Very good strategic location,as there are no military bases anywhere to receive russian nuclear strikes. No FEMA run concentration camps. Gun laws are excellent, as well as low population centers and plenty of trees to hide oneself from open view.. Ted
Good pros, in the cons column however... A friend of mine who lives there is complaining about all the Massachusettes/Boston liberals moving in and taking over politics (i.e. a Democrat Governor). Apparently there are lots of local battles over property taxes and redistribution of money to "poor" school districts. Pick your community carefully and get a history on the local politics in that community.
New Hampshire and northern new england states are where you want to be when nuclear war breaks out, and that war will occur in this decade according to Joel Skousen. I grew up in Massachusetts and went to school in northern Maine, near the Conway,NH border. This is the area to live during war time. Right now i preside in St. Petersburg,Fl., but will move up north as soon as the START III treaty is signed between our country and Russia. Right now every state in our union is experiencing property tax battles an redistribution of wealth problems.But this is during "peace time"; when war comes to the United States the only concern a citizen will have is how to survive and protect himself and his family... Ted
New Hampshire—Miscellaneous Links
Lots of NH information here
http://freestateproject.org/nh_info/
November 10, 2003
Hanover, N.H., home to Dartmouth College, is trying to preserve its small-town feel
By DANIEL MACHALABA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
After Richard Lewin retired from his family's art publishing business in Florida in 1989, he considered settling in his hometown of Rye, N.Y. But the area, just north of New York City, had become "packed with cars and ... people," he recalls, and had lost much of its appeal.
Turning to New England, he came upon Hanover, N.H., tucked along the Connecticut River and home to Dartmouth College. Here, he says, was a rural setting and way of life that resembled "growing up around New York in the 1950s and 1960s -- before it got so busy."
HANOVER AT A GLANCE
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How cold is it in January? How many restaurants? How much does a three-bedroom home cost? Take a look0 …
For many residents and visitors, the Hanover area has long been a throwback to earlier times, when small communities were still strangers to shopping malls, office parks and traffic. That quality, combined with abundant educational and cultural opportunities -- not to mention a nearby major teaching hospital -- has made Hanover an increasingly popular destination among retirees.
"I can be in a world-class library, a canoe on the Connecticut [River] or a major medical center all within five minutes of each other," says David Bisno, age 64, a former ophthalmologist in Atlanta who retired in 1992. "Where else can you do that?"
But Hanover can have some drawbacks. The winters are frigid and snowy. The town is experiencing some growing pains: Housing is scarce, and prices are rising. And Dartmouth is planning an expansion that some think will hamper the small-town appeal.
Never Too Old to Learn
Hanover is nestled in what's known locally as the Upper Valley, a relatively unspoiled setting of mountains and picturesque New England villages with white churches, old graveyards and covered bridges. It has a small downtown of shops and restaurants next to the Dartmouth campus. As an added attraction, the Appalachian Trail goes down South Main Street, turning east at the Hanover post office, on its way from Georgia to Maine.
One of the town's best virtues is Dartmouth. The college draws a wide variety of academicians, politicians and dignitaries to the area. That diversity was evident one evening earlier this year, when former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who now heads an institute at Dartmouth bearing his name, lectured on the subject of addiction. At the same time, the German ambassador to the U.S. could be found across campus, speaking about American-German relations.
"It just makes for a fascinating place to live," says John Hatheway, 77, a retired Young & Rubicam executive who moved to Hanover in 1989 from San Francisco. "You can stay both physically and mentally involved, and that keeps you young," he says. Mr. Hatheway is one of an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 retired Dartmouth graduates who live within 30 miles of the college.
Indeed, educational offerings are numerous. Lawrence Pilchman, 70, a retired Long Beach, Calif., obstetrician and gynecologist, regularly audits history courses. More than 1,100 area residents, mostly retirees, take courses at the Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth. Founded in 1990, the volunteer organization offers noncredit adult-education courses for $45 each on subjects as diverse as Irish short plays, 21st-century China and opera appreciation.
Carey Heckman, 49, is a Dartmouth graduate and retired technology-company executive who moved to Hanover in 2000 from California's Silicon Valley. Mr. Heckman, a bachelor, bought a large white colonial next to campus. He keeps busy helping teach computer-science courses, conducting alumni association business, leading a research group of Dartmouth undergraduates and promoting water polo nationally.
"The best thing about the area is that it is manageable," he says. "You can get [to] places, park and do things and not have to make reservations a week and a half in advance."
Another attraction is the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, a sprawling and growing teaching hospital located in nearby Lebanon. Affiliated with Dartmouth Medical School, the hospital employs about 400 physicians, has a full-service cancer center and caters to retirees with lectures and outreach programs on a variety of medical and health topics.
Icy Reception
Yet when pressed, even the most enthusiastic of Hanover supporters acknowledge that the area has some drawbacks, most notably the rough winters. Temperatures can hit 20 below zero. Three feet of snow can easily pile up in local yards -- and sit there until Mother's Day. Or so it seems.
So, many retirees in the area have second homes in Florida or Arizona. "I hate the winters here," says Dr. Bisno, the retired ophthalmologist. After he broke his leg slipping on ice outside Dartmouth's Baker Library in 1994, Dr. Bisno vowed to spend at least part of each winter outside New Hampshire. He and his wife, Fay, lately have been taking off to warmer climes in Santa Barbara, Calif.; Melbourne, Australia; or Cape Town, South Africa.
"When I come back at the end of April, people look pale and depressed, but I feel alert, healthy and happy," says Mr. Bisno, a volunteer teacher at the Institute for Lifelong Education.
Growing Pains
The town's speedy growth also is a concern for some. Despite its remote location -- Manchester, N.H., the closest large city, is about 90 minutes distant -- even Hanover finds itself grappling with concerns about growth. From 1990 to 2000, the local population, including Dartmouth students, rose 17% to 10,850. Housing prices have about doubled in the past six years to an average of more than $400,000. And homes are snapped up almost as quickly as they hit the market.
"The biggest problem facing Hanover is lack of affordable housing -- in fact, available housing," says Julia Griffin, the town manager.
The rising housing costs are prompting many Dartmouth employees to look to outlying areas. Some retirees, too, are settling on the outskirts of Hanover in somewhat less-expensive places such as Grantham, N.H., and Quechee, Vt.
And gasoline, heating and food tend to be expensive in the Hanover area, says Ned Redpath, a real-estate broker and owner of Coldwell Banker-Redpath & Co. in Hanover. What's more, shopping for fashion goods is limited. Many people make periodic trips to Boston, a 2 1/2-hour drive, or to malls in southern New Hampshire, New York or Massachusetts.
Dartmouth, meanwhile, is planning to expand its facilities -- with new dormitories, a dining hall and academic buildings. Hanover is updating its town plan to allow higher residential density in three village centers near downtown, while reducing allowable density in the large rural area of town.
Some residents worry those plans could result in the loss of Hanover's small-town character. "Growth is going to cost the community in terms of quality of life and possibly taxes," says Eleanor Shannon, founder of a group of Hanover residents seeking to limit growth in the town.
Natural Attractions
Still, the area's natural attractions are bountiful. The nighttime canopy of stars, undiminished by competing city lights, is breathtaking. Coyotes can be heard in the area howling at night, and wild animals -- moose, bear, turkeys, fox and geese -- tramp through the landscape for all to see.
Even the weather can put on a show. Anne Morris, 65, who with her husband Robert, 71, moved to Hanover from Maryland in 1994, marvels at the icicles that form on their 1780 farm house. Some get a foot thick and reach from the roof to the ground. When ice chunks fall from the roof, they hit the ground with startling bangs; a couple of years ago the fallen ice chunks got so high they blocked the first-floor windows. "It was like living inside a glacier," Mrs. Morris says.
"People who come here like the diversity of activity and the four seasons as opposed to defaulting into a Florida condo," says David Roberts, 58, a retired vice president of Citigroup who moved to nearby Woodstock, Vt., from New York. "You have to be kind of hardy to seek this lifestyle."
-- Mr. Machalaba is a Wall Street Journal staff reporter based in Woodstock, Vt.
Write to Daniel Machalaba at daniel.machalaba@wsj.com1
HANOVER AT A GLANCE
Population including Dartmouth College students on campus 10,850
Population excluding Dartmouth College students on campus 7,400
Elevation 603 feet
Area 50 square miles
Average high temp., July 82
Average low temp., July 57
Average high temp., January 28
Average low temp., January 8
Average annual snowfall 78 inches
Median age 22.8
Pct. of population age 65-plus 13.6%
Per-capita income $30,393
Largest employer Dartmouth College, 3,200
Events at the Hopkins Center for the Arts* More than 500 a year
Travel time by car to Boston 2 ½ hrs
Travel time by car to Montreal 3 hrs
Travel time by car to New York 5 hrs
Miles of hiking trails About 100
Restaurants 20
Physicians at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center About 400
Courses at the Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth About 35 a term
Average cost of three-bedroom house More than $400,000
Annual real-estate tax on a $400,000 house About $10,000
*Movies, theatrical productions and musical performances
Sources: Hanover Chamber of Commerce; Dartmouth College; Town of Hanover; New Hampshire Employment Security, Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau