The snow was falling gently as the people of Concord gathered on a Saturday afternoon around a roaring fire. The people, both young and old, gathered around this fire at a nearby Concord pond to skate on the frozen surface, coast gently down the surrounding hills on their toboggans and snowshoe across the fields laden with snow. The winter activities were embraced by the people that sought recreation, the outdoors and most importantly the companionship they desired. Old Man Winter was quite acquainted with stealing companionship and replacing it with solitude many years ago.
This glorious winter scene depicted here could have transpired last week, but in fact it was close to 100 years ago in the year 1922. It was our ancestors enjoying the roaring bon fire beside the pond, the skating, sledding and snowshoeing.
During 1922, there was a renewed surge of activity across the entire state of New Hampshire and Concord was certainly a very active participant. Gone were the long winters of loneliness where the citizens of Concord would gather within their homes and occupy themselves with both chores and tasks to spend the cold months. The fire within each home would keep the people safe and warm as they consumed their stored provisions, hoping for an early spring.
As our ancestors enjoyed the year 1922, there were many like minded people about the state that felt the burdens of the winter months could easily be harvested with very sweet rewards. The majority of our ancestors craved companionship and recreation and what better location for the formation of winter sports and activity than the state of New Hampshire.
It was just 30 years earlier in the 1890s, that the city of Concord entertained legislative visitors and thousands of other guests with winter carnivals. These events in the 1890s were very popular and involved winter parades with decorative horse-drawn floats and ornate sleighs with bells attached to each rein. Concord was on the forefront with the winter carnivals in the 1890s and other communities took note of the success in the capital city and embarked upon their own festivities to ease the burden of winter.
Dartmouth College had early concerns about their isolated New Hampshire location and set to work promoting winter when they realized that their deep isolation surrounded by the snow-clad hills was indeed an asset that could boost enrollment. The Dartmouth students were encouraged to toboggan, ski, snowshoe and skate in their college town. Winter was certainly not a hindrance but a very positive asset when it came to early college recruiting.
Soon after the winter carnivals of the 1890s started with the college students in Hanover, word spread to other communities and many towns embraced winter carnivals over the next decades. Newport, Gorham, Bristol, Conway and other communities soon enjoyed the companionship of the winter carnivals as they attracted our ancestors to their towns. This was a welcome break from the cold New Hampshire winters as well as a boost to the local economies with revenue.
The city of Concord held fast to the winter carnivals for many years and vintage sepia-toned photographs from the 1890s document those festive days on the streets of Concord. Our ancestors were very creative and went to great lengths to decorate their winter carnival floats. The streets of Concord were lined with people in the cold winter, each and every ancestor enjoying the festivities.
1922 saw the locals developing plans across the state to harness the winter that provided the base for future tourism. The Granite State supported this activity with the cold temperatures, hills, frozen ponds and an abundance of snow. The people continued to crave the winter companionship as the local merchants competed for the business revenue. The people living in Concord in 1922 groomed snow-laden trails for snowshoeing and built toboggan slides for those craving a bit more of a winter challenge. Soon, the local hardware store was selling many sleds, toboggans and skates each Christmas as parents wrapped them gently in colorful Christmas paper for their children to find under their Christmas tree.
The local hotels continued to prosper for decades from winter carnivals as the trains arrived with tourists seeking relief from the cold snow in the cities. People would book their time on Main Street in advance and arrive at the train depot in search of the winter wonderland our ancestor’s town provided. Many people stayed for a week at a time at the Phenix Hotel and Eagle Hotel enjoying fine dining, Main Street shops, good spirits and the winter activities found on each hill, pond and toboggan slide.
As I look back at the old memories gently stored in my photograph album from 1922, I see our ancestors living in a time they enjoyed. I see children full of joy and parents very pleased to be living with these simple pleasures. I look back to 1922 and see my ancestors staring back at me from their simple winter wonderland with contentment in their eyes and most importantly the grins and smiles as they ventured to their next winter carnival.