I grew up in Salem, New Hampshire, a town I feel was mostly associated with being tax-free (Live Free or Die, baby) and then once we got a Walmart… ahem… a Walmart Supercenter in 2001… it was associated with tax-free shopping in Walmart. In my child mind, this made our town a huge attraction because of all the Massachusetts license plates that would come into town all day every day, abandoning their home state in favor of ours to do their shopping.
I’d also understood there was some kind of historical something in town but when you’re a kid, unless the authorities in your life take you (your school or your parents) you sort of assume it’s unimportant or irrelevant. I got to go on some great field trips and my parents took me to some cool places, don’t get me wrong. I remember choosing between milking a cow and shearing a sheep (I chose sheering). I remember going to the Museum of Science
in Boston (big city outing!) and to the State House in Concord, New Hampshire plus many a visit to Water Country.
But I don’t remember ever going to or learning about (drum roll…) America’s Stonehedge. I’ve only rediscovered it as I jumped around my own personal, digital world map ticking off states I’ve visited and countries I want to go to when I thought, what happens if I click on New Hampshire? What does Atlas Obscura define as wonderously odd in NH?
And there, I was reunited with my hometown landmark. It is described on its own website as ¨a historic site and museum that preserves more than 4,000 years of human history, right here in Salem, New Hampshire.¨ Eight minutes from the house I spent 27 years in were 4,000 years of human history. And I was none the wiser. Now, at 39 years old, having lived ten years abroad, I've become hyper fixated on getting to know where I'm from. I've spent seven years working in tourism getting to know every inch of Madrid and to a more general extent, the country of Spain and now I want to go back to New England with the same wide eyes and curiosity abound.
In a week, I’ll be on holiday and I’m applying ¨exploring your own backyard¨ to someone else’s backyard: my sister’s! Literally, she has a tiny house AirBNB in her yard and while I may sleep there, I actually mean this less literally. Together, we are going to explore Vermont but not in the way we have for years. We’re not going to repeat the major landmarks one must do like Church Street in downtown Burlington or Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury. This time, we’re going weirder, stranger, visiting places with names like ¨Bread & Puppet¨ and ¨Light Club Lamp Shop¨ and documenting the fun and findings.
Will I stop at America's Stonehedge on our way from Boston to Vermont? Stay tuned.
And in the meantime, I hope you dig around your neighborhood for something strangely wondrous!
