The Literary Arts Guild of the Center for the Arts, Lake Sunapee Region, announces the publication of its third volume in its Visual Verse series entitled Snapshots in Time. This new book pairs photographs from the collections of seven Kearsarge-Sunapee area historical societies — including the Andover Historical Society (AHS) — with poetry inspired by these images. Together, these photos and poems recapture and reimagine many dimensions of life in this region of New Hampshire during the 1800s and the early 20th century.
AHS-contributed images depict the interiors of the Tucker Mountain one-room schoolhouse and the Emons General Store. Andover resident Thom Smith was one of the 27 local contributing poets.
Visual Verse: A Snapshot in Time is available for $15 at Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London; Main Street Bookends in Warner; and Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord; and through the participating historical societies. Contact Gail Richards, AHS president, at 498-6439, to receive your copy (while copies last).
This volume represents a collaboration among the CFA’s Literary Arts Guild, the John Hay Poetry Society, and the historical societies of the towns of Andover, Bradford, Goshen, Newbury, Sunapee, Sutton, and Warner.
The photos in Snapshots in Time contrast our earlier era’s pervasive labor-intensive farming life — with its marked interdependency of humans and their livestock — with the grandeur of the Gilded Age, when people fled hot summers in more populous areas for the cooler temperatures and beauty of Lake Sunapee and the elegance of its grand hotels.
Readers of the book will also enjoy depictions of the steam-powered trains that transported the swarms of visitors to the steamboats on the big lake, and from there, to their luxurious destinations. Among the many festive occasions and interesting oddities included are such features of everyday life as the Emons General Store in Andover; a provisioner of Cold Temperance Drinks in Sunapee; oxen-drawn snow rollers in Bradford, whose flattening of snowfalls allowed for travel by sleigh; and the related curiosity of oxen snowshoes.
Modern eyes will marvel at the formal dress of our forebears as they fished in Goshen dressed in the latest fashion, or stylish in lavish hats as they carted the gathered maple sap into Newbury. In one arresting photo, a young lady, dressed all in summer white, brings paired white work horses home in Warner at nightfall.
Volume One of the Literary Arts Guild’s Visual Verse series included artists’ interpretations of The John Hay Estate at the Fells, while Volume Two featured photos and poetry inspired by Lake Sunapee.
The Literary Arts Guild is the branch of the Center for the Arts whose purpose is to support and promote the creative written arts. The Center for the Arts enriches the Sunapee area’s quality of life through a range of the arts. The Newbury-based John Hay Poetry Society honors its namesake through the promoting of poets and poetry.