How to mix business and pleasure for an unexpectedly great Saturday afternoon

Well…I had a very interesting afternoon today. I wanted to go out and get some photographs to use in creating a cover illustration for Mortal Touch. I wanted some photos of old brick mill buildings, some of crafts-y knick-knack types of things that Regan would have in her store, and possibly some of the type of building that the store occupies in the book. I wanted a variety of shots so I could figure out how they’ll all work together in the design.

On Friday, following an upsetting conversation at the post office, I just took off, very impulsively, looking for mill buildings. The thing is…they’re everywhere. There’s hardly an old town in New England that doesn’t have something like it–even Pepperell does! Although, the paper mill complex by the river here is so run down and decrepit, I didn’t want to photograph it. The trouble I was running into is that all the bigger complexes I found, or knew of, tend to be in places that are now rather built up. The problem isn’t finding the buildings, it’s finding buildings where you can get a good vantage point for a photo. I drove in a big circle on Friday that took me to West Fitchburg (lots of old mills there), Gardner (tons of them there), Winchendon (some, I couldn’t figure out how to get near them!) and Jaffrey, New Hampshire (nice building, covered with scaffolding and surrounded by construction equipment because it’s being converted into something). I know there are good buildings in Lowell, and I’m sure Nashua and Manchester have them, and I know Keene does. The problem was finding one with space around it, so I could get a photo of a long stretch of it.

So I got home all frustrated, with one photo from Gardner, and decided to try the Internet. I ran a search and immediately found a website (The Five Cent Cigar Company) maintained by a fellow in Kittery, Maine, who loves old mills and has a website full of them. He devoted a whole page to Harrisville, New Hampshire, which he calls “the gem of New England mill towns.” I looked it up, and Harrisville is off Rte 101, just east of Keene–a bit of a hike, but not more than I was willing to take. I printed out a Mapquest map and decided to make today my Quest for Photos day…because this friggin’ book cover has got to get done!

Today I got up to a simply gorgeous day–it was already 76 F (24.4 C), sunny, blue skies, some high lacy clouds, a bit windy. I ate an early brunch and headed off to the wilds of southwest New Hampshire. I ran into just a few snags. Rte 101 through Wilton, New Hampshire is closed, apparently because of water damage from the river flooding, and all the east-west traffic on 101, between the Manchester Airport and Keene, is being diverted through tiny Wilton. Wilton is a charming community (more mills, and lots of brick, and lots of that kind of boxy, flush-with-the-sidewalk housing that I now recognize as typical “mill housing”). I’ve been there before, it has a theatre in the Town Hall (all red brick) that runs independent films. But I’m sure the good citizens of Wilton are just thrilled to have all that traffic clogging their main street. Anyway, once I got past there, everything went fine. To get to Harrisville you turn off in Dublin, New Hampshire, which is the home of Yankee Magazine (I went right by their offices–I’m a subscriber). The road up into Harrisville is narrow and winding and bumpy and goes up steep hills, and then all of a sudden…

It’s not an exaggeration to say it took my breath away. Harrisville is simply the most incredible place. At least it is if you love history, old stuff, old historic architecture and New England as much as I do. I parked my car at the center of town–there’s not much to the town, it’s really tiny–and I just roamed around with my mouth hanging open, like a tourist. Which I guess I was! To quote the brochure in the packet I got at the General Store:

Harrisville is unique because it is the only intact 19th century textile community surviving into the 20th century with its original plan and most of its buildings.

Everything is brick, and old, and there’s a stream and a canal, running off from a big pond (the ponds were all still iced over). Anyway, I got lots of photos.

There was a yarn shop in one mill building, and I stopped in and looked around (original wide plank floors, original beams and wood walls, the door had an old latch on the inside). I bought some wool yarn to make socks, which I’ve been looking for, and talked to the women running the shop. They sent me up to the General Store for the packet, which includes a whole map and “walking tour.”

When I had all the photos I could get, I headed back toward home. I stopped at the coolest store called Kindred Spirits, which sold a lot of crafts items (not so much second hand, but Regan would sell a lot of the same things). The women who ran this store very kindly allowed me to take photos of some of the items, and I’ve promised them a listing on my website–I’m creating a page for “friends and resources” who helped me with research and information for books, or helped in other ways. One of the ladies is into vampire novels, and I gave them my business card. They were just wonderful. The store is in a huge old barn, and has three open levels, with stairs–so it’s not handicap-accessible, alas, but good gods. I told them, “if my protagonist could see this place, she would die of envy!” And she would, too!

So now I had mill photos and knick-knack photos! I stopped at the end of the detour in Wilton to take a photo of another great mill building, bigger than the ones in Harrisville–I’ve actually been inside it, because it has a crystal/mineral/gemstone shop called Earthworks in it now which I’ve visited. But I couldn’t get a good picture of it because the detour traffic was so heavy (Saturday afternoon). I may go back, because it really is a perfect building.

Southwest New Hampshire really is beautiful, there’s no doubt about it. A highly under-rated part of New England!

Here’s a selection of some of my photos from today.