Claremont, NH: Starting To Look Like Success, Page One

Canal, Turners Falls, Massachusetts, 2001

CLAREMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE: STARTING TO LOOK LIKE SUCCESS

Every town needs some things to remember, some things to look forward to, and some things that look like success.

Our best friends from Connecticut were visiting one day, and my wife and I took them for a drive. We wound up in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, a 25-minute trip from my home, and one of my favorite towns along the Connecticut River. I pointed out the empty brick factories along the canal, the 1880s architecture downtown, and the Cutlery Block, a long row of mill housing that had recently been renovated into nice apartments. Suddenly, one of the friends asked me, "Why do you always take us to the ugly towns?" I could've responded with a cliché like, "They're not ugly, they have character," but I just smiled and kept talking.

I prefer to visit and learn about towns with a working-class history, are a bit down on their luck, but possess a quiet potential to renew themselves. They are the underdogs, the ones we like to root for. The small city of Claremont, New Hampshire, is one of those underdogs, and I love the place.

On my first visit in 2003, I stumbled into a conversation with a resident named Marylou, who was tending her tulip garden. She expressed a lot of hope for the city. Since then, she has become a good friend, and one of the reasons I keep returning. Marylou's hope was not misplaced. Claremont is on its way back. The nearly half-mile of factory buildings along the Sugar River, just north of downtown, are a symbol of its once-prosperous manufacturing economy, but most of them have been vacant for about 40 years. Now a major developer has bought most of them and plans to renovate and retrofit the cavernous spaces for condominiums, apartments, offices and retail stores.

Mills along the Sugar River, Claremont, New Hampshire, 2006

I was in Claremont recently to catch up with Marylou, and I dropped in to see Al Livingston, executive director of Main Street Claremont. His office is on the fourth floor of the impressive Moody Building on Opera House Square. With the measured optimism that is borne of experience, Al talked about the all-too-familiar problem of attracting new businesses and foot traffic downtown. Calling attention to Taste of Claremont, an event planned for mid-June, he expressed mixed feelings. He was excited at the prospect of luring people downtown, but afraid it might just serve to remind them how little there is to see and do.

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