Canterbury

This weekend I went for a ride to Canterbury (exit 18 off Rt 93) with my husband. It was great to get out and shoot with him. Most of the time, I am “touring NH” by myself. When I am driving by and slam on the brakes because something has caught my eye, I have to wait until I get home to share my excitement with him and then with you. He is a very patient chauffeur and has learned from previous outings that when I say “That’s pretty” or “Look at that!”, what I really mean is “STOP NOW!” He executes middle of the road u-turns (which I do a lot of) almost on command, having him along really made the day more enjoyable.

Our first stop was in Canterbury center where you will find Town Hall, the Canterbury United Community Church, the library, the Canterbury Country Store and the Post Office, along with a really nice town square, complete with a gazebo. I didn’t get any shots of the square, but made a mental note to go back…

Canterbury United Community Church

Canterbury Country Store and Post Office

Sometimes, when I go to a new town, I will just drive around and see what catches my eye. Other times, I will research what is in the area and take it from there. I have found two really cool sources of information:

Off The Beaten Path – New Hampshire by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers and Stillman Rogers

New Hampshire Curiosities by Eric Jones

I bought both books online and they have led me to some really neat places that I might not have found otherwise.

One of those places is the Olde House, also known as the Fox Country Smoke House ( http://oldehousesmokehouse.com/about.php ) We took Baptist Road from the center of town and saw our first sign for the smokehouse at the corner of Baptist Hill Road. Baptist Hill Road turns into a well maintain dirt road, with lots of places worthy of photographing. We decided to go straight to the smokehouse and then stop at all of the other places on our way back. Several miles went by before we saw the second sign for the smokehouse, which led us down yet another dirt road for about 1/2 a mile and the smoke house was on the right…

The original smoke room, now used for cold smoking cheeses

We spent almost an hour at the smoke house talking with the young man behind the counter. He showed us around and gave us quite a bit of history. We bought cheeses, sausages, bacon, snack sticks and, of course, some treats for our dog Diesel. Then it was time to be on our way…

We stopped next to a pond with a huge beaver dam…

We had also driven by an old cemetary on the way to the smoke house. Old cemetaries, set in the quiet of the woods, are beautiful places…

When we got back to Baptist Road, we decided to go straight across, onto Clough Pond Road (also a dirt road). Here we found some beautiful farms and barns…

A little further brought us to this gorgeous property…

We turned around when we reached the Loudon town line. Baptist Road ends at Shaker Road and we took a left and headed towards the Shaker Village.

The clouds and the sunshine set up for some wonderful shots…

We stopped and went in to the Shaker Museum and Gift Shop. The buildings in the village were currently closed, but the grounds were open.

Moonrise over the church

I have to admit, I learned more about the Shakers when I got home than before we left, even though I knew we would be stopping there. It was a beautiful place to go and I plan on going back when the buildings are open. You can find out more about Shaker Village at http://www.shakers.org/ Next to the village was another lovely farm…

With daylight fading fast and the Belmont town line just up the road, we stopped for one last shot for the day…

For more information about Canterbury, visit http://www.canterbury-nh.org/Pages/index and http://www.nhes.nh.gov/elmi/products/cp/profiles-pdf/canterbury.pdfYou can get each week’s town delivered directly to you by clicking on the ‘Follow’ link and entering your email address.