This weekend, Giraffe took a trip to the North Country of New Hampshire as I reconnected with old friends and stomped around old haunts. Jackson has a special place in my heart. I lived there for a few years in elementary school (third through fifth-ish grades), and then I was back up in the vicinity when I was serving in the AmeriCorps Victim Assistance Program for a year after college.
There’s nothing like an old one-lane covered bridge into town to make it feel out of time, or quaint, or touristy, or all of the above. In any case, I find it endearing.
One of my most favorite places is Jackson Falls. During AmeriCorps, I spent many afternoons there sitting in the sun, surrounded by the roar of the water, pondering all the things one ponders when you’re 22/23 and trying to figure out life and the world and people, and you’re working at a crisis center where you live in an apartment above the shelter (that is in an undisclosed location).
And one of my favorite events when I was little was the Wildquack River Festival, which involves herding hundreds of rubber duckies racing down Jackson Falls. I’m not even kidding. I had a bright orange volunteer shirt that I wore for years after I had the chance to be a duck-herder (broom in hand).
I didn’t want Giraffe to be like one of the rubber ducks and take a trip down the Falls, but Giraffe couldn’t resist getting a closer look.
After some delightfully serene moments at the Falls, Giraffe and I headed back down into town.
We said hello to the Jackson Grammar School, where I started my first day with a side ponytail, had my first crush (on a pale boy named Simon), and was one of three Jessicas in a class of 10 (and that was several grades combined). It was originally a three-room schoolhouse, and if I remember correctly, while I was there, they added on an extra classroom (it’s even bigger now). My favorite classroom was up some stairs that are on the other side of the window to the right of the door.
We played four-square and tetherball and hopscotch and jump-rope during recess. And tunneled into the big pile of snow that the plow made in the winter.
And Mr. Poon or Mrs. Birkbeck would walk us across the street and over the bridge that crossed the Wildcat River to the teeny Jackson Public Library, where we could feast our hungry brains on the shelves of books that seemed quite adequate to us young’uns at the time (but they’re working on a big expansion right now!).
Our yearly musical productions were performed in the Jackson Town Hall, just across the street in the other direction from the school. That is where I twirled a yellow boa as I sang “Cabaret” in a production of SRO: Standing Room Only. Again, not even kidding. I guess I was too young to be paralyzed by nerves.
The Wentworth (across the street from the library) was one of the places that my parents worked, and we lived in one of their condos for awhile. Things of note that I remember about the Wentworth: they had hayrides in the fall, my mom built a gingerbread replica of it one holiday season, and it had a huge fire one year (I remember watching the flames shoot from the roof in the middle of the night).
So, Giraffe had quite a tour and a trip down my memory lane. Also, as a side trip, Giraffe went on safari in Conway, and came across an adorable creature named Jenna. Will the wonders of the North Country never cease?
5 comments
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November 17, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Jenna's mommy
Dear Jessica…or as I like to think of you, Giraffe’s mommy!
Thank you Thank you Thank you for writing this wonderful account of your trip North. We loved seeing you, and we loved seeing you make Jenna laugh so hard…adorable, wasn’t it???
We love you, and please, let’s not go as long as last time before we see you again!
xoxoxo
The Burnell Family
November 18, 2009 at 9:46 am
Sarah
Aw – we missed you on our craft weekend, but it looks like you had a great trip!
December 17, 2009 at 12:13 am
scantron
awesome!!! I love the Giraffe photos! that is so funny! I just did something so insanely similar a few weeks ago. what are the odds?
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178434&id=40507567&l=ed930650ac
December 17, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Jessica
Oh my gosh, this is so totally awesome!! Absolutely love your pics! And I’m so glad you came across my Giraffe’s adventures!
Thanks for shouting out!
November 1, 2014 at 12:41 am
Rachael
Jessica, I lived in Jackson on Mill st. And went to the Jackson Grammar School. Mr. Z was the principle. I wish I could post a picture I have one of all of us (the whole school all 20 of us) standing out front. I wonder if you are in the picture i have. I was born in 79, the picture must have been taken in 83 or 84. When were you a student? if you don’t mind me asking. And my last name is Graichen my father was the minister for the Jackson and Bartlett churches. Do you remember the mud bowl? or the HUGE chicken fry the town would have. Field trips to the falls. It would be interesting if we went to the school at the same time.