As I travel the back roads of New Hampshire navigating this way and that, I encounter some remarkable pieces of history scattered about. In Hopkinton, I pause to read a very old relic from the past, a sign that had adorned a prominent location alongside the road for many decades.
Cast iron and featuring a fine patina of weathered blue, the raised letters tell me it is nine miles to Henniker, 37 miles to Peterboro and 55 miles to the Massachusetts state line. This rustic old sign also tells me it is 34 miles to Sunapee, 34 miles to Newport and 44 miles to Claremont. This vintage sign sits atop a rusted metal pole with an ever so gentle tilt that further captivates me and leaves me with the desire to look for more signs along the old back roads this Sunday afternoon.
It was a very different time when this sign was erected in the village of Hopkinton, a time long before President Eisenhower initiated the interstate highways that crisscross our country today. The interstates are wonderful to travel, safer than the old roads and maintained to a high degree. Plowed and salted in the winter, we find most of the slippery spots are managed well and potholes are somewhat limited. We now travel at higher and constant speeds, but it is those old signs that still beckon me to the old back roads.
Before the interstates were installed, we were destined to drive slower and travel old connecting roads that dated back many decades. We passed businesses that supported the frequent travelers along the old roads. A trip to the White Mountains required us to travel through many towns at an average speed much slower than the interstates.
I travel these old roads with my old signs along the way. I see hotels from the 1950s long abandoned, restaurants closed and shuttered left to decay, and rest areas abandoned and blocked with trees now filling the once cleared parking lots. The long-closed gasoline stations sit abandoned or have been repurposed into other forms. There were tourist attractions that also called to the travelers, enticing the weary to stop at the old drive-in restaurants to have a cup of the best coffee in the world. Yes, it was a simpler
time to travel, a slower speed that invited you to enjoy the scenery, the mountain views and an occasional black bear or two.
It was about the time the automobiles were replacing horses and wagons in the early 1900s that signs were becoming popular. Here in Concord, I still recall when motorist would stop and ask for directions at the filling station that employed me. A free map was always offered but they still asked questions, especially during the summer tourist season. If I was providing directions to a local person, it was quite simple … Drive north and take a right where the old red barn used to be. If you come to a bridge, you have gone too far, turn around and look for the place where the barn used to be. Somewhat humorous to think about it today, but it did in fact happen, and at the end of the day we always found our way home.
I am very pleased to still see the old signs along the back roads. With the advent of the automobile growing to the extent we see today, we find technology has replaced the friendly directions provided by a service station attendant or a paper map. Global Positioning Systems 10 years ago have advanced further. Our cell phones are linked to our automobiles and actually speak to us as we travel along. How fascinating to experience the rapid advances relating to traveling. The once popular billboards in New Hampshire are no longer as popular as they once were and our backroads seem more scenic and filled with peace and tranquility.
As you travel to your next destination, please keep a careful watch for the signs from the past. It is this link to our past that often reminds us to slow down and contemplate our busy lives. Take the back roads and recall the words of the beloved poet Robert Frost “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.”