Page 119 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - New England

New Hampshire ❮❮ 117

A DAY’S DRIVE ON THE
LIVE FREE OR DIE KANCAMAGUS HIGHWAY
Some visitors might imagine that the
state motto proclaimed on license 93 302 16
plates refers to New Hampshire’s lack Graham
Wangan
of sales and income taxes, but in fact it Half Baked & Overlook Rocky Gorge Lower
Ground
Fully Brewed
originated with a toast that the state’s Scenic Area Falls Albany
Revolutionary War hero, General John Falls Pond Covered
Stark, gave by letter to the 1809 reunion Lincoln 112 Bridge
of veterans of the Battle of Bennington, 112 Conway
when poor health prevented him from 49 Sabbaday Swift
River
Falls
attending: “Live free or die: death is not 93 16
the worst of evils.”
MORNING
town grew into the world’s largest Before you begin the 35-mile (56-
cotton-mill complex by the dawn km) drive from Lincoln to Conway
of the 20th century. The textile era (see pp20–21), stop at Half Baked
& Fully Brewed (187 Main St,
has long since ended here, but the Lincoln) for picnic fixings. After a
hulking brick mills have been trans- gentle 11-mile (18-km) rise, you’ll
formed into a complex of restau rants, climb through steep switchbacks
college classrooms, offices, and for 4 miles (6 km) to the Graham
apartments. The city’s compre hen- Wangan Ground Overlook for jaw-
sive Currier Museum of Art (see p40) dropping mountain views. As the
is the state’s premier art museum. road twists and turns for another
6 miles (10 km), watch for a right
turn into the trailhead to Sabbaday
Falls. A short walk through dense,
pine-scented woods brings you
to the waterfall, which makes a
wonderfully dramatic 90-degree
dogleg as it tumbles down a
mountain. The Rocky Gorge
Scenic Area, a further 4 miles
(6 km) east, is a geo logical
wonder. Cross a bridge to follow
a short trail to Falls Pond, where
fishermen cast for trout.
AFTERNOON
Another 3 miles (5 km) east,
Peterborough, stunning in the fall spread your food on a picnic table
Yankee Country
0 at Lower Falls, overlooking the
boulder-strewn Swift River. The
MAP L6
green pools below the largest
Yankee Publishing, which produces boulders make cool summer
both Yankee Magazine and the Old swimming holes. In the fall,
Farmer’s Almanac, is based in Dublin. photographers scramble across
The homespun village and its neigh- the boulders trying to capture the
boring towns of Peterborough and intense red and yellow foliage.
From the Falls, it’s only a short
Jaffrey epitomize the gentle New drive to the Albany Covered
England countryside. The region was Bridge (see p61). The weathered
a popular resort area in the late 19th 120-ft (37-m) span is a favorite
century, and all three villages have with photographers and you’ll
long served as staging grounds for surely want a shot to remember
people preparing to climb nearby your journey. From the bridge, it’s
Mount Monadnock (see p61), said to about 7 fairly flat miles (11 km) to
the end of the “Kanc” in Conway.
be the second most-climbed peak
in the world after Japan’s Mount Fuji.
See map on p114
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