Letters January 2006

A complete archive of mail from January 2006

January 17
MORE DEPRESSING PLACES IN TOWN
Add the pedestrian crosswalk in front of Temple Israel to your list. If you're suicidal, this is the place to cross State Street. As the cars leave the light at the corner of State and Pleasant and accelerate, heading down State Street towards Maine, there is no way they are going to stop for a pedestrian! Good luck!
Pam Parkinson

January 16
ANOTHER SEACOAST CONVERT
What a surprise and pleasure when I ran across your website. My wife and I love the Portsmouth, NH area. We visited there for a day the first time several years ago. We made it a point to visit and stay there for almost a week last August for our 40th Anniversary. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are planning to return to the area again in the near future. What a lovely area in which you live. You are so fortunate to be amongst so much natural beauty and in such a historical area. I have signed up for your newsletter, and look forward to receiving it. Keep up the good work.
Bill Alt

January 16What a surprise and pleasure when I ran across your website. My wife and I love the Portsmouth, NH area. We visited there for a day the first time several years ago. We made it a point to visit and stay there for almost a week last August for our 40th Anniversary. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are planning to return to the area again in the near future. What a lovely area in which you live. You are so fortunate to be amongst so much natural beauty and in such a historical area. I have signed up for your newsletter, and look forward to receiving it. Keep up the good work.

January 15
SUPPORT BODE
Bode Miller embodies the old unbounded American spirit, and is the long-awaited down-hill champion. His pecadilloes are just that, nothing for the sour sanctimonious killjoys to get in his face over.C'mon, let him SKI .
Alan C.B. Lieb

January 15Bode Miller embodies the old unbounded American spirit, and is the long-awaited down-hill champion. His pecadilloes are just that, nothing for the sour sanctimonious killjoys to get in his face over.C'mon, let him SKI .

January 12
RSS AND HISTORY
If you make your Black History section available with RSS it will dramatically increase tourism in the area, increase knowledge about the wonderful history in the sea coast area, increase clicks to the section by leaps and bounds. Its definitely should be made available to the country in the RSS 2.0 format.
Vern

EDITOR’S REPLY: It already is. Our readers have been able to sign up for RSS for almost 2 years now. The link is on the homepage at the bottom left. Only the items moved from our old site to the databased open source version. But each day we migrate more sections and, especially at this time of year, we are moving the Black History section. RSS readers will find those updates on their desktop.

January 10
FOUND FIRST NAVY POSTER?
I found your article about "America’s First Navy Poster" which describes the 1777 recruiting handbill for the Ranger. I purchased what I believe could be one of the original handbills described in the article from an antique dealer in Dover in approximately 1988. It was simply framed and I left it in that frame, not knowing if it was real. Would the author of that article know if the handbill – if it is genuine – would be of any value?
Claire G

EDITOR’S REPLY – Wouldn’t but I'd love to know what you find out. I would be extremely surprised if you bought an original. There were a lot of reproductions made and I've never seen an original anywhere, so it would likely be worth lots. I suppose the best bet is to carefully de-frame the item and see if it has any information about printing on the flyer. (If you do take it apart, and I'm not suggesting you do, be sure take photos of the process so you can later authenticate what happened.) Copies often have modern dates and printers names in the margin. Paper from that era would have a rag content and would be much more sturdy than anything printed today. If it looks really old and cheap and cracked, it is likely modern. Of course, it should not be in a frame with standard window glass, but should have UV protection glass. You could ask any rare book dealer. If it turns out to be original, let's do a story about it. But I won't hold my breath.

January 9
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
DEAR MR.ROBINSON: I WAS HAPPY TO READ OF YOUR OLD DECK OF CARDS WHICH YOU TREASURE SO HIGHLY. IT REMINDED ME OF THE OLD CARD GAME FOR KIDS-"AUTHORS". THIS WAS ABOUT 10 YRS.BEFORE YOUR EXPERIENCE C.1959. I AM 67 YRS.OF AGE. I HAD AN "OLD MAID" AUNT WHO WAS VERY BRIGHT AND SHE AND I WHILED AWAY A LOT OF TIME PLAYING AUTHORS WITHOUT MUCH INTERFERENCE...THANX FOR THE MOMENT.
L.L.STROUP

January 8
LEAST FAVORITE PLACES IN TOWN
Just wanted to let you know that as usual, when I read this column ("Most Depressing Places in Portsmouth") , my response was 'Right on' ... i.e., I totally agree with your assessments. The only mildly gratifying part is that several of those places are ones that are in our Capital Plan and/or the Economic Development Commission's 2006 workplan to be addressed.
Ned Reynolds
Portsmouth City Council

January 7
JOURNEY INTERRUPTUS
I have just read the book "Interrupted Journey" by John G. Fuller.The purpose of this e-mail is to ask if you know of any place I can buy the movie on DVD if possible, "The UFO Incident" Staring James Earl Jones.
Kenneth W. Rogers in Pennsylvania

EDITOR’S REPLY: Alas the film has not been released in any form to our knowledge. The only way to get one legally is to tape it off TV and with TIVO and 600 channels, that might just be possible. Betty Hill always had a bunch of video copies to pass out since people were constantly sending them to her. You may find a bootlegger selling them on eBay if search carefully.

January 6
HARRIET TUBMAN TOOK A STAND
My name is Amy, my partner Laura and I are researching for a project. Our topic is Harriet Tubman. This is a very extensive project and we are in need of a lot of information. We have been researching on Google and other search engines and we have come up with all of the same information just in different words. We have a thesis statement we have to prove and the theme of our project is taking a stand. We need to be able to prove how Harriet took a stand and while the answer seems obvious but we were wondering if we could get your opinion on this topic? if you could e-mail us back we would be very grateful! Thank you!
Amy & Laura

EDITOR’S REPLY: Yup, the answer is obvious. I'd be surprised if you or me or anyone we ever meet in our lives will take a stand as firmly and bravely as Harriet Tubman did. Imagine that you had to defend your ideas with your very life. And then after risking your life, could you do it time and time again -- saving at least 70 people in 13 trips back to the very place where she could be captured or killed or enslaved? Remember, the Underground Railroad is not a real thing. It is a term used to describe the process by which a very very small number of enslaved people were delivered out of slavery. A few got out. About 4 million did not. There was no single path. Every journey was different and every journey was dangerous. And even when the people arrived in the North, they were still poor, still discriminated against, and still lived lives harder than you or I can imagine in our wildest dreams. Most of the people who "worked" on the URR where black, just like the people who traveled on it. Before you can take a stand, you have to have an opinion. Then you have to DO something about that opinion, not just sit around and think about it. - Good luck with the project. -- JDR

January 5
A VELODROME FOR THE SEACOAST?
Dear David Balkin: Velodromes are the way to go! I'm new to the area and see the real need for a INDOOR Velodrome. I have raced on Velodromes many years in Portland Or.,Alpenrose. Also the track in Redmond Wa. outside of Seattle. There is nothing like training and racing on a Velodrome. I'm looking for people who understand how important building an INDOOR Velodrome is in NE. I am inspired by the folks in Canada, Forest City Velodrome. They built the track in 4 months at a cost of $100,000. A short steep plywood track. This state could build more than one of these. I agree with you, "build them and they will come".
David Rhodus, Auburn, NH

DAVID BALKIN REPLIES: Everything that advances cycling requires enthusiastic people that somehow find a way. That's in lieu of the money that sponsors lavish on mainstream sports. Still, there's enough secondary money and a lot of enthusiastic people but what's missing is an organization, focus and leadership. You're new to this area and if you want to meet some people who organize cycling events who are working on the upcoming road racing season just let me know and I'll have you included in the loop. Nobody's thought about a track--maybe it's time.

January 4
$100 LAPTOP
Hi, I just read the article, "The Hundred Dollar Laptop", by J Dennis Robinson. It was a great article, one which I agree with completely. I would love to be able to get a simple laptop like this for a decent price, but the CEO's of the world think we need more and more and etc... Anyways, thanks for writing it, it is excellent.
Eddie

EDITOR’S REPLY: There is good news out just today. Google and WalMart are apparently talking about a $200 laptop for us wealthy Americans. Now we cal all have half a dozen.

January 4
ANTIQUE TRUNK FROM BOSTON
Looking for information on an old trunk. Says "Keefe Maker Boston" on the lock. Belonged to Dr JB Henion who worked out of the Quincy House and died in 1906 Thankyou for your time
Steve Wilcockson

RESPONSE FROM PAT MORSE OF THE TRUNK SHOP: Hello, Your trunk was made by J. J. Keefe who made the "Best and Cheapest" trunks in Boston. How a maker could make a claim to both ends of the scale eludes me, but they also offered a warrant which is the equivalent of a guarantee today. They were on Haverhill St. near the Boston and Maine Railway depot. I would have to see a picture to date your trunk.

January 3
COLD WINDOWS IN CT
Mr. Robinson: We read with interest your article on the Pompey Hollow house. (Early American Life Feb, 2006). Near the end of the article you write, "The Baers have added 40 new compression-fit storm windows, invisible to the eye." Can you direct us to more information on these invisible windows. We own a 1780 plank house in Sanbornton, NH which we are restoring. We would like to remove the ugly aluminum windows and add something to keep the cold out but doesn't show. We would also like to expose the lovely beaded edge of the outside woodwork around the windows. Thanks you,
Marlene and David Witham

EDITOR’S REPLY: I’ve posted this note only to clue-in SeacoastNH.com readers that I know that there is life outside this web site. Although I have no idea what the answer to the question is, I’ve forwarded the inquiry to the owners of Pompey Hollow Inn in Ashford, CT. Readers may want to pick up a copy of Early American Life which features my lengthy narrative history of this 1710 14-room tavern. The magazine also includes a great article by the publisher on how to date your own historic house. Back issues are available from the EAL web site.

January 2
CATS ON LAPTOPS
Cats Hello there! Found your site while google-searching for a picture of a cat with a laptop to illustrate a point about our cat...and was shocked to see that the cat featured in the photo by Bill Roy is nearly identical to our cat Mischief----and she's a hard cat to match! Then I noticed y'all are in NH, which is where my husband and I got Mischief as a kitten on our delayed honeymoon, in a North Conway antique shop. (here's a not so great photo of her here: ) So I'm curious the two cats are possibly related, if Mr. Roy is a local staff photographer...I know, this is a weird, off-the-wall email...but it just shocked me to see another cat that looks like ours THAT MUCH!
Laura

PHOTOGRAPHER REPLIES: Amazing, two cats that look slightly alike. This is one for Ripleys -- not. Sorry, the cat on the laptop hails from Massachusetts. Maybe they are just chat friends.

January 2
MORE ANTIQUE TRUNK QUERIES
I have a Cedarobe trunk The tag states Whittle Trunk & Bag Company.Est 1880. Knoxville TN. It needs to be restored. Not in bad shape But I live in small town and need information. It this a rare trunk. Also what is the best book to order to get started restoring it. Thank you for your web site. And also all information you can give me.
TerryWalker

FROM PAT MORSE AT TRUNK.com
Hi. Cedarobe is not a name that is in the upper reaches of trunkdom. I can't tell the exact style of your trunk without a picture but if it's a wardrobe trunk the cost to have it professionally restored would be $1500-2000, far beyond the commercial value of it. Of course you can do it yourself but I must warn you, it's a very tough job. We offer a book on trunk restoration but it doesn't go into great detail on wardrobe trunks for that very reason.

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