Main Street Pastries and More Greenville New Hampshire

It’s that time of year again – my birthday, and I decided this year it might be fun to find two bakeries and pit their cakes against each other in a sugary sweet death match. But alas, I did not realize bakeries these days are hidden establishments only getting customers via word of mouth with entrances that may or may not require a secret handshake to get in. Long gone are the days of boozy speakeasies, these days it’s all about the sweets. Only those in the know can go into a diabetic coma like a king!

On this particular day I’d chosen two bakeries somewhat nearby. The first was in Peterborough and had high reviews. I love Peterborough and am familiar with the area but the bakery was nowhere to be seen. Was my GPS toying with me or was it hidden? I didn’t know but I decided to leave it be and try to find another bakery that Google suggested before I left but it mysteriously wasn’t coming up in searches anymore. I was already starting to feel like the pastry gods were out there just fucking with me. I had to drive halfway home and ask Google again before it finally stopped gaslighting me and gave me the address.

It’d be another long drive through the woods, so weird and winding that at one point I passed a near life-size wooden T Rex skeleton leaping from the tree line on someone’s property.

This bakery wasn’t in the woods though, it was on Main Street, so I figured it’d be super easy to find, right? Nope, drove right by it several times as I looked. When I did find it on a street corner it had what looked like a 3-car parking lot but it was beyond an old beaten down curb. Do people park there?? I turned up the side street it was on and found a car parked on the sidewalk, a small parking lot directly across the street saying it was only for municipal parking. When I drove down main street I couldn’t tell if there was streetside parking or not as there were no lines painted and no cars in sight, although there was one handicapped parking space marked out which seemed to imply beyond it was also parking but I honestly couldn’t tell. I drove probably an eighth of a mile up the road and found a truck parked in front if the police station. Figuring this was the sign I was looking for I parked behind him and walked to the damn bakery.

It was a really small place and I was clearly the only customer in there. The woman working there seemed very happy to see me. I asked her about her cakes and she had chocolate, vanilla, lemon, and carrot. I went for the largest (which was still a petite round cake.) It was vanilla flavored. Looking around this place also had cookies, cannolis, scones, muffins, and really a decent assortment of pastries for such a small place.

I was told this place sells out every day and I’d gotten there at just the right time – between noon and one – which was a dead zone between the morning crowd and the after church crowd. Good to know!

The cake was $22 and oddly heavy for it’s size. As it’s now autumn it was decorated with red, yellow, and brown flowers. As for the flavor it was dense and moist, anything I could have wanted for a little vanilla cake. I would like to return some day to try some of the other options, otherwise this was a sweet little place for a tasty treat if you live in the area.

October 4, 2024 0

Converse Meadow Conservation Area – Red Trail – Rindge NH

Today I decided to go on a little adventure and find the Rindge Town Forest. This resulted in me turning around after hitting a super sketchy and totally unnamed dirt road which had a “Posted – Private Property” sign to one side. I think the private property sign belonged to the neighbors but with no other signs leading the way and me in a Prius I decided not to take the dead end “primitive road” and get stuck on perhaps private property.

Instead I turned around and decided to check out a far more welcoming trail at the Converse Meadow Conservation Area just a few miles away. This place is also weirdly hard to find. It’s in a neighborhood and the parking lot doesn’t look like a parking lot until you’re in it. But once you’re in it there is a big bulletin board letting you know what’s up.

Today I went alone. I needed to have my moment of Zen with nature. I miscalculated how goddamn hot it was and how long the trail was but that being said it was exactly what my soul needed. There was a gentle breeze coming off the pond and big fluffy white clouds that eventually turned grey and threatening.

At the beginning of the trail there’s lots of memory benches, just super sweet places to sit and just mellow out. There are also a number of signs that let you know a little bit about the history and wildlife of the area. I guess a long time ago there was a mill here but there didn’t seem to be anything left of it. This was just… nature.

And the trail was lovely. One half of the loop gave access to different viewpoints of the pond, all absolutely luscious. Birds sang above my head as frogs, fish, and beavers splashed in the water. I even saw a bald eagle fly by! Didn’t get a photo as it was through the trees and happened really fast but there is no other giant white-headed bird in the area so I am certain it was a bald eagle.
I sat at one point to cool down and to just melt into the scenery. Not a soul was out here besides me and it was just so amazing. I can’t believe I have lived in the area for almost my entire life and never knew about this place! Well now I do and so do you. So, if you’re looking for a gorgeous and surprisingly long (but easy) loop check it out.

June 24, 2023 0

Fish Hatchery Lands – Milford NH

The other day I passed the Fish Hatchery Lands and made a note to come back some morning when it wasn’t 90F [32C]. And today was that day. Granted I had a hard time re-finding it because I thought it was near the Fish Hatchery. It’s not. It’s across from 554 North River Road. Now that I have made that easy for you here’s what it was like:

It had initially caught my attention because the parking lot is HUGE and there was a bulletin board at the end of it that looked like the same thing you’d see on a hiking trail as well as a sign across the road that denoted a hiking trail although oddly there was no name other than Fish Hatchery Lands. I parked next to a huge pile of garbage that was nestled under a sign reading, “no dumping.” Clearly this place was forgotten enough to be used as a trash pile but not forgotten enough to be abandoned. Or as I like to see it – a possible hidden gem.

The billboard had a plaque stating this place was set up in 1992 and honestly it looked like everything had been left just as it was then. A trail map hung lethargically; its trails having been completely bleached out by the sun. I didn’t know what we were walking into…

Once you get past the bulletin board there’s a big field to either side and what looks like a path big enough for cars to go down so we started walking. We ended up passing two little brown outbuildings as we made our way into the woods. Here we were greeted rather strangely by a little basket full of rocks sitting on a concrete column. We were inspecting this when an angry crow flew up to a nearby tree and screamed at the top of it’s lungs. It also had a very large snake (or something snake-like) it it’s beak. Now I know what you’re thinking – this is the beginning of a horror movie and we should have left before the serial killer got to us – but I was not about to be scared off by an irate bird. No siree.

Here it looked like there were three paths – one to the right, one to the left, and one straight ahead, although all of them looked ROUGH. They weren’t marked and were badly overgrown and we weren’t even sure if they were human paths or game trails. I decided to go right and see what was out there. The path was rocky but not in the way trails around here usually are. The rocks were all smooth and seemed out of place. The drought this year must be hitting hard because not only did it dry up nearby Purgatory Falls it also left this riverbed dry. That’s right, we weren’t even on a path at all but a dry riverbed which explained the concrete columns. They must have made a makeshift bridge to get over what used to be water.

I took a few snaps and we returned to the columns and readjusted our travel plans to go straight. This path was almost not a path at all. We even had to climb over a dead tree and then maybe 250 feet in we reached a dead end at the riverbank. I imagine when the river is high this was probably a sweet fishing spot or maybe swimming hole (depending on current of course!) But as it was now it was just a nice view to reflect for a moment before going back.

From here we noticed another woman with her dog was going behind the little building. Was there a path there? Did she know something we didn’t? We decided to check it out. Sadly, this seemed to greatly annoy her because the dog went ape-shit and wanted nothing to do with the walk anymore, just wanted to see us as we trailed quietly behind. Out here there was indeed tiny loop trail, maybe a quarter of a mile if that that wound close to the river and gave one lovely scenic view before looping back. Still, that was… not much…. certainly not enough for that huge parking lot.

To add more mystery when we left we met a nice young couple pushing a baby in a pram heading towards the “trails.” Where were they going?? Nothing we just explored was pram friendly. If anything the vast overgrowth of plants was probably a great way to roll your baby in ticks like nuts on a soft serve ice cream cone. (OK OK, I should be fair, although this place was GROSSLY overgrown I did not pick up any ticks but boy did it look like there should have been a swarm of them!)

As we found our way to the parking lot we noticed there were suddenly 5 other cars here. WHERE WERE THE PEOPLE?! I have no answers. I think this place may have been on the outer edges of the Twilight Zone (I mean there was a cornfield right there…)

August 14, 2022 0

Guaco Pond – Fishing and Kayac Launch Athol MA

From the West Cemetery I continued on and I can’t believe it but I actually wandered so far into the middle of nowhere that I can’t really pinpoint where I was! There isn’t even a Google street view! And since I didn’t have my own GPS today I couldn’t push the “Where am I?” button. I tried to use my cell phone for this but I failed again because there was no internet to be found. I was in No Man’s Land. It’s not surprising. This place was so scarcely populated that I only saw maybe two houses on the entire road. This was the beginning of my tour though a bunch of dirt roads even further into the middle of nowhere.

I turned onto Monson Turnpike Road from West Street and it was just a loooong dirt road surrounded by trees. It was like going back in time. Driving a Prius down these narrow and sometimes flooded out “primitive roads” is not the best idea but I did it anyway. There were signs up saying these roads were closed from November through April. That’s how I knew I was somewhere cool. You know, the kind of remote regions where only the odd camp sits and where hunters and hikers long to go.

Soon I started seeing signs, “wildlife management area” which I thought might mean a trail or two could be found. I was not so fortunate but I did find a turn off to what I believe was Guaco Pond where there was a tiny boat launch and signs saying fishing and hunting were permitted. I don’t hunt or fish but this place was like a little slice of heaven. I parked the car and wandered towards the water to take a couple photos. I got the feeling I was in real proper wilderness. The ground beneath my feet started to leap towards the water – the shore was full of frogs. Here too were so many dragon flies and wild flowers. A few rocks sprawled out over the water allowing for the absolute perfect spot to just sit and enjoy nature. In the water below I could see fish dancing about – some even looked like the fat and edible varieties, though they were still small.

I stayed for quite a while in this one spot just enjoying the scene, listening to the water gush in from the stream that traveled under the road. It was so remote and peaceful and yet so terribly alive with frogs, fish, dragonflies, beavers, and birds. I can only imagine it would have been the perfect spot to actually go fishing or to take a kayak out. Absolutely stunning. I even found a patch of wild raspberries growing in the sun. The whole time I was there only two cars passed by, obviously locals because they sped by on a road I didn’t dare go above 15 miles an hour (with a Prius anyway.) This was a breath taking find and I was feeling optimistic when I headed back to the car to find another little gem. It would be another cemetery – The Northwest Cemetery in Petersham.

August 3, 2019 0

Monson Ghost Town & A Random Cemetery- Hollis/Milford NH

Today was a day of blunders… I had to go to the DMV so I decided what the hell let’s go to a weird DMV and make it an excuse to go on a day trip. So I looked up interesting places to go in Milford NH. Came up with a few things but two caught my attention. The first was a cemetery where a woman was buried with what one might consider the longest diatribe ever written onto a stone – a long blathering story chuck full of probably made up drama about how her local church murdered her and such, put up by her apparently equally insane husband. I mean inscribing this thing must have taken a fortune and I don’t even think there’s any relevant information on it (like date of birth and death…)

Sadly, just like the other times I have tried to find an old cemetery I ended up at the wrong one… even worse I could not find a name for the one I did end up strolling through, all I can say is it was on Union Street in Milford. Unlike previous cemeteries this one really looked like it’d been through the wringers. The stones were mostly from the 1800’s but they were almost all marble and in a damp and somewhat shady setting which made them erode and decay far faster than they should have. Here letters wore completely away leaving nothing of a whisper of what had once been. However some were intricately carved and therefore merited me snapping photos… so I took a few.

After this I wandered off to go find what I heard was one of New England’s hidden treasures – the Monson Center, otherwise known as a preserved ghost town dating back to the 1700’s. I had driven through a number of abandoned mining towns in previous years but those were out west and seemingly more recent. I didn’t really know what to expect of this place. All I knew was that it’d be exceedingly difficult to find. So I drove up and down the entirety of Federal Hill Road twice trying to find it and let me tell you, that is a long road! It starts paved, has a long dirt middle, and ends paved. The Monson Center looks like a ditch to anyone driving by. It’s a little after the road turns to pavement and right next to “Adam’s Road” which my GPS did not register (and it looked like a driveway to boot.) There were two random parking lots here in the woods right at the Hollis town line. The entrance was just a bar gate, the sort of thing you see keeping hikers off of pastureland and private properties. I parked not knowing if the parking lot was even public. Nothing was marked.

From here I started on down the trail and before I knew it a couple of signs emerged – a welcome and a map. OK, so I am in the right place but still feeling a bit weird. There was no one else around and the more I walked the more this seemed like a driveway. The forest opened up and there before us was a timeless pastoral scene. Stone walls bordered the drive and beyond them were crisp clean cut pastures, up ahead a tiny 1700’s farmhouse with a car parked next to it. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. The scenery instantly put me at a deep ease. It felt ancestral. It felt somehow just right. I wanted to live here! It was so quiet and peaceful! Still the house threw me. Is this someone’s property? Did I get lost again?? As it turns out I did not. The house serves as a museum and welcome center of sorts. It holds a number of artifacts and the man who owns the place is all the happier to explain them to you. The house is really small but very typical of a house from that period. I was loving it. The old man there even showed us a picture of a ghost. My young eyes just saw some dude wearing vibrantly colored Western wear reflected in the glass, camera and all, but I didn’t feel the need to kill the dream…

Outside of the house there’s a number of trails that lead you through the woods and back in time. The main path was once a road going straight through the center of this now extinct village. There’s no houses left but a few scraps of foundation lie here and there behind neat little plaques. There was something about these paths that was so dreamy and whimsical. It felt downright magical. I was so happy just to be walking through the trees, past the stone walls I had seen in every other corner of New England. The path led to a rookery and beaver dam, which is a very polite was of saying swamp. Even here I was inexplicably happy. The heron nests were easy to see but the birds must have been off foraging. Atop one of the two beaver lodges a daft Canadian goose sat on some eggs. benches were placed strategically throughout the property and I could have while away The whole day sitting on any of them, even here in the swamp!

This was not a particularly difficult path and it did not have anything terribly unusual about it… but for some reason it immediately became a new favorite place. I have every intention of going back now I know where it is!

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May 1, 2017 1