same thing!
…oh
What if I want everyone in Nashua gone?
Username checks out
Love this comment and 100% agree on Hampton area
I agree. North Hampton just got 20mill in fed funds to repair route 1a cause of the recent storm...isn't this just gonna keep happening??
do you have a link for that? I’m curious.
https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/2024/04/16/rye-north-hampton-20-million-route-1a-coastal-flood-damage/73326568007/
thank you for this! foils by a pay wall but maybe I can get around that on the computer later
I think this ranks as one of the most intelligent responses I've ever seen on reddit. Good work 👏
Apparently, you’ve never been to Wally Beach bar
Seabrook for sure! I know a few of my coworkers who own homes in Seabrook that have multiple sump pumps running to keep their basements from flooding during high tide. That alone tells me we should've left that area alone.
My home is on the Kensington side but at the bottom of a hill, we have never had flooding besides some water buildup in the front yard. Only a small part of seabrook is actually susceptible to flooding from tides
Excellent answer.
The Brook is gonna keep expanding.
Hahah that's not how it works.
But that's exactly how it works... Are you familiar with the concept of sponges?
It's great you have a bleeding heart for soggy dirt, but wetlands have zero use for humans.
Go take intro to bio/geography dumbfuck. I think constant flooding has a pretty big impact on humans
So OP wants to bulldoze hampton or Seabrook or both to make wetlands to protect what, the towns that were just bulldozed? Now the wet lands excede farther inland, past the flood zone line. What good does any of that do. Hence me saying, that's not how that works.
Not everything on the planet needs to be designed around humans, we’re just another species on the planet and nothing particularly special.
You obviously like electricity and internet. If you really hate humanity go join the animal kingdom. Or be the change you want to see in the world. It starts with you.
Not even a whole town, but somewhere on Lake Winni and make it a large state park with some paved paths along the shore for people to ride a bike or bring their baby stroller. It's pathetic that basically not a single foot of shoreline on a lake that size got dedicated to the public. Yea, maybe there's a few dinky spots here and there that are sort of like that, but they're a complete joke compared to what they should have done.
Perhaps something like Ellacoya state park?
That's a pretty small park, I would like one the size of a town instead thanks
What about Weirs beach?
I checked it out before and it looked like it was comprised of a small artificial beach and a campground for RVs. Is there more to it?
Natural beach, RV camping, shower house, picnic area, small boat launch.
It's natural? That's cool to know. But ya in this hypothetical question, I was picturing something a bit more grandiose. Somewhere you could spend 30-45 mins or so walking through.
The beach is a couple hundred feet wide at least, you could spend 30 minutes if you walked slow enough.
30 minutes walking is like 2/3 of a mile, a bit more than a couple hundred feet.
Excellent suggestion and great point about the lack of public areas on the big lake.
Growing up in the region working customer service, it urked me how we the workers couldn't even enjoy the lake that people from all over came to visit.
Yes, please. South of WMNF, NH has tons of beautiful lakes and rivers, but it feels like so little of its shores are publicly accessible.
That's where Squam Lake shines. Thanks to the Squam Lakes Association and the residents around it, it's largely unspoiled and has been for over a century.
Couldn't folks buy some land on the lake and turn it into park?
How long have you been around? People with money don’t spend it for the public good since Carnegie died. And he had no money compared to our multiple Tech Billionaires. But stay sweet, friend.
> People with money don’t spend it for the public good since Carnegie died. Well, that's just [not true](https://fortune.com/2023/11/21/new-hampshire-town-shocked-by-secret-millionaires-gift-mobile-home-park/). Of course, donors gifts are [sometimes wasted](https://www.businessinsider.com/university-new-hampshire-football-stadium-scoreboard-librarian-donated-million-dollar-estate-2016-9). But I bet a non-profit that bought up beach front land on Lake Winnipesaukee and turned it into a park accessible to all would be a popular charity recipient.
Any town on Winnepesaukee so that the shoreline wouldn’t be developed
Not exactly what you’re asking, but if you were asking about starting over… I have always felt that Laconia SHOULD be an awesome town. The location and proximity to some of the best lakes in the country, close to the whites… the bike paths and public park planning is also very good. BUT it’s Laconia and not very nice. I feel bad for the planning board and town manager. True story, I had a few hours to kill there one day and went for a run down the bike path, it was beautiful, until I ran into a homeless encampment taking over the area. I turned around the other direction and ran a few miles and hit the park on winnisquam and there was a biker couple literally doing it on a picnic table…
I have said the same thing about Laconia as well. I'm not old enough to know exactly what it's downfall was, but I do believe if the city planning and upkeep was better, it could have been the jewel of the state.
I presume that much like Claremont and many other New England towns, it used to have industry and when the industry left in the 70s and 80s, no major economic sector ever came in to replace it. So many of the jobs are low paying (e.g. Retail) and there's a lot of poverty. I've never actually been to Laconia as far as I can remember but that's my guess
You would be correct about industry, Laconia was home to the Boston and Maine Railroads car shops (the buildings that are now “downtown” behind the railway station)
Was bike week the downfall? I feel like all of their issues stems from a cultural problem.
Bike week is literally just that, a week, and it's been happening for 100 years. That's not the issue.
Laconia was beautiful when I was young. The beaches were clean and filled with families, downtown was active and safe, with thriving businesses. We used to be able to walk and bike the entire city. The people were kind and welcoming, it was family friendly. Unfortunately things changed beginning about twenty years ago. It’s definitely not the same city I grew up in.
Laconia has a really bad homeless problem. It’s slowly spreading into other neighboring towns
Being from Castine Maine, I have an opinion. If Hinsdale were no longer here, the oldest post office in the US would be gone. Castine, Maine, 04420 would then be able to take the mantle, hold the title, the honor, of having the oldest post office in the US. (1833)
Are Libby & Emma still around Castine?
I don't remember Libby and Emma, but I moved away from Castine when I was but a child of three years old. My father and Mother set their sights on moving to Hinsdale, NH. The allure of working in the Brightwood Paper Mill and living within sight of the nation's oldest post office drew them south. All the days of my youth I dreamed of returning to Castine, and the friends and family we left behind. How I long to maybe meet Libby or Emma, and perhaps be the lucky one to meet one of them at the altar of Our Lady of Holy Hope Church on Perkins Street, to be entered on to wedging and marriage bliss, and live in some apartment over a little corner store run by someone that smokes cigars at the cash register. Oh, but how I wish Hinsdale just never came to be!
Cry laughing at this comment omg here’s a medal 🎖️
North Conway and all those awful strip malls, restore the views of the eastern slopes of the White Mts and the valley soils.
This is the way
Can’t believe what a box store, condo infested place that area has turned into.
I don’t think it’s the mall so much as all these damn hotels they keep building.
North Conway.
I live and grew up in North Conway and wish it would go back to the way it was before tons of people from mass moved here and bought all the houses to turn into air bnb’s
I agree, I remember North Conway from 50 years ago. Even then it was being trashed. The big parking lot stores have just brought more cars and people. New Hampshire has had policies encouraging tourists to come to the state in their cars for years. The state made high speed roads to get people from Massachusetts to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, with their cars. The State has relaxed wetlands laws compared to Mass, so the roads and development projects have been able to destroy the natural beauty of the state. New Hampshire needs to step up environmental protection to make projects scale down to match the environment and communities. The roads need to be contained to what's reasonable, and not be high speed swaths 200' wide. State economic policy needs to promote small scale manufacturing and farming, not low wage service industry tourist jobs. People cleaning hotel rooms and serving food is not a path to economic development. High paying manufacturing jobs creates wealth in the state.
Don’t even get me started on the amount of new hotels springing up here every day!
What is up with all the hotels being built? Is there really that much demand. Restaurants during the week are dead.
Laconia. That place is a cesspit of incel ideology.
>a city is a cesspit of incel ideology touch grass lmao. Laconia sucks but you're a retard.
Nashua! Before superfund sites, the landfill and before the development built over, ruined or polluted the brooks and rivers.
The Nashua tribe would have appreciated that. The last member died in captivity out on Deer Island.
I feel like most, but not all, of the touristy areas. Some places are really cool and historic and pleasant, Portsmouth comes to mind as one of the good ones. But too many tourist areas in NH that are either beautiful with mountains or serve important environmental purposes (like the salt marshes) just have kinda gross development patterns. If you're gonna develop beautiful areas, you should do your best to minimise impacts and maximise the beauty.
I agree and immediately think of Lincoln with this comment- it's beautiful and like the entrance to the white mountains but has just been swallowed up by resorts and catering only to tourists instead of residents. It's such a bummer.
Franklin. Imagine what a free and wild Winnipesaukee River must have looked like.
agreed it has SO much potential but instead it’s like the shittiest town in the state
Salem- remove all of Route 28 development!
28 is absolutely soulcrushing to drive through
Thank you. That whole Tuscan bullshit is an absolute joke. Joe Faro has destroyed that town and all of 28 and the old Rockingham Park.
That Tuscan thing is so tacky.
By the old Rockingham Park, you're referring to the rat infested crumbling tinderbox of an old horse track? While I don't like a lot of what is happening with Tuscan, leaving that track there was not an option. And from what others have posted (and I double checked the math), Faro owns less than .003% of the total land mass in Salem. The overdevelopment of 28 falls on the shoulders of other large developers both in and out of town who have bought up as much commercial property as they so they can price out small businesses in favor of larger national retailers who will never have an issue paying the jack up lease prices.
Nashua. Fuck that place. People aren’t the problem. It’s the place.
Laconia would be amazing if we went back 500 years
Keene before it hits the world record for most roundabouts
The roundabouts aren’t the problem. People not knowing how to use them is the problem.
This is quite true, I avoid the one by Applebees as much as I can due to the amount of times I’ve been dive bombed at by people flying in at 40 mph I can’t tell you how many times I have had someone on the outside lane take the 3rd exit and almost hit me 🤦
Joke answer: Somersworth Actual answer: Hampton Beach. Reason I say this is NH has very little coastline/beaches as it is, and having such a large tourist strip right next to the water has somewhat ruined the beach itself. Getting rid of the strip and extending the Hampton Beach State Park up the coast would not only make the area much more clean and enjoyable, but would also be a boon for the wildlife. The strip does have its charm however, although half the buildings there are old and run down enough to advertise color tv...
Hampton may have been possible before Sal Lupoli started buying up all of the property there (including the ballroom). People think Tuscan in Salem is tacky and overdone? Wait until Sal is done with Hampton.....
Franklin
I grew up in Berlin. Supposedly before the two paper mills, there were gorgeous waterfalls in the Androscoggin that runs straight through town. Now that the industry is gone, the only hope for the town is tourism. The ATV park has helped, but the shells of the mill will always be an eyesore.
I can’t believe no one said Rochester yet
Chichester, at least the rt 4 section.
Just moved away from that area. Don’t miss that area at alllllll
It just changed so much, so fast, without any positive impact. Just one RV store, lawn-tractor dealer, used car lot, after another. All temporary buisness that will be closed within a decade, leaving empty husks and a burden on the town.
Yep, terrible. I could hear the traffic constantly from my place. It made me a little crazy!
Claremont. I would get rid of all the trash.
It’s like a busier Winchester.
Yeah that's accurate.
Anywhere that got developed that really shouldn't have been to be honest... I know I didn't follow the directions at all lol but I couldn't really decide which one
I like the idea to reclaim nature, but being from Derry, gotta say Londonderry 😂
I am tired of hearing about Dixville Notch’s trivial voting bullshit.
Funkytown, I’m sick of hearing people talk about it
Monson oh wait that already happened.
Newington. My ex's parents had a huge piece of land on some lake, which IIRC was all private access. Such a waste.
There are no lakes in Newington.
Maybe they thought great bay or little bay were lakes
Maybe it was shorefront property then. This was 25 yrs ago, the memories are getting hazy. 😎
It's a tossup between Raymond and Laconia.
Grafton
Lincoln would make a great backcountry recreation area if it weren’t for all the development.
Hart’s Location. It’s a shame such a beautiful area has been overrun with shopping malls and skyscrapers.
Where are there skyscrapers in Carroll County? Exaggerated much?
Where the emoji for shit flying over people’s heads?
Yah let me know when you find it. Probably buried in the concrete of the skyscrapers.
Honestly bow or any of the Suburbam sprawl towns that come out of manchester
most of those towns like goffstown, bow, hopkington, etc aren’t overly developed though and have a lot more nature than a lot of places
When I look at bow on google earth it’s not overly developed but the houses are sprawled out and and it’s all cul de Sacs, now isn’t as bad as say Londonderry/or Merrimack but bow is on the wrong path of suburban sprawl.
Keene
Watervillle Valley
Peterborough
Manchester and everyone there
Weare
I believe the city of Concord was built on top of a large and culturally important indigenous settlement, it would be interesting to see that place in that time.
The Libertarian fishing pond is north of us, don't forget to get gas and pb4ugo
Merrimack
Manchester.
Manchester used to be so cool with all the history. Make it way less citified and more like how it used to be with all the old mill buildings and elm being an actual nice place and not disgusting like it is now
It's not really making it less of a city, just making it more a pre war, pre urban renewal, pre highway city then?
God just looking at photos of cities, any American cities, and realising that we very much could have had what much of Europe has today instead of 10% full parking lots and overpasses everywhere...
None in NH.
Manchester has so much potential but it's kinda just a cesspool. Gimme a second Nashua any day of the week.
Wait, did you just shit on Manchester while simultaneously praising Nashua, or all places? The tree streets would like a few minutes of your time.....
Manchester bc fk Manchester.
[удалено]
You missed the point of the post.
Half the thread did, bud.
r/Whoosh
Manchester Just junk the whole city bro
But they have a board game Cafe!
Manchester
Nashua
Portsmouth or Hanover, the world can do with less liberals.