Category: Cover Stories

How adding smoke can transform your favorite flavors

When most people think of smoky food, their minds go immediately to barbecue.

David Mielke is the co-owner of Smokehaus Barbecue in Amherst. He said one of the reasons we are so drawn to smokiness is that it has been with us for so long.

“Smoking meat goes way, way back…,” he said. “Originally it was used to cure meats so people could hold them for long periods of time. As time went on, I think people have figured out that you can use smoke to impart flavor.”

A smoking tradition

For Mielke, choosing what type of wood to burn is as important as choosing the right cut of meat.

“In the barbecue world,” he said, “when we use smoke we’re very particular about the type of wood that we use. There’s all sorts of different types and each gives you a different flavor. I’m very particular about really wanting wood that only comes from New Hampshire. So I only use red oak. There are a lot of other barbecue places that use hickory and pecan wood and stuff like that, but it just doesn’t grow here. That’s a southern Texas thing. We don’t do that here. Honestly, I think that red oak really gives a really nice sweet flavor to the flavor profile that I’m looking for for my meat. My oak is green. It’s not seasoned. It’s not dried. It’s green. It comes from a friend’s property. He does wood for a living and he splits it from the tree and it comes right here. What happens is when it’s green like that it still has all of its moisture content. So you get a lot longer burn time with it, a lot longer smoke time. So when I smoke, I smoke for 14 hours. My brisket and my pork goes for 14 hours.”

Mielke said the “low and slow” method of cooking meats means he can focus on cuts that are more flavorful. The most flavorful cuts, though, come from muscle groups that get a lot of exercise during an animal’s life and can be extremely tough unless they are cooked a long time to break down connective tissue into something silky and delicious.

“The chest of the cow and the chest of the pig,” he said, “are very hard-working muscles. So you need to have a longer smoke time to be able to break those muscles down.”

“Our main items going [through the smoker],” Mielke said, “are half chickens, brisket, pulled pork, which is the butt.” (In spite of their names, the pork “butts” and “picnics” come from the shoulder and upper arm of a hog.) “I use the butt and the picnic, so it’s all one,” he said. “It’s a bone-in butt that I use, because I think it adds the best flavor. It takes longer to cook it but it adds flavor and I think it helps render the meat down better. I also do St. Louis-style ribs. I used to do baby backs, but I do St. Louis-style now. They’re pork, just a different section of the rib. So the baby back is like the top section of the rib cage, closer to the spine, and the St. Louis is a little further down the rib, you know, more toward the belly, and they are a little bit bigger,” Mielke said.

Mielke said traditional southern side dishes have a natural affinity for smoke.

“I like collard greens a lot,” he said. “We cook it for six hours to where it basically melts in your mouth. It has vinegar in it, which is one of those things that people seem to really like with barbecue.” Creamed corn is another natural with smoky barbecue, he said. “I make a creamed corn from scratch. That’s a very Texas thing, by the way. Nobody up here does it. I think that goes really well with smoked meats because it’s very balanced.”

Smoked, in a glass

And then there’s smoked beer.

Mike Neel is the owner of Candia Road Brewing Co. in Manchester. At any given time, his brewpub has at least one smoked beer on tap.

“Right now, we’ve got two,” he said. “We’ve got Grodziskie, which is a lighter, Polish-style wheat lager, and we have Brennenator, which is a darker Helles-style lager.”

While Neel and his staff make most of their beer on site, he said, they subcontract out the smoke.

“All of the smoked malt that we use was smoked at Blue Ox Malt House in Lisbon Falls, Maine. They have a small program, which has been growing. They’ve been working with distilleries to do smoked peat malt and other smoked malts to do smoked whiskeys. Grodziski is an oak-smoked wheat, where the Brennenator has a mix of alderwood and maple smoke,” Neel said.

Neel said that while a taste for smokiness can vary widely, he generally looks at smoke as an accent flavor. About a fifth of the malt he uses to brew his smoked beers is actually smoked. “Quantities really do matter,” he said. “How much you put into the beer will determine your overall effect. So Grodziskie is 20 percent of smoked malt that went into that beer.”

Because it is a light lager, he explained, it has a crispness that lets the smoke stand out.

“Brennenator is also 20 percent,” he said. “However, that is a higher ABV [Alcohol By Volume] beer. It does have some other character malts, like crystal malts to make it a little bit sweeter. It’s a sweeter style, and the sweetness covers up the amount of smoke that comes to the front when you taste it. It’s funny, the percentage of smoke malt is exactly the same between both beers. So how much it comes through, I think, has a lot to do with the character grains that are going in as well. [Some other brewers] use more smoked malt, but 20 percent is already a little terrifying for us; we throw that to a consumer and hope that it’s not too much. But there are breweries out there like Schlenkerla, who has been making smoked rauchbier in Germany for hundreds and hundreds of years. Some of theirs are 100 percent smoked malt. A lot of people will tell you it is wildly too smoky. Others will tell you that it’s perfect.”

Neel said that while he, personally, would drink a smoked beer with anything, it goes especially well with seafood.

Smoked, on the rocks

While many spirits traditionally have smoky flavor profiles — peaty scotches and some traditional tequilas, for example — for the past few years adventurous bartenders have been deliberately adding smoke to cocktails. James Brownell is a bartender at Nashua speakeasy CodeX — though at work he goes by the name Rusty. According to him, there are some drinks that are enhanced by adding smoke.

“It just adds one characteristic to the cocktails that we make,” he said, “primarily, old-fashioneds, sometimes Negronis, Boulevardiers or Manhattans. We use applewood here; it’s mostly universal. But you don’t always just have to smoke wood. You can smoke herbs and spices as well — like thyme, sage, cinnamon for various other flavors, for the oils to connect to the glass.”

Rusty said the bartenders at CodeX have two main ways of adding smoke to their cocktails.

“We either smoke the glass itself by turning it upside-down over burning wood chips,” he said. “The oils from the wood cling to the glass. So as you pour the liquid into the glass, it combines over time as the drink warms.”

“Or,” Rusty continued, “we use a top smoker, which draws the smoke into the glass from the top of the glass instead of having it vertically flipped over.” He indicated a top-smoker, a wooden disk with a pipe-like bowl in its center.

“We light some wood chips here,” he said, pointing to the bowl, “and the smoke gets sucked down into the glass.” If the drink has been properly chilled, he explained, the air left at the top of the glass will be cold and less dense than the air in the bar, and that creates negative air pressure that will draw the smoke down. ”It adds a little less smoke,” he said, “but it adds a little bit more of a show. It provides the smoke on top of the cocktail so that the guest gets that full whiff of smoke and the flavor from the wood itself. Instead of infusing the bottom smoke, the top smoke only does the top of the cocktail — not throughout the glass.”

Rusty said there are many different ways to smoke cocktails. “Another method a lot of bars use,” he said, “is they smoke the ice cubes as well, which works really well with a top-smoker, so that the smoke infuses into the cube. So what I like to do is smoke the cube and the glass. And then once the cocktail is chilled, pour it into there so that you get the smoke with the cube and the glass. And then you still get the show as well. So when you’re pouring the cocktail into here, you can see all the smoke come out of the glass.”

Smoked cheese

I don’t know how cheese-focused you are, but you’ve probably noticed that at any event where a cheese platter has been put out, the smoked Gouda always disappears first. (Followed by the pepper jack, but the smoked Gouda gets snagged first. Often by me.)

Fox Country Smoke House in Canterbury has a reputation for outstanding smoked cheeses. Owner Bill Annis said Fox Country produces 13 different smoked cheeses.

“The extra-sharp cheddar is our No. 1 seller,” he said. “And then my personal favorite is the horseradish cheddar. But we also do a pepper jack, we do a ghost pepper, and another popular one is Gouda. Then we do the specialties — Swiss, mozzarella, and provolone. We even do string cheese.”

Annis said he smokes about 600 pounds of cheese each week, but that can vary depending on the type of cheese and the time of year.

“Your mozzarella and your other soft cheeses are the hardest ones to do in the summer months. When you get a hot, humid day and night, that’s a challenge. During the winter months or cold weather, we try to do all the smoking at night, and the cheese is in [the smoker] for about 18 hours — a nice slow smoking. That runs at least once a week, and then when we get into the holidays, three times a week,” he said.

The smokehouse has been in business since 1969, Annis said. “We still use the original smokehouse, in that one room. We use hickory to smoke everything. It’s in sawdust form. It’s basically a chainsaw. It’s a very, very fine grind. The machine that we use now works on a line like a pellet stove. It has an auger, it drops the sawdust onto a hot plate and that creates the smoke for us.”

Annis said that because the cheese is a handmade product, some of it will be exposed to more smoke than other cheese in the same batch. “Any cheese that’s over that pipe gets much darker than the stuff on the other side of the room, which is much lighter. I prefer a milder smoking, but I do have customers who want the darkest possible.”

All about the wood

Smoke enthusiasts — competitive barbecuers, for instance — have strong opinions about which woods should be used to smoke particular foods. Jay Beland is a pitmaster at Lemay & Sons in Goffstown, a custom slaughter house and specialty butcher shop. According to him, successful smoking comes down to paying attention to details.

“If you’re smoking cheese,” he advised, “you have to watch the temperature [in your smoker] to make sure it doesn’t go over 100 degrees — otherwise it will start to melt. And then you need to use a milder wood, like apple, hickory or cherry. Stay away from the mesquites — mesquites will be too strong for cheese. It’ll give it a burnt flavor. You want a subtle smoke flavor and those will give you a subtle smoke flavor. I stick with apple wood for the most part. I like hickory — the most universal wood to use, and it works with most foods. I will mix in cherry sometimes, but if I’m having people over who don’t really like a strong smoke flavor, then I’ll use apple, because apple can be more subtle.”

If this all seems complicated and specialized, Beland said to think about the flavors of iconic smoked foods.

“Most bacon that you get is smoked in hickory,” he said. “It’s the most-known smoke flavor So a lot of times, you know when I have my smoker going, my neighbors say, ‘Wow, it smells like bacon!’ Or if I get it on my sweatshirt and I go somewhere, because I smell like smoke, they’ll say, ‘Do you smell like bacon?’ And I have to admit that I do.”

“Pork is a great thing to smoke for the summertime,” Beland said. “With pork, I would always go with hickory because if you think about hickory you think of bacon and bacon’s pork. You put hickory on a pork butt, you put hickory on ribs, that gives it that smoke that tastes like bacon. It’s a familiar smoke with people and it complements the pork.”

Beland said that more aggressive woods have a place in smoking.

“I like to use mesquite on beef cuts,” he said, “but I will use it sparingly. I like to get wood chunks and mix it with a lump charcoal. When I’m grilling at home, I use a Big Green Egg, and I will only put like one large chunk in the whole bundle because a little bit of mesquite goes a long way. You don’t want to overpower with mesquite because then it’s boom, it hits you hard, and it’s not tasteful.”

For seafood — especially mild fish and shellfish — Beland recommends using the same woods you might use for smoking cheese.

“I like to use hickory or cherry,” he said. “I’ve done tuna, I’ve done salmon, I’ve done haddock, swordfish, I’ve done scallops. And crab cakes; crab cakes are delicious on the smoker. I’d recommend that heavily. You get a nice crab cake, it’s delicious.”

Beland said another good rule with smoking is that the denser a food is, the longer it needs to be smoked. He loves to smoke cheese crackers — not surprisingly, with hickory — and he generally smokes them like cheese, at a cool temperature, for 45 minutes or so.

“Cheese puffs are too light to take much smoke, though,” he advised. “They aren’t dense at all. I smoke them for 15 minutes, maximum, but they are really, really good.”

The smoke panel
Smokehaus Barbecue 278 Route 101, Amherst, 249-5734, smokehausbbq.com
Candia Road Brewing Co. 840 Candia Road, Manchester, 935-8123, candiaroadbrewingco.com
CodeX 29 Main St., Nashua, facebook.com/CodeXBARNH
Fox Country Smoke House 164 Briar Bush Road, Canterbury, 783-4405, foxnh.com
Lemay & Sons 116 Daniel Plummer Road, Goffstown, 622-0022, lemayandsonsbeef-bbq.com

Smoke your own

What if you want to smoke something at home? Primitive humans were smoking meat hundreds of thousands of years ago. It’s got to be pretty straightforward, right?

It turns out, if you want a dedicated smoking rig, the type designed for professional barbecuers, you’ll probably spend over $1,000 for a not-great one. The top pros have custom-built rigs that can run upwards of $30,000.

Is there a way to dip your toe into food smoking cheaply enough to try it out and see if you even like it? Spoiler alert: There is and you probably will.

In 2007, Alton Brown dedicated an episode of his Food Network show Good Eats to this problem. For cold smoking — smoking food at a low temperature without actually cooking it — he suggested using a large cardboard box. It should be a couple of feet on each side, he said. He opened each side of the box, then punched several holes near the top and inserted a couple of long wooden dowels through the box, making a resting place for one or more of the cooling racks you might use after baking a cake. (You could also use the grate from your charcoal grill.) The general idea is to suspend a food — Brown smoked a salmon; you might want to start with cheese — above a heating element. He bought a $10 single-burner hot plate from the and placed it in the bottom of the box with a pan of sawdust on it. The concept was pretty straightforward. Use the hot plate to smolder the sawdust, which will make smoke that will rise up and smoke your food. Keep the flaps of the box shut, but open them from time to time to check on whatever you’re smoking.

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

A well-meaning relative who doesn’t cook bought my wife and me an extremely affordable wood-fired pizza oven a couple of years ago. As it turns out, it is made of thin steel and doesn’t retain heat very well. Pizzas require a very hot temperature — upwards of 700 degrees — and this thing couldn’t make toast. And I got really frustrated trying to keep the fire lit and the smoke kept blowing in my face every time I opened the door, and — hey, maybe —.

So we’ve started using the “pizza oven” as a smoker. We use that same one-burner hot plate in the firebox, and suspend baking racks on top of bricks in the oven compartment to give them some distance from the heat source. We place slabs of cheese between two baking racks and suspend them in the smoke. A quick internet search reveals that the cheapest hot plates are still between $10 and $15. Wood chips for grills are available online or in any hardware or department store.

The key, we’ve found, is to flip the racks every 10 to 15 minutes, ideally when the weather is cool, in order to keep the cheese from melting through the holes in the cooling racks and forming cheese stalactites. Every smoking rig — especially a homemade one like this — will be different, and probably require different smoking times. There’s also the matter of your taste in smokiness. For us, 45 minutes to an hour is about right. We’ve smoked several different types of cheese at this point, but the winners seem to be muenster and pepper jack. We just buy the big bricks of cheese at the supermarket and cut them into slabs.

Featured photo: Smoked cocktail at CodeX. Courtesy photo.

Get inspired at public gardens and garden tours

For gardening nerds and the occasional gardener alike, a trip to a top-notch “professional” garden is more fun than a week at Disney. Seeing what is really possible if you have enough experience and put in the hard work can be truly inspirational.

A really good resource for this is the reference book The Garden Tourist’s New England: A Guide to 140 Outstanding Gardens and Nurseries by Jana Milbocker, who views these visits as a good way to see gardening from somebody else’s perspective. She recommends paying close attention to the combination of plants that a master gardener has put together.

“People really give a lot of thought to how they use the forms of the garden design,” Milbocker said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s really helpful for me to go through a garden in that direction, to experience it the way that the garden owner wants you to experience it.” Thinking about the question “Why is this here?” can help reframe a home gardener’s outlook, she said.

But then, she advised, take a second look.

“You’re going to see things that you missed the first time. It’s possible also, for instance, a garden conservancy will have a garden open in the early summer and that same garden open later in the season, like late summer or early fall. It’s great to see any garden in different months because it can be vastly different. Different plants have beautiful colorful foliage in the fall. So to see a garden [over time] is really a great experience.”

A good way to find gardens to be inspired by is to take part in a sponsored garden tour.

Amy Murray is the Open Days Program Manager for the Garden Conservancy (gardenconservancy.org), an organization dedicated to garden preservation.

“We assist public gardens that are either damaged or are in need of preservation services,” Murray said. “We also give small grants to a variety of horticultural organizations that are bringing gardening to people and making significant impacts within their communities.” Murray’s particular job is working with gardens, public and private, in a given area, to help them participate in “Open Garden Days” — one or more days per season when the public can visit them.

“Unless you have a very explicit program or invitation through something like the Open Days program, there’s really not a ton of opportunities to see these spaces,” Murray said. “Open Days are absolutely wonderful because if you are interested in a garden and you want to see it, you have to go to that Open Day. There are no guarantees that a given garden will be open in a subsequent year or even ever again. We have a variety of gardens. Some love the practice of opening every single year. Some will take a few years off in between and then open once and then stay closed for several seasons. And then some will open once and never again. And so if you want to see it you have to see it on that day.”

Michael Gordon is in charge of working out the details for the Open Garden Days in New Hampshire. He said each garden in the program brings something different to each visitor.

“On one level, it’s just fun to have a nice day and you get to see pretty places. And then if you’re a more serious gardener like I am, you get ideas and see plants. It’s a good way if you live in the area to go to a garden and find out what they’re able to grow because you will be able to grow it too because it’s local to you. You can make a day of it and go from garden to garden. And people are generally really excited to share their garden,” Gordon said.

Another popular garden tour each year is put on by the Palace Theatre in Manchester. It is one of the Palace’s biggest fundraising events each year, said Box Office Manager Cherie Prior.

“The garden tour is a self-guided tour we’re running on June 20 this year,” she said. “In the morning, participants register at Demers Garden Center and they’re given a program, which lists the individual gardens. We have a combination of private and public gardens and [people on the tour] have the rest of the day to travel to the gardens and take their time at each one. Our host gardeners are there to talk about the garden and we have write-ups about each garden and its history and sort of the plants and the things that the host gardener wants to talk about.”

“We work with the Manchester Garden Club,” Prior said. “They help a lot about picking the gardens because they’re the ones out there looking at other people’s gardens and letting us know. We [the Palace Theatre] are invested in art in the community. And we consider gardens to be a part of that as well; a beautiful garden is just as valuable as a beautiful stage production. And we like to be able to promote beauty in any form within our community.”

Elinor Terrell of the Manchester Garden Club described the Palace Theatre Garden Tour as a way of giving area gardeners inspiration and a jumping-off point for their own garden projects.

“The Garden Tour is about showing the lovely hidden treasures of Manchester,” Terrell said. “We have little pocket gardens that are just tiny little things. We also have some of the nice big homes down on River Road. So it’s a wonderful way to show the treasures of the city and also to promote the love of gardening and inspiration. People will see them and go, ‘OK, I’ve got something like this. I could do this.’”

The Garden Club of Deerfield will host a garden tour in June called “Heritage in Bloom” that will showcase gardens and plants tied to Deerfield’s almost 300-year history.

“One of the stops,” said Robin McKinnon, the President of the Garden Club, “is a fourth-generation property. It comes from the 1830s. And there are plantings of lilacs that were taken from the Governor Wentworth mansion in Portsmouth. And those were the original lilacs that came to the New World. We have one farm that lies within the region historically inhabited by the Algonquin-speaking peoples, including the Seneca and related groups of the Wabanaki Confederacy. And there’s a small family cemetery on site, including the grave of a young man who served and died in the Civil War. Another [stop on the tour] is a farm from 1742 that chooses plants for their beauty but also their sustainability and healing qualities — perennial herbs, fruits, trees, vegetables selected for their dependability and heirloom varieties long valued by earlier generations.”

There are a variety of garden tours throughout the growing season, but there are also public and private gardens throughout the state that welcome visitors but are not part of organized tours. Each appeals to a different type of gardener and embraces a different gardening philosophy.

For 17 years, Petals in the Pines in Canterbury has been a go-to choice for families to spend a day outdoors, hiking along trails and enjoying gardens. According to owner Donna Miller, if you haven’t ever visited, you probably should do so this summer.

“This year will be our last year of being open to the public full-time,” she said. “Four years ago, my husband Jim and I drew a line in the sand. We said, ‘Let’s do this for five more years.’ And this is Year Number 5.”

In addition to pollinator gardens and gardens where visitors can pick their own flowers, “we have 2 miles of outdoor trails,” Miller said. “We have two labyrinths that some people use to get in touch with their thoughts, almost like meditation. We have an outdoor classroom, and a Tale Trail, with laminated pages from four different nature books that parents can read to young children as they walk, and older children can read themselves. There’s something for everyone.”

For families who want to visit throughout the season, season passes are available.

The Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road, Canterbury, 783-9511, shakers.org), on the other hand, probably not surprisingly, takes a more historical approach. The Shakers took growing plants very seriously, said Garrett Bethmann, the museum’s Manager of Communications and Engagement, and that is reflected in the gardens on the grounds today. “There are basically three main agricultural or garden spots that people can walk through and check out,” Bethmann said. “There are the granite beds, kind of that smaller plot of what people I think would traditionally see as gardens or botanical gardens. Then we have our farm fields, and those have a lasting imprint on the site. And then we have our orchards.”

“The orchard is filled with different versions of apple trees,” Bethmann said. “The Shakers used to grow apple trees in different locations throughout their close to 200 years of active living here. The orchards in the space, where they are now, first got placed there in about 1917, and a lot of those trees are from that time period.”

“The thing that I think has always been true about when people come and visit our spaces here,” Bethmann continued, “is that as best as we can, we try to use our gardens and our agricultural spaces as ways to showcase the Canterbury Shaker legacy and, as best we can, tie the things that we have going on now to elements and aspects of what they were doing in the past when the Shakers were here. So, for instance, over in our herb gardens where the granite beds are it’s a nice show of preservation in action. Typically we try to use the granite beds to kind of showcase some of the plants and herbs and perennials that were grown there in the past.”

Other gardens focus on plants that grow under very specific conditions.

The Evergreen Woodland Garden in Goffstown, for instance, features plants that thrive in the limited light found on the floor of a forest.

“It’s a one-acre woodland garden heavy on pines,” said Robert Gillmore, the garden’s creator. “There’s a total of around 400 rhododendrons. It’s probably one of the largest rhodi gardens in Northern New England. Of course, there are other ericaceous plants like mountain laurel and Lakota weed and so forth. It’s an extremely low-maintenance garden and it was designed that way. One of the problems, if you want to have a large garden, unless you’re rich with 20 gardeners on your payroll, it’s got to be low-maintenance. So with a woodland garden, one of the reasons it’s low-maintenance is that there’s no grass. There are no high-maintenance plantings, like trees and shrubs and ground covers. Another thing that makes it low-maintenance, of course, is that it’s in the shade. A woodland garden is a shade garden. And a shade garden is a slow ecosystem. Things happen slowly. Weeds happen slowly or not at all.”

“In gardening,” Gillmore said, “there is a quote by the poet Alexander Pope: ‘Consult the genius of a place,’ and by that he meant consult the special character of the site and use what’s on the site. The special character of Evergreen is a pine woods. The most expensive plants in a garden — the plants that are unavailable in any nursery at any price — were already there, planted, growing: the trees, free of charge. There are also some lovely large granite glacial erratics. It’s a wonderful topography,”

Another approach to gardening is aligned with the Palace Theatre’s philosophy of gardening as an art form. This is the perspective of Bedrock Gardens in Lee. John Forti is the Executive Director there.

“Bedrock Gardens opened to the public formally as a public garden nine years ago,” Forti said, “and we just reopened for the season a week or so ago. It’s a 37-acre old farm that has been here for centuries. The founders of the garden, Jill Nooney and Bob Munger, worked for over 30 years to create a really fascinating garden infused with art and rare botanicals that has become an oasis of art and horticulture. It’s become a public garden where people can take garden tours, art tours, special educational programs and events for all age levels that really help people connect to nature and art and find just a really unique, beautiful green space. Unlike a lot of public gardens, this is really designed to just take you on journeys so that it can be a serene step away from the world, but a place where you can really find some sanctuary and some peace. Gardeners or art enthusiasts are drawn into every corner, because there are dozens of outdoor rooms, one after the next, each with its own mood and emotion and color palette and seasonal specializations and rare plants that just tell stories and pull you away from your daily life into experiences all throughout that 30 plus acres. [The art] is largely sculptural art that really is found in every nook and cranny.”

At NH Audubon’s McLane Center in Concord, the focus is immersing visitors into native species. The Center’s Diane DeLuca said that an aim has been to restore an entire ecosystem. “Four years ago or so,” she said, “we restored an old field area that was full of invasives to an acre of pollinator meadow. It hasn’t been possible to clear out all the invasives, as you might imagine, but now there is at least an acre of native pollinator plants out there. We also have native plant pollinator gardens that go all the way around the building. And also up on the hill there’s some space that we call our butterfly garden, which is meant to be more attractive to some of the species of butterflies that move through here — monarch butterflies specifically — and the pollinators that use areas late in the fall, including migrating butterflies.”

“Our gardens here,” DeLuca said, “are meant to be as diverse as possible in order to attract all kinds of wildlife. They have a lot of different structural diversity, meaning we have some attractive trees for pollinators, which would include our birds, some of which are actually nesting in and around the garden. It’s definitely an area that’s attractive for hummingbirds, because there are a lot of plants that are in here that specifically hummingbirds enjoy and will be pollinators of those particular plants as well. The structural diversity in the garden allows for different wildlife species.”

A decision was made early on when planning the Audubon’s gardens, DeLuca said, to fill it with plant species that would peak throughout the entire growing season.

“We have blooms that start in the early part of the spring … and are available for pollinators to come out early, like queen bumblebees and some of the other bees which tend to emerge pretty early in the season and need plants that they can both nectar on and get pollen from. We think about blooms across the season, into mid-summer, and then as late as possible into the fall. We also think about diversity of the flower structures for those plants, because some of the pollinators need plants where they don’t have to get their tongues deep into the plants, because they don’t have that ability. Some of them can reach far in. So you want plants that are tubular, that hummingbirds might be attracted to. You want plants that are flat-topped, that are much easier for some of the bees and butterflies to get into. We want a diversity of structure. so that we can attract many different forms of wildlife into the garden.”

Public gardens

Here are some area public gardens.

• Bedrock Gardens (19 High Road, Lee, 659-2993, bedrockgardens.org) A nonprofit public garden that integrates unusual botanical specimens, unique sculptures, and interesting landscape design and features into an inspiring journey. This 30-acre site has recently transitioned from a historic farm and private garden to a self-described “public oasis of horticulture, art, and inspiration.” Adults $15. Children 12 and under free.
• Brigit’s Garden in Livingston Park (156 Hooksett Road, Manchester) A public garden within Livingston Park, created by the Brigit A. Feeney Foundation for Hope and Healing, in memory of Brigit A. Feeney, a victim and witness advocate with the NH Department of Justice, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2021.
• Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road, Canterbury, 783-9511, shakers.org)Canterbury Shaker Village describes its mission as “preserving and sharing the legacy of the Canterbury Shakers, promoting learning, connection, and rejuvenation for people from down the street and around the world.” There are three main gardens on site: an herb and culinary garden, apple orchards, and farm fields. Throughout the summer the Village will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nature trails are free to explore daily from dawn to dusk. Adult admission is $25.
• Kimball Jenkins Estate (266 N. Main St., Concord, 225-3932, kimballjenkins.com) A historic mansion in Concord, now the site of the Kimball Jenkins Art School. The campus grounds have gardens that are currently under renovation.
• Maple Hill Gardens at the Beaver Brook Association (117 Ridge Road, Hollis, 465-7787, beaverbrook.org/visit-us/maple-hill-gardens) “There are 13 themed gardens, a natural play area, a demonstration compost court, picnic areas and even a wildflower trail to explore,” according to the website.
• New Hampshire Audubon Society NH Audubon has two visitor centers in the region with gardens: The Susan N. McLane Audubon Center (84 Silk Farm Road, Concord, 224-9909, nhaudubon.org/center-and-events/mclane-center-concord) is open Wednesdays-Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with trails and pollinator gardens open from dawn to dusk daily; Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way, Auburn, nhaudubon.org/center-and-events/massabesic-center-auburn) is open Wednesdays-Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with trails and pollinator gardens open from dawn to dusk daily.
• Petals in the Pines (126 Baptist Road, Canterbury, 783-0220, petalsinthepines.com) A family-friendly farm with hiking trails, pollinator gardens, PYO flower bouquets and a farm stand. The summer of 2026 will be its final year open to the public. Open Wednesday through Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday. Season passes are available for $25.
• Pickety Place (248 Nutting Hill Road, Mason, 878-1151, pickityplace.com) An 18th-century Cape surrounded by vast, well-established garden beds, mainly perennials and herbs. The herbs are served in the restaurant’s five-course lunches.

Garden tours

Here are some upcoming garden tours. Know of any tours not mentioned here? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

• 37th Annual Pocket Gardens of Portsmouth Tour
  What: The tour features 10 private gardens in the historic South End neighborhood of Portsmouth, the Goodwin Garden at Strawbery Banke Museum, and the garden at South Church. When: Friday, June 19, Saturday, June 20. Admission: Early bird tickets $25 (until June 13), general admission tickets $30 (June 14, until day of tour). More info: Visit portsmouthnhtickets.com/e/37th-pocket-gardens-of-portsmouth
• 7th Annual Palace Theatres Garden Tour
  What: A self-guided, self-paced tour of both private and public gardens throughout Manchester. When: Saturday, June 20. Admission: Tickets are $20. Registration is from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Demers Garden Center in Manchester. More info: Visit palacetheatre.org/events/2026-garden-tour.
• 4th Annual Lilac City Garden Tour
  What: Organized by Lilac City Gardeners (formerly Rochester NH Garden Club). Local gardeners will showcase their gardens, share knowledge, and inspire others in the community. When: Saturday, June 20. More info: Visit Lilac City Gardeners’ Facebook page.
• Heritage in Bloom
  What: A tour of six historic gardens in Deerfield. When: Saturday, June 27. Admission: senior/student $8, general admission $10, carload $30. More info: Visit givebutter.com/heritage-in-bloom
• Jaffrey Artist and Garden Tour
  What: Features local private gardens, each hosting a local artist at work. You’ll have the chance to see artists create in real time — painting, sketching, and capturing the beauty of each setting. When: Saturday, July 11. Admission: $15. More info: Visit jaffreyciviccenter.com/event/event-artist-garden-tour.
• Hospice Home and Garden Tour
  What: A tour of four residential properties on or near Lake Winnipesaukee, benefiting Granite VNA. When: Wednesday, July 15. Admission: $55
  Visit granitevna.org/ways-to-give/hospice-home-garden-tour.
• Garden Conservancy’s Open Garden Day
  What: A self-guided tour of some of the area’s best public and private gardens in Manchester, Nashua, Milford, Pelham, Hollis, Hudson and Hooksett. When: July 18. Admission: $10, by pre-registration only. More info: Visit gardenconservancy.org/open-days/ticket-release-dates
• The Second Annual Five Senses Tour at Tiffany Gardens
  What: Use your five senses while exploring the private gardens hidden in a quiet Londonderry neighbor. Enjoy food, drink, music, art and nature. When: Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26. Admission: $20. More info: visit comcaregivers.org/garden-tour.

It’s summer!

Or, it’s “summer” — the state of mind we enter sometime around Memorial Day weekend, when we dig out the flip-flops and shove the snow boots to the back of the closet. In this guide we present summer season happenings from now through Labor Day, when the vibes turn autumnal. With information gleaned from the events’ websites and social media pages, here are some of the happenings to put on your schedule over the next few months. Did we miss one of your favorite events? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Books
Find book sales, author events and other bookworm fun in the Book listings, which run weekly in our Pop section. Have a literary event this summer? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Fairs & Festivals

• Nashua will celebrate Renaissance on the Riverwalk Friday, May 22, through Monday, May 25 — “The grand reopening of the newly renovated Le Parc de Notre Renaissance [on Water Street in Nashua] will be the location for four days of music, food, events and fun for the whole family,” according to a post on the Enjoy Nashua Facebook page. “A full schedule of Memorial Day weekend activities will include food trucks, lots of live music performances, free arts and crafts activities aimed at all ages, local vendors, lawn games, and more. We’re planning a downtown Seek n Find that will have you looking for fun little prizes, and some objects that score you even bigger prizes! We’ll also have coffee/breakfast food trucks ready before the annual Monday parade down Main Street, so you and your family can power up before supporting our marching veterans!”

• The New Hampshire Arms Collectors will hold a gun show on Saturday, May 23, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Everett Arena in Concord, according to nharmscollectors.org.

• The Downtown Nashua Association will hold the Rubber Duck Regatta on Saturday, May 23, with a duck launch at 3 p.m. at the Nashua River Walk, according to downtownnashua.org, where you can purchase the ducks to compete. “[A]ll 5,000 ducks will be launched into the Merrimack River from the footbridge between the Clocktower Apartments and the Cotton Mill Apartments. The first three ducks to cross the finish line will win cash prizes,” the website said. See page 23 for more.

• The Memorial Weekend Craft Fair at Mill Falls Marketplace in Meredith from Saturday, May 23, through Monday, May 25, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (until 4 p.m. on Monday) featuring more than 70 juried artists, according to castleberryfairs.com/memorial-day-weekend-craft-festival, where you can see a list of exhibitors.

• Third annual Granite State Tap Festival Show will take place Sunday, May 24, at 4 p.m. at the Dana Center at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. The show is preceded (on Saturday, May 23) by a day of classes. See tickets.anselm.edu for details about the classes and to register and to purchase show tickets.

• History Alive at Kemp Park in Hillsborough will feature events about Abenaki culture and the Contoocook River on Friday, May 29, from noon to 3 p.m., and Saturday, May 30, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to historyalivenh.org. The theme is “The River That Runs Thru” and the Saturday keynote speaker is archeologist Robert Goodby, who will discuss “Paddling Thru Time: The Long History of Canoes in New Hampshire,” the website said. Each day will begin and end with Abenaki drumming and singing, and the event will also feature Abenaki basket and pottery making, traditional foods, stories about the mills, a tour of the railroad corridor, a display of trucks, a presentation about the river, and a tapestry depicting the history of New Hampshire, as well as a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck, the website said.

• Less Leg More Heart will hold the 3rd annual Fire Truck Pull & Festival on Sunday, May 31, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Arms Park in Manchester featuring the fire truck pull competition, a car show, food and beverage vendors, a vendor village, a kids zone and raffles, according to lesslegmoreheart.com/events, where you can find details about participating in the pull or car show.

• Truckfest, an event featuring big vehicles that kids can explore, will take place Sunday, May 31, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative High School and Middle School, according to an email from the event’s organizer. The event is free to attend and will feature a “lemonade and cookie stand to raise money for Relay for Life, a program run by the American Cancer Society,” the email said.

• The Nashua Historical Society will host two performances of Declaring Independence: Then and Now on Thursday, June 4, at 5 and 7 p.m. at the Florence H. Speare Memorial Museum, 5 Abbot St. in Nashua, according to a press release. “Presented by actors in period dress, the performance combines historical storytelling with an annotated reading of the Declaration itself, inviting audiences to consider both the courage of 1776 and the enduring relevance of the nation’s founding ideals today,” the release said. The event is free but registration is required; see the society’s Facebook page for links to register for one of the performance times.

• First Friday Concord continues with live music and other special programming June 5 and Aug. 7 from 4 to 8 p.m. as well as first Fridays through November. On Friday, June 5, the theme is Concord Pride with free face painting from 4 to 7 p.m. on City Plaza and live music by Ashborne (City Plaza, 4 to 8 p.m.), Kyle Erickson (4 to 5:45 p.m., Bicentennial Square) and Trade (6:15 to 8 p.m., Bicentennial Square), according to firstfridayconcord.com. Food trucks scheduled to attend June 5 include Nothing Bundt Cakes, Nice Ice Baby, DeadProof and Stacy’s Grill, the website said.

• The Rotary Club of Goffstown will hold its 13th Annual Car Show on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Parsons Drive in Goffstown, according to an email from the club. “Entering a show car costs $20, spectators enter for free. Proceeds from the event are given as grants to area charities,” the email said. See goffstownrotary.org.

• Goffstown’s Old Home Day will take place Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with local vendors, food, live music and entertainment and kids’ activities and games, according to goffstownmainstreet.org/old-home-day. The festivities also include an outdoor movie at 7 p.m. and LED fireworks in the Town Common on Friday, June 5, the website said.

• The 14th annual New Hampshire Maker Fest will be held in and around the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in Dover on Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to a press release. See demonstrations in a variety of subjects from engineers, scientists, bakers, tinkerers, hobbyists and artisans, the release said. See childrens-museum.org/programs/nh-maker-fest.

• The Concord Pride 5K Run/Walk 2026 will take place Sunday, June 7, 9 a.m. to noon at the State House with the start/finish line on Capitol Street, according to posts on the the Equality Health Center Facebook page, where you can find links to sign up.

• The Northern New England Book Fair will take place Sunday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Everett Arena in Concord along with a show from New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association in the same location, according to apassion4books.com. Admission costs $5 and the event will feature more than 90 dealers, the website said.

• The Milford Pride Fest 2026 will take place Sunday, June 7, from noon to 4 p.m. at the stage at Keyes Park in Milford featuring music, drag performers, food trucks, vendors and more, according to the event’s Facebook page.

• The Seacoast LitFest will take place Thursday, June 11, through Sunday, June 14, at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, according to a press release. Events include multiple author talks including with Jenna Bush Hager (June 11), Temple Grandin (June 12) and Jill Lepore (June 14); a book fair and kid book giveaway on June 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; panels; book signings and more, the release said. See themusichall.org for a complete schedule and to purchase tickets to some of the events.

• The Make It Fest!, a “gathering of makers, doers, DIYers, crafters, tinkerers, self-proclaimed engineers and aspiring mad-scientists!” according to makeitfest.com, will take place Saturday, June 13, from noon to 4 p.m. at Make It Labs, 25 Crown St. in Nashua, the website said. The event will feature demonstrations, exhibits, workshops, a sumo robot competition, vendor sales and more, according to the website, where you can register to attend.

• Laconia Motorcycle Week is slated for Saturday, June 13, through Sunday, June 21, according to laconiamcweek.com, where you can find a schedule of rides and other events.

• The 26th Annual Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Classic runs Thursday, June 18, through Saturday, June 20, with the illuminated sculptures on display through June 28, according to hamptonbeach.org/events/sand-sculpture-event. A group carve takes place Wednesday, June 17, according to the website, where you can find a schedule of events and a look at this year’s contributors.

• The Black Heritage Trail New Hampshire will hold events commemorating Juneteenth. On Friday, June 19, at 9 a.m. there will be aJuneteenth Freedom Walk in Portsmouth followed by African drumming at the African burial grounds in Portsmouth at 11 a.m.; visit blackheritagetrailnh.org. On Sunday, June 21, at 10 a.m. there will be a living history event, “Meet New Hampshire’s 5 to Know,” featuring interpreters of Wentworth Cheswell (a Revolutionary War veteran and the first Black person elected to public office in the U.S.); performer Richard Potter; author Harriet Wilson; Prince Whipple (Revolutionary War veteran and one of the signers of the 1779 Petition for Freedom) and Ona Marie Judge, the website said. On Saturday, June 27, there will be a statewide reading of Frederick Douglass’ “What to a Slave Is Your Fourth of July.” On Sunday, June 28, starting at 10 a.m. in Portsmouth there will be aguided bus tour of New Hampshire’s Black Revolutionary War history, according to the website, where you can register for all of these events.

• Black Womxn in New Hampshire Collective will hold its Juneteenth New England celebration on Saturday, June 20, starting at 1 p.m. at Crossway Christian Church in Nashua featuring music, dancing, storytelling, food, history, community connection and more, according to a post at the group’s Facebook page facebook.com/bwinhinc. See also bwinhsc.com.

• The Concord Historical Society will host “Liberty and Legacy: Civic Saturday Social” on Saturday, June 20, from 1 to 6 p.m. at Kimball Jenkins, 266 N. Main St. in Concord, “in conjunction with Kimball Jenkins, the Pierce Manse and Concordia Lutheran Church. The event will kick off the city’s semiquincentennial celebrations. This celebration is free to the public and will be held on North Main Street amidst several iconic historic buildings,” according to kimballjenkins.com. Later that evening in a separate event starting at 6:30 p.m., Kimball Jenkins will host improv troupe Stranger than Fiction with America, Signing Off!, “inspired by America 250, where some of the lesser-known Founding Fathers gather to debate one audience-suggested line for the soon-to-be-written Declaration of Independence,” according to the website, where you can purchase tickets.

• Nashua Pride Festival & Parade will run Saturday, June 20, from 2 to 7 p.m. at Holman Stadium in Nashua, according to downtownnashua.org. The day will include live performances, food trucks, local vendors, community organizations and activities for all ages, according to the website.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire will hold its annual Father’s Day Weekend Fly-In BBQ at Boire Field in Nashua on Saturday, June 20, according to aviationmuseumofnh.org, where you can check back for details.

• The Wilton NH Main Street Association’s SummerFest will be held Saturday, June 20, according to facebook.com/wiltonmainstreetnh. “Main Street will be closed to traffic and full of vendors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. We have live music on two stages during that entire time. The Lions will also have their annual Duck Drop fundraiser in the afternoon,” according to an email from organizers. “Activities move up to Carnival Hill in the evening from 6 to 10 p.m. That will include music provided by a DJ, kids’ games, a pie-eating contest and an amazing fireworks display by JPI Pyrotechnics, enhanced this year for the 250th birthday of America,” the email said.

• Concord’s Market Days Festival will run Thursday, June 25, through Saturday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, according to marketdaysfestival.com. Each day features music and performances on three stages, food trucks and food vendors, vendors selling other goods and more, the website said.

• The Town of Windham will hold a Revolutionary Living History and Encampment with the First New Hampshire Regiment at Crossing Life Church, 122 N. Lowell Road in Windham, on Saturday, June 27, to celebrate America’s 250th, according to a post on the town’s Facebook page. The day featuring a camp and farmers market will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a contra dance and fireworks from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the post said. The event will have live reenactments, cannon and musket firing demonstrations, 18th century cooking, colonial music and clothes, animals and soldier’s drill as well as food truck, the post said.

• The Manchester Pride Festival & Parade will take place Saturday, June 27, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Manchester, according to manchestertrue.org. The parade will kick off the day, followed by live performances, food, local vendors and community organizations and more, according to a post on the Manchester True Collaborative Facebook page. See the Manchester True Collaborate website for details on other Pride events happening throughout June including the Pride Youth Hop on June 23 and the official Pride afterparty on June 27.

• The next New England Reptile Expo is Sunday, June 28, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm St. in Manchester, featuring more than 200 vendor tables, according to reptileexpo.com/all-shows/newhampshire.

• The Liberty Weekend Craft Festival takes place in the Town Common in Hampton Falls on Saturday, July 4, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, July 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring juried artisans and specialty foods, according to castleberryfairs.com/liberty-weekend-craft-festival, where you can find a list of exhibitors.

• The Hillsboro Summerfest will run Thursday, July 9, through Sunday, July 12, at 29 Preston St. in Hillsborough, featuring carnival rides and midway games, live entertainment, a 5K on July 10, a town parade, a women’s skillet toss, fireworks on Saturday evening and more, according to hillsborosummerfest.com.

• The Raymond Town Fair will be held Friday, July 10, through Sunday, July 12, featuring “live music, fireworks, children’s activities, educational exhibitions, games & vendors,” according to facebook.com/RaymondTownFair, where you can check for schedule updates.

• The Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, 18 Highlawn Road in Warner, will hold its 25th annual Pow Wow on Saturday, July 11, and Sunday, July 12, according to indianmuseum.org, where you can purchase tickets. “Experience the vibrant colors of regalia, powerful dances, heartwarming music, and over 20 traders with handmade crafts,” the website said about the event.

• The American Independence Center will hold the American Independence Festival in downtown Exeter on Saturday, July 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring a live reading of the Declaration of Independence, demonstrations of historic 18th-century trades, reenactment groups, colonial games and music and more, according to aicnh.org/american-independence-festival.

• Merrimack Paddle Battle 2026 will take place Sunday, July 18, starting at 10:30 a.m. in Wasserman Park in Merrimack hosted by Merrimack Parks & Recreation and the Merrimack Run Club, according to merrimackparksandrec.org. The day features a community water race in a one-mile loop around Blueberry Island, according to the website.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire, 27 Navigator Road in Londonderry, will hold its annual Classic Car Show on Saturday, July 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to a press release. “Admission to the grounds for spectators is $10 per adult; children 12 and under free. Admission is cash only,” the release said. The day will also feature food trucks, and admission to the museum is included with admission to the car show, during the show, the release said. See aviationmuseumofnh.org.

• Stratham Summerfest 2026 will take place Saturday, July 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Stratham Hill Park and feature 4-H animal barns, exhibits and more; magic shows, live music, kids’ activities, helicopter exhibits weather permitting, a pie-eating contest and more, according to strathamnh.gov.

• The Second Congregational Church, 25 Gregg St. in Wilton, will hold its annual Summer Fair on Saturday, July 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring crafts, food, music, kids activities, plant sales, book sales, a food auction at 1 p.m. and more, according to an email from the church. See 2ccwilton.org.

• Organized by the Merrimack Valley Military Vehicle Collectors Club, the Weare Rally will run Thursday, July 23, through Saturday, July 25, at Center Woods School (14 Center Road, Weare). The rally features military vehicle displays, scenic rides, demonstrations, food and more, according mvmvc.org.

• The Live Free or Die Tattoo Expo runs Friday, July 24, through Sunday, July 26, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester). The event features tattoo artists, contests, vendors, live music, food and performances, according to livefreeordietattoo.com, where you can find a schedule and purchase tickets.

• The Canterbury Fair is, as always, the last Saturday in July — Saturday, July 25, starting at 9 a.m. with a 5K at Canterbury Center, according to canterburyfair.com. The fair, which runs until 4 p.m., in Center Canterbury will also include children’s games, a used book sale, live music including from Mr. Aaron and The Ragged Mountain Band, demonstrations of handicrafts, a “whatnot” tag sale, a barbecue and more, the website said.

• The Manchester Craft Market at the Mall of New Hampshire will hold its Local Author Book Fair on Saturday, July 25, from noon to 4 p.m., featuring more than 100 New England area authors, according manchestercraftmarket.com.

• The Downtown Nashua Association will present the Summer Stroll on Saturday, July 25, on Main Street in Nashua, according to downtownnashua.org, where you can check for updates on the event. “This event turns Main Street into a pedestrian-only festival of food, art, music and kids’ activities, featuring dozens of vendor tents and local makers,” the website said.

• The Coppal House Farm in Lee will hold its annual Sunflower Festival Saturday, July 25, through Aug. 2, open daily with food vendors and special events on the weekend including children’s storytimes, music and a craft fair, according to nhsunflower.com, where you can find daily times and admission prices, purchase admission and find tickets to special events held during the festival.

• The New Hampshire Film Festival Presents: NHFF Short Films — Best of the Fest part 1 at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St. in Manchester, on Thursday, July 30, at 7 p.m., according to an organizer email. “The lineup includes live action, documentary, and animation titles that were produced in New Hampshire, across the U.S., and across the world,” the email said. See palacetheatre.org for tickets.

• The Suncook Valley Rotary 44th Hot Air Ballroom Rotary will run Friday, July 31, through Sunday, Aug. 2, at Drake Field on Barnstead Road in Pittsfield, featuring daily night glow displays of the balloons and flights (weather permitting) as well as touch-a-truck, a 5K, a regatta and more, according to nhballoonrally.org.

• The Belknap County Fair will run Saturday, Aug. 1, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 174 Mile Hill Road in Belmont, according to bcfairnh.org.

• The New Hampshire Antiques Show, hosted by the New Hampshire Antique Dealers Association, returns to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester) Thursday, Aug. 6, through Saturday, Aug. 8, featuring 59 antiques dealers, according to nhada.org, where you can find details on tickets, parking and more.

• Hudson Old Home Days runs Thursday, Aug. 6, through Sunday, Aug. 9, according to hudsonoldhomedays.com, where you can check for updates for this year’s events. Last year’s events and activities included carnival rides, food trucks and other vendors, live music, midway games, a craft fair and more, the website said.

• Dark Side Customs of Concord will present The Granite State Gitdown, a custom car and bike show, outside the Everett Arena in Concord on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the Everett Arena schedule. See dark-side-customs.com.

• The New Hampshire Boat Museum will host its annual Alton Bay Boat Show on Saturday, Aug. 9, from 9 a.m. to noon in the Alton Town Docks, according to a press release. See nhbm.org.

• Sunfox Farm in Concord presents its annual Sunflower Bloom Festival Saturday, Aug. 8, through Sunday, Aug. 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., featuring live music, food trucks and other vendors, according to sunfoxfarm.org/sunflowerfestival, where you can find details on pricing, parking and more.

• Londonderry Old Home Day includes a day-long event Saturday, Aug. 15, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a parade as well as, at the Town of Londonderry Historical Society, colonial crafts, music, cannon and musket firing and more, according to londonderryhistory.org. See Facebook.com/TownofLondonderryOldHomeDay for more events and updates.

• History Alive 2026 in Hillsborough on Jones Road will feature historical reenactments of famous battles as well as daily village life (from Viking and medieval demonstrations to World War II) on Saturday, Aug. 15, and Sunday, Aug. 16. See historyalivenh.org for a schedule.

• The Concord Model Railroad Show, sponsored by the Concord Model Railroad Club, will take place Sunday, Aug. 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Everett Arena in Concord, according to a flyer from the club. Admission costs $2 for adults, free for kids under 15 with an adult, the flyer said. The day will feature more than 20 dealers, a food stand, raffles and more, the flyer said. See trainweb.org/cmrc.

• The Annual Hampton Beach Children’s Festival will run Monday, Aug. 17, through Friday, Aug. 21, with a lineup of performances and events each day leading up to a giant costume parade on Aug. 21, according to hamptonbeach.org/events/childrens-events.

• The Hampton Beach Comedy Festival runs Tuesday, Aug. 18, through Sunday, Aug. 23, with performances by at least five comedians each night at McGuirk’s Ocean View Hotel, according to hampton-beach-comedy-festival.weebly.com, where you can purchase tickets and see the scheduled lineups.

• Candia Old Home Day kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 11 a.m. with a parade, followed by a celebration featuring a dunk tank, food vendors, music and more, according to candiaoldhomeday.com.

• The 8th Annual Family Fun Day at Field of Dreams in Salem will take place Saturday, Aug. 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to fieldofdreamsnh.org.

• Dog Friendly NH will host Bark in the Park: Wag Around the World Festival on Saturday, Aug 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Rollins Park in Concord, according to a post on the Dog Friendly NH Facebook page. “Come wander through country and region themed areas, [and] enjoy international food trucks, live music, vendors, and a park full of fun and discovery” according to the post, which said the event would also feature a Kids Zone, shopping and more. The event is open to dogs who are “vaccinated, healthy, well-behaved with people and dogs, and comfortable on a leash,” the post said.

• Pembroke and Allenstown’s Old Home Day returns on Saturday, Aug. 22, with homemade crafts, merchants, information booths and more, according to pembrokeallenstownoldhomeday.org, where you can check back for updates on this year’s events.

• The Capital Mineral Club Show will take place Saturday, Aug. 29, and Sunday, Aug. 30, at the Everett Arena in Concord, according to capitalmineralclub.org, where you can find updates on the show.

• The Hopkinton State Fair bills itself as a Labor Day weekend tradition happening this year from Thursday, Sept. 3, to Monday, Sept. 7, at the fairgrounds (392 Kearsarge Ave., Contoocook). There will be livestock shows, a demolition derby, carnival rides, monster trucks, live entertainment, food and more. The fair hours are 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, according to hsfair.org.

• Cruisin’ Downtown, billed as New England’s largest classic car show, will take place Saturday, Sept. 5, on Elm Street in downtown Manchester, and feature vendors, music on two stages and more, according to cruisingdowntownnh.com.

• The 2026 Exeter UFO Festival will take place Saturday, Sept. 5, and Sunday, Sept. 6, with a lineup of speakers as well as family-friendly festival activities (costume contests for people and pets, a parade, a dance party and more), according toexeterufofestival.org.

Art galleries
Find art shows, openings and other gallery happenings each week in our Arts listings. Have a summer art exhibition or other event? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Arts events

• The Craftworkers’ Guild Spring Fair Craft Shop at Oliver Kendall House (3A Meetinghouse Road in Bedford, behind the Bedford Public Library) is open through Sunday, May 24, Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. See thecraftworkersguild.org.

• The 2026 Nashua International Sculpture Symposium continues at the Picker Artists building, 3 Pine St. in Nashua, with a closing ceremony and visit to the sculptures’ installation sites on Saturday, June 6, at 1 p.m. During the symposium you can watch the sculptors work at the Pine Street site. See NashuaSculptureSymposium.org.

• NH Alt Market will be held Saturday, May 23, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Newmarket Millspace, 55 Main St., Suite 132, in Newmarket, according to nhaltmarket.com.

• The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire will hold an unveiling of a mural of Ona Judge Staines at 222 Court St. in Portsmouth on Saturday, May 23, with events starting at 11 a.m., according to blackheritagetrailnh.org, where you can find a schedule of events. “Born enslaved to George and Martha Washington at Mt. Vernon around 1773, Staines … escaped [from the family’s Philadelphia residence at the age of 22 in 1796] with the help of members of Philadelphia’s free Black community, with whom she had built relationships during earlier visits. She hid on a boat destined for Portsmouth. … Staines spent the rest of her life as a free woman in New Hampshire, where she married and had three children,” according to the website.

• The Concord Arts Market will return to Rollins Park in Concord for another season of Arts in the Park dates starting Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and running one Saturday a month through October, according to concordartsmarket.org. The Concord Arts Market will also be at Concord’s Market Days Festival in the downtown.

• “Art in Bloom Celebration” will take place Friday, June 12, through Sunday, June 14, at the Center for the Arts Members Gallery, 428 Main St. in New London. Local garden clubs and florists will create floral interpretations inspired by selected works from “Emergence,” a spring juried members exhibition at the gallery, according to a press release. See cfanh.org.

• The 4th Annual Community Arts Festival at Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough will be held Saturday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to a press release. “The festival will feature dozens of crafters, artists, and community organizations in the field of this iconic destination,” the release said. The event is free to attend and will feature food trucks and a scavenger hunt, the release said. See castleintheclouds.org/event/community-arts-festival.

• Bike Night at the Currier Presented by Manchester Harley-Davidson will take place Thursday, July 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St. in Manchester, in conjunction with the current exhibit “Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders,” in which 16 works by photographer Danny Lyon of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club are on display through Aug. 16 at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, according to currier.org. The event encourages people to “[b]ring your motorcycle to the Currier for a fun and free night out at the museum,” according to an email from the museum. See currier.org for details.

• Uncommon Art On the Common in the village of Goffstown takes place Saturday, Aug. 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to goffstownmainstreet.org/uncommonart, where you can check back for updates.

• The League of NH Craftsmen’s Annual Craftsmen’s Fair will take place Saturday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at Mount Sunapee Resort in Newbury, according to nhcrafts.org/annual-craftsmens-fair.

• The 73rd Greeley Park Art Show will take place Saturday, Aug. 29, and Sunday, Aug. 30, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Greeley Park in Nashua, 100 Concord St., according to a post on the Nashua Area Artists Association Facebook page.

Movies!
Find listings of specialty movie screenings and movie series this summer in the film listings, which appear in the Pop section most weeks, including on page 28 in this week’s issue.

Spectator sports

• The New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Delta Dental Stadium in downtown Manchester continue their run against the Hartford Yard Goats through Sunday, May 24, with games at 6:03 p.m. on May 21 and May 22 and 1:05 p.m. on May 23 and May 24. Catch after-show fireworks on Friday, May 22. Regular season games continue through Sunday, Sept. 13. See milb.com/new-hampshire for tickets.

• The Nashua Silver Knights, members of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, will host their home opener at Holman Stadium (67 Amherst St., Nashua) on Wednesday, May 27, against the Vermont Lake Monsters at 10:30 a.m. followed by a game Saturday, May 30, at 6:30 p.m. against the Lowell Spinners. The first post-game fireworks will take place at the game on Friday, June 5, at 6:03 p.m. against the Worcester Bravehearts. Their last home game of the regular season will be on Friday, Aug. 7, at 6:03 p.m. against the Norwich Sea Unicorns. See nashuasilverknights.com.

• NH Roller Derby continues its season with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 30, at 4 p.m. at JFK Coliseum, 303 Beech St. in Manchester, according to nhrollerderby.com. Up next, a doubleheader on Saturday, June 27, at 4 p.m. and the Granite Skate Invitational on Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19, according to NH Roller Derby’s Facebook page, where you can find updates on their events.

• The 2026 New Hampshire Soap Box Derby Local Championship will be held on Sunday, May 31, at 120 Broadway in Dover — check-ins begin at 7:45 a.m., with competitions (between drivers ages 7 to 20) starting at 10 a.m. Spectators can cheer on the races for free. See nh.soapboxderby.org

• The Special Olympics New Hampshire State Summer Games take place Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13, at the University of New Hampshire (105 Main St., Durham). The games include competition in athletics, bocce, equestrian, powerlifting, unified sprint triathlons and swimming, according to sonh.org.

• Dartmouth Health Children’s NH East-West All Star Football Game featuring “the state’s best graduating high school football players together” will take place Friday, June 26, at 6 p.m. at the Grappone Stadium at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, according to childrens.dartmouth-health.org/events, where you can purchase tickets.

Day at the museum
Looking for a few hours of local history and culture? Check out “Granite State Curiosities,” our May 14 cover story on local museums. Find the issue in the digital library at hippopress.com. The story starts on page 8.

Nature events

• The NH Audubon and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire are partnering on a Black Birders Week 2026 Tour on Saturday, May 30, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in Portsmouth, according to nhaudubon.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• New Hampshire Audubon’s Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn, nhaudubon.org) will hold Garden Tours on Tuesday, June 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, Aug. 6, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; RSVP on the website to attend.

• The summer Free Fishing Day in New Hampshire takes place on Saturday, June 6, when residents and nonresidents can “fish any inland water — or saltwater — in New Hampshire” without a fishing license, according to wildlife.nh.gov, which noted that season dates and other fishing regulations still apply.

• The NH Audubon’s McLane Center, 84 Silk Farm Road in Concord, will hold a Pollinator Fest & Native Plant Sale on Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. featuring local artisans, pollinator groups, food trucks, live music and more, according to nhaudubon.org.

• The 37th Annual Pocket Gardens of Portsmouth Tour, a fundraiser for South Church, will take place Friday, June 19, from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to southchurch-uu.org/what-we-offer/pocket-garden-tour. “This year’s tour returns to the historic South End neighborhood and features 10 private gardens and the Goodwin Garden at Strawbery Banke Museum. Along the route you will find musicians, artists, and refreshments,” the website said.

• The Palace Theatre’s Red, White and Bloom Garden Tour 2026 takes place Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a self-guided tour of public and private gardens throughout Manchester, according to palacetheatre.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• The Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye celebrates World Oceans Day on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with “hands-on games, educational activities, naturalist-led tide pooling sessions, food trucks, and more,” according to seacoastsciencecenter.org, where you can purchase tickets for the event.

• Heritage in Bloom: A Garden Tour held by the Garden Club of Deerfield will take place Saturday, June 27, from 3 to 7 p.m. and feature “a self-guided tour through the gardens of historic homes and properties throughout Deerfield. Guests will have the opportunity to explore beautifully maintained landscapes rooted in the town’s rich agricultural and cultural history while enjoying the magic of a New England summer evening during the golden hour. More than a traditional garden tour, Heritage in Bloom offers a thoughtfully curated experience where music, art, and nature come together. Throughout the gardens, visitors will discover local musicians, artists, and special touches …,” according to a club press release. See givebutter.com/heritage-in-bloom for tickets.

• New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord) will hold Pollinator Garden Tours on Thursday, July 9, from 4 to 6 p.m. and Thursday, Aug. 13, from 4 to 6 p.m. according to nhaudubon.org, where you can RSVP to attend.

• The Granite VNA Hospice Home & Garden Tour will take place Wednesday, July 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to granitevna.org/ways-to-give/hospice-home-garden-tour, where tickets will be on sale in late May. “This year’s tour features a wonderful mix of homes on or near the waterfront of Lake Winnipesaukee, from sprawling estates to charming cottages, open-air retreats to rustic getaways,” the website said.

• The Second Annual Five Sense Tour at Tiffany Gardens, a fundraiser for Community Caregivers of Greater Derry, will take place Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the private Tiffany Gardens, a one-acre residential garden with more than 20 garden beds, according to comcaregivers.org/garden-tour, where you can purchase tickets.

• New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord) will hold the Capital Area Butterfly Survey on Saturday, July 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to nhaudubon.org, where you can register to participate.

Concerts
Find ticketed shows this summer for rock, country, pop and more in our Concerts listing, which runs weekly in our Nite section. Look for classical, classical pops, folk and more in the Classical Music listings, which appear each week in our Arts section. Have a show schedule on the summer schedule? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Music festivals

• Synthfest 2026, an evening of live electronic music, will take place Saturday, May 30, from 5 to 8 p.m. in Rollins Park Gazebo in Concord, according to boseyjoe.com/synthfest. The lineup includes Bosey Joe, Green Leader and Hyponova, according to the website.

• The Granite State 2026 Blues Challenge will take place Sunday, May 31, at noon at the Brickhouse Restaurant and Brewery, 241 Union Square in Milford, according to granitestateblues.org.

• Halcyon Music Festival, which “brings world-class musicians and talented young professionals to live, work, and perform together … to create a community where chamber music will be explored and presented at the highest artistic level,” will offer six concerts Thursday, June 11, through Saturday, June 20, at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, according to halcyonmusicfestival.org, where you can purchase tickets including ticket packages for multiple concerts. Shows are “In the Americas” on June 11, featuring the music of Schubert, Beach, Villa-Lobos and Barber; “Otherworldy” on June 12, featuring the music of Mozart, Ives and Beethoven; “All’Ongarese” on June 13, featuring the music of Foote, Haydn, Schulhoff and Brahms; “Breath of Inspiration” on June 18, featuring the music of Williams, Brahms and Price; “Music of the Sea” on June 19, featuring the music of Fauré, Shostakovich and Herrmann, and “Pinnacles” on June 20, featuring the music of Mozart, Bernstein and Mendelssohn.

• Northlands Music and Arts Festival will take place Friday, June 19, through Sunday, June 21, at the Cheshire Fairgrounds in Swanzey, according to northlandslive.com, where you can purchase passes to the festival for three days or one day and find information about camping and parking. You can also find the lineup of bands on each day on the website as well as information on food, craft and art vendors, health and wellness activities and kids’ activities.

• The New Hampshire Music Festival runs Tuesday, July 7, through Thursday, July 30, with four chamber music concerts and four orchestra concerts all at the Plymouth State University Silver Center for the Arts in Plymouth, according to nhmf.org, where you can purchase tickets to individual shows or the season. This summer’s theme is “A Musical Traverse,” described as “ a sweeping journey across cultures, centuries, and sound worlds. … [O]ur musicians will explore music that moves from intimate reflection to dazzling spectacle, tracing pathways between American voices and treasured international masterworks.
As we mark the United States of America’s 250th anniversary, this season proudly celebrates the richness and diversity of American artistry, placing it in vibrant conversation with music from around the globe,” the website says.

• The Kinfolk Music & Arts Festival, described as “A day where reggae drifts into roots, jam bands run into songwriters, and by the end of the day it somehow all makes perfect sense,” will take place Saturday, July 25, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Ragged Mountain Resort in Danbury, according to raggedmountainresort.com/event-overview, where you can purchase tickets. In addition to a lineup of musicians (which you can see on the website, with a headliner to be announced June 22), the day will feature 65 artisan booths, interactive activities and demos, family fun, food trucks, a beer garden and more, according to a press release about the event.

• Pizzastock 10, a fundraiser put on by the Jason R Flood Memorial featuring 12 bands on two stages, will take place Saturday, Aug. 1, from noon to 6 p.m., according to a post on the Jason R Flood Memorial Facebook page. The event is geared toward all ages with games including wiffleball and cornhole, activities for little kids, community organizations with information available, pizza slices from Kendall Pond Pizza as well as other food vendors, raffles and merch, the post said. See pizzastock.org for more on the event and organization.

• The Granite State Blues Festival will take place Saturday, Aug. 1. Check back at granitestateblues.org for updates on this year.

• The Mountain Music & Arts Festival 2026 will take place Friday, Aug. 7, and Saturday, Aug. 8, at Melody Mountain Farm in Warren, according to a post on the farm’s Facebook page. See melodymountainfarm.com for tickets and information on camping. The festival will feature headliners Dead Ahead and The Rins as well as a lineup of other bands and artists, food and other local vendors, the post said.

• Continuum Arts Collective will present Revel in the Meadow 2026 at Dover Elks Field, 282 Durham Road in Dover, on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to continuumarts.org, where you can purchase tickets. The day will include two music stages, art activities for kids, more than 20 artisans and headlining acts “A Band of Brothers: An Allman Brothers Tribute, Seacoast Last Waltz Band, Ramble on Rose Band, Terrafunk, and Lightheaded Collective,” the website said.

• The NH Irish Festival takes place at the Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St. in Manchester, on Saturday, Aug. 22, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and is slated to feature Screaming Orphans, The Spain Brothers, The Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki Trio and Rory Makem, according to palacetheatre.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• The Keene Music Fest will take place Saturday, Sept. 5, according to facebook.com/KeeneMusicFestival, where you can find updates.

Comedy
Find spots to get laughs each week this summer in our Comedy This Week listing, which runs weekly in our Nite section. Have a comedy show on the summer schedule? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Outdoor theater

• The Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative will hold their Play Festival Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center, 928 White Oaks Road in Laconia, according to powerhousenh.org.

• The Prescott Park Arts Festival’s outdoor production in Portsmouth this summer is Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which will run June 19 through Aug. 9, with performances most Thursdays through Sundays at 7 p.m., with some matinee performances, according to prescottpark.org, where you can reserve blanket or table space.

• Theatre Kapow will present William Shakespeare’s As You Like It for this summer’s Shakespeare on the Green at Saint Anselm College in Manchester from Thursday, July 23, through Saturday, July 25, and Thursday, July 30, through Saturday, Aug. 1. See tickets.anselm.edu for updates.

• Nashua Theatre Guild will present William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Friday, July 31, through Saturday, Aug. 8, with shows Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 and 7 p.m. in Greeley Park in Nashua, according to nashuatheatreguild.org.

• Advice to the Players will present Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet at Quimby Park in Sandwich at 5 p.m. on July 31, Aug. 1, Aug. 8 and Aug. 9 and at the Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough at 4:45 p.m. on Aug. 2 and Aug. 5-7, according to advicetotheplayers.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• The Prescott Park Arts Festival’s Camp Encore student performers will present Mean Girls Jr.Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2, at 1 p.m. and Willy Wonka Kids on Saturday, Aug. 8, and Sunday, Aug. 9, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., according to prescottpark.org, where you can reserve blanket or table space.

Summer fun for kids
Looking for more fun to keep the kids busy this summer? Check out our Feb. 26 round-up of summer day camps; you can find that issue in the digital library at hippopress.com. And be sure to pick up our Kid’s Guide to Summer issue, slated to come out in early June. Have an event for the kids this summer? Send it to adiaz@hippopress.com.

Summer playhouse theater

• The New London Barn Playhouse, 84 Main St. in New London, will feature shows Friday, May 29 through Sunday, Sept. 6, with most productions running about two weeks, according to nlbarn.org/summer-season, where you can see the full schedule and purchase tickets. The season begins with Man of La Mancha in concert May 29-31, the New London Playhouse Straw Hat Revue on June 3-7 and Million Dollar Quartet June 10-21, the website said.

• The Winnipesaukee Playhouse, 33 Footlight Circle in Meredith, has seven professional company shows on the schedule through the end of 2026 with five running this summer: Come From Away (June 11-27), The Complete History of America (July 3-11), The Odd Couple (July 17-25), Wait Until Dark (July 31-Aug. 8) and The 39 Steps (Aug. 14-23), according to winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• Andy’s Summer Playhouse, 582 Isaac Frye Highway in Wilton, features productions and workshops for kid and teen performers, according to andyssummerplayhouse.org, where you can find the schedule of productions to which audiences can purchase tickets. First up is Welcome to the Hilltop, a night of plays by young artists on Saturday, June 27, at 7 p.m., followed by A Staged Reading Through the Greenhouse Initiative: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on Friday, July 3, at 7 p.m., the website said.

More theater
Find more theatrical productions this summer in our theater listings, which run each week in our Arts section. Have a show hitting the stage? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

Food events

• The Friends of the Library of Windham will hold the 41st annual Strawberry Festival & Book Fair on Saturday, May 30, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Windham High School, according to facebook.com/FlowWindham. In addition to strawberry shortcake, the day will feature other food vendors, entertainment, raffles, a children’s bike parade at 1 p.m. and more, according to the post and to flowwindham.org.

• Sip and Sun Brew Fest will take place Saturday, May 30, from noon to 4 p.m. at Mel’s Funway Park in Litchfield, featuring tastings from local breweries, live music from The Slakas, food trucks and more, according to melsfunwaypark.com, where you can purchase tickets.

• The Palace Theatre’s annual Kitchen Tour will take place Sunday, May 31, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring a self-guided tour of kitchens in southern New Hampshire, according to palacetheatre.org, where you can purchase tickets (a lunch is included).

• The Taste of Downtown Nashua is slated for Wednesday, June 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., according to downtownnashua.org/taste-of-downtown, where you can check back for updates and to purchase tickets.

• The NH Herbal Network will hold its annual Herb & Garden Day on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Society for the Protection of NH Forests in Concord, featuring workshops and a vendors market, according to nhherbalnetwork.org/herbday, where you can purchase tickets

• Hampstead Congregational Church, 61 Main St. in Hampstead, will hold a Strawberry Festival featuring crafters, raffles, a bake sale and strawberry shortcake on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to hampsteaducc.org.

• The Rhubarb Festival takes place in Sawyer Memorial Park, 148 Route 202 in Bennington, on Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring “[c]raft fair, vendors, food trucks, children’s activities, petting zoo, story walk, music, plants, baked goods, jams, beverages and more,” according to townofbennington.com/rhubarb-festival.

• 97.5 WOKQ Chowder Festival Summer Kick Off will take place Saturday, June 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Prescott Park in Portsmouth featuring live music, lawn games and chowder, according to prescottpark.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• The NH Bacon & Beer Festival will take place Saturday, June 6, from 1:30 to 5 p.m. in Arms Park in Manchester, according to nhbaconbeer.com, where you can purchase tickets. A fundraiser for High Hopes Foundation, the festival will feature live music from The Slakas, bacon creations from more than 20 restaurants, vendors selling additional food and samples from local brewers, the website said.

• Applecrest Farm Orchards, 133 Exeter Road in Hampton Falls, has a series of festivals throughout the summer and into the fall on select weekends, kicking it off with a Strawberry Festival on Saturdays, June 13 and June 20, and Sundays, June 14 and June 21, according to applecrest.com. Other festivals include a Blueberry Celebration July 12, a Blueberry Festival July 25-26, Blueberry & Peach Celebration Aug. 2, Peach Festival Aug. 15-16, Fall Harvest Kick-Off Aug. 29-30 and Labor Day weekend Sept. 5-7.

• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 68 N. State St. in Concord, will have a meal to go featuring gyro, fries and a Greek salad for pick-up on Sunday, June 14, according to a post on the church’s Facebook page. Call 225-2961 or go to holytrinitynh.org for details on ordering.

• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Portsmouth (at 40 Andrew Jarvis Drive) will hold its annual Greek Festival Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. featuring food service, music, a kids’ corner, Greek dancing, church tours and more, according to stnicholasgreekfestival.com, where you can find the schedule of events.

• The New London Parks and Recreation Department will hold its ninth annual Strawberry Fest on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the town green featuring strawberries and strawberry shortcake for sale (cash or check only), as well as other food and vendors and entertainment, according to newlondon.nh.gov/recreation and a post on the department’s Facebook page.

• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1160 Bridge St. in Manchester, will hold its Lamb BBQ and Food Festival on Saturday, June 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, June 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to a church email. Check back on the church’s socials or at stnicholasgreekchurch.com for updates.

• Susie Q’s Bakery in Deerfield will hold Cakefest 2026 at the Old Town Hall in Deerfield on Saturday, June 27, from 1 to 3 p.m., according to susieqscakery.com/cake-fest-2026. “Bring a cake, share a cake,” the website said. “[E]ach guest will get 7 minutes to wander on the cake walk to gather their slices of cakes.” See the website to purchase tickets and for additional details about participating in the event.

• Lavender Fields at Pumpkin Blossom Farm in Warner will hold a Lavender Garden Party on Saturday, June 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. featuring farm-to-table dishes and lavender cocktails and beverages, according to pumpkinblossomfarm.com, where you can purchase tickets to the event.

• The New Hampshire Beer Trail Festival takes place Saturday, June 27, noon to 4 p.m. at Tuckerman Brewery in Conway featuring more than 40 breweries with more than 100 craft beers as well as live music, food trucks, local vendors and makers, sales of the Beer Trail Guidebook and more, according to nhbrewers.org, where you can purchase tickets.

• Heritage Harvest Project will hold Farm-a-Cue, “a day of celebration, education, and delicious local food at Tuckaway Farm in Lee,” on Sunday, June 28, from noon to 5 p.m., according to heritageharvestproject.org, where you can purchase tickets. The day will include samples of dishes with local ingredients, information about heritage crops, an opportunity to meet farmers and food producers, local craft beer and beverage tastings (with purchase of drink bracelet) and family-friendly activities, the website said.

• The Strawberry Festival held by the Hollis Town Band and Congregational Church of Hollis will be held Sunday, June 28, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Monument Square in Hollis featuring strawberry shortcake for purchase with locally sourced strawberries as well as a concert by the Hollis Town Band, according to hollistownband.info.

• The Southern New Hampshire Food Truck Festival will take place Saturday, Aug. 1, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Hampshire Dome on Emerson Road in Milford and feature food trucks, live music, a craft market and a kids’ zone, according to gnefoodtruckfest.com (tickets available for purchase at the gate).

• The New England Hot Sauce Fest will be held Saturday, Aug. 1, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth featuring hot sauce samples, food trucks, beer, contests, bounce houses and more to benefit Blue Ocean Society and Seacoast Science Center, according to newenglandhotsaucefest.com, where you can purchase tickets.

• Mahrajan Middle Eastern Food Festival is held toward the end of August at Our Lady of the Cedars Church, 140 Mitchell St. in Manchester. Check back at bestfestnh.com for updates on this year’s event.

• Greekfest, a celebration of Greek food and culture, will take place at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 111 Island Pond Road in Manchester, on Saturday, Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 30, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to an email from the church. The event, held underneath a tent rain or shine, will feature Greek food and pastries, raffles, kids activities and vendors, the email said. See assumptionnh.org.

• Granite State PoutineFest will take place Saturday, Aug. 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 603 Brewery in Londonderry, according to poutinefest.com, where you can purchase tickets.

• The Gluten Never Ever Expo will be held Saturday, Sept. 5, and Sunday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Hampshire Dome on Emerson Road in Milford and will feature 100 booths, food trucks, workshops, live music, a kids’ zone and more, according to glutennevereverexpo.com .

Beach stuff
Looking for more events on the Seacoast? Check out the seasonal publication Seacoast Scene at seacoastscene.net, where you can find current and previous issues.

From semiquincentennial to superheroes, a guide to regional museums

One of the great advantages of living in New Hampshire is a sense of history. Everywhere, there are reminders of the state’s heritage, from colonial days to the first in the nation primary and beyond. Is it any wonder America’s leading documentary filmmaker hails from the Granite State?

As the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary nears, it’s a great time to visit a museum. There are many choices, such as local historical societies, places dedicated to New Hampshire’s rich industrial past like the Millyard Museum and Belknap Mill, and a quirky telephone museum in Warner.

For something off history’s path, Manchester’s Currier Museum of Art’s “Summer of Photography” has works from “Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders,” shown beside a pair of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and “Together, Apart, and Away: Snapshots from the Peter J. Cohen Collection.”

Together, Currier Director of Marketing and Communications Ali Goldstein noted recently, they tell distinct stories about shared human experiences. “Sweeping and personal, nostalgic and timely,” she said, they “herald the beginning of a season of road trips, family adventures, and the making of new memories.”

With that in mind, here’s a guide to exploring regional museums, with information from the location’s websites and social media pages (call to double check times and other details before setting forth).

America’s Stonehenge

105 Haverhill Road, North Salem (893-8300, stonehengeusa.com)

Hours: Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (last admission 4 p.m.), open year-round (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas)

Admission: $19

Description: Complex of man-made stone chambers, walls, and standing stones, it’s potentially the oldest constructed site in the United States. Like Stonehenge in England, it appears to have served as an accurate astronomical calendar.

Don’t miss: The Oracle Chamber — a subterranean stone passage with acoustic properties that are still not fully understood — and witnessing the summer solstice sunrise alignment at dawn from the main site.

American Independence Museum

1 Governors Lane, Exeter (772-2622, independencemuseum.org)

Hours: Thursday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open May-November

Admission: $8 (NH Museum Trail Member)

Description: During the American Revolution, this building served as the state treasury, where the Gilman family stored New Hampshire’s wartime finances. Today the museum’s permanent collection of founding documents includes an original Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, early drafts of the U.S. Constitution with editorial annotations, and a wealth of Revolutionary-era correspondence and artifacts.

Don’t miss: A rare surviving copy of the first printed announcement of America’s independence, the Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence.

Andres Institute of Art

106 Route 13, Brookline (732-0216, andresinstitute.org)

Hours: daylight hours, open year-round

Admission: Free

Description: Founded in 1996, the Institute creates a thought-provoking dialogue between art and nature in its 140-acre outdoor sculpture park, with more than 100 large-scale works on wooded trails. Allow two or three hours for exploring, and bring sturdy shoes. The Institute also hosts regular concerts.

Don’t miss: The main sculpture trail at golden hour offers a magical atmosphere, as low, warm light hits the stone and metal works, highlighting their features.

Aviation Museum of New Hampshire

27 Navigator Road, Londonderry (669-4820, aviationmuseumofnh.org)

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday 1-4 p.m., open year-round

Admission: $15 for ages 13-64, others $7.50 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Housed in a restored 1937 Art Deco terminal and control tower at the edge of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, the museum preserves and celebrates New Hampshire’s rich aviation heritage, from early barnstormers to World War II aces to modern aerospace pioneers.

Don’t miss: A display honoring the first American in space, New Hampshire’s own Alan Shepard. Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m., try the hands-on Elite Flight Simulator, a realistic, all-ages flight experience.

Belknap Mill Museum

25 Beacon St. East, Laconia (524-8813, belknapmill.org)

Hours: Thursday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open year-round

Admission: $10 for adults (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Built in 1823, the country’s oldest unaltered brick textile mill is a designated National Historic Landmark. Originally a weaving mill, it switched to knitting during the Civil War and operated as a hosiery mill until 1969. Along with exhibits, the Mill regularly holds outdoor concerts from early June to Labor Day.

Don’t miss: The Knitting Room, with historic hosiery knitting machines that show how the building functioned as a 19th-century textile factory, and the Powerhouse exhibit, showcasing 200 years of hydro-power history.

Canterbury Shaker Village

288 Shaker Road, Canterbury (783-9511, shakers.org)

Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (May-October); weekends only November; grounds open year-round

Admission: $25 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: One of the finest and most intact surviving Shaker community sites in the world. At its peak around 1850, approximately 300 Shakers lived and worked here in 100 buildings. The last Canterbury sister, Ethel Hudson, died in 1992, after which the site transitioned fully into a museum.

Don’t miss: The Dwelling House displays the spare, functional beauty of Shaker furniture and architecture and how it embodies a design philosophy that was nearly 150 years ahead of its time.

Castle in the Clouds (Lucknow Estate)

586 Ossipee Park Road, Moultonborough (476-5900, castleintheclouds.org)

Hours: Entrance closes 3 p.m.; last trolley to mansion 3:45 p.m., Open late May-early October

Admission: $23 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: The 1913-1914 Craftsman mansion sits above Lake Winnipesaukee, a National Historic Landmark with 5,500 acres of trails. Officially the Lucknow Estate, it was built by millionaire shoe manufacturer Thomas Gustave Plant and his wife Olive.

Don’t miss: The behind-the-scenes basement tour, which reveals the mansion’s innovative (for the early 20th century) mechanical systems. Same-day tour tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Children’s Museum of New Hampshire

6 Washington St., Dover (742-2002, childrens-museum.org)

Hours: Tuesday 9 a.m.-noon; Wednesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.-noon; closed Monday, open year-round

Admission: $14.50 ($12.50 for seniors)

Description: Two floors of joyful, interactive exhibits for children from newborn through middle school. The museum’s approach is rooted in a conviction that children learn best through play, exploration and hands-on discovery. Timed sessions keep things manageable.

Don’t miss: The STEAM Innovation Lab, where children design, build and test their own inventions. It’s a transformative experience that gives youngsters an early opportunity to think like an engineer.

Clark House Museum Complex

233 S. Main St., Wolfeboro (569-4997, wolfeborohistoricalsociety.org)

Hours: Wednesday-Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m., open July 1 – Labor Day

Admission: $4

Description: Captures the layered colonial and 19th-century heritage of the town billed as America’s Oldest Summer Resort, with the 1778 Clark House, an 1805 schoolhouse, a replica firehouse and an 1820s barn. Another worthwhile attraction is the Wolfeboro Historical Society’s strong genealogy and research library.

Don’t miss: The restored 1875 Amoskeag Steam Fire Engine in the Firehouse Museum, one of the finest surviving examples of 19th-century firefighting technology.

Currier Museum of Art

150 Ash St., Manchester (669-6144, www.currier.org)

Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Monday-Tuesday, open year-round

Admission: $15

Description: One of New England’s finest art museums and a jewel of Manchester’s cultural life, with a permanent collection of more than 11,000 objects spanning European and American art from the 12th century to the present. Beyond that, the Currier owns and maintains two Frank Lloyd Wright-designed houses.

Don’t miss: The intimate tour of Wright’s Zimmerman House and its beautifully preserved Usonian interior. Reserve well in advance, as this deeply personal encounter with the architectural genius sells out quickly.

Exeter Historical Society

47 Front St., Exeter (778-2335, exeterhistory.org)

Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2-4:30 p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m.-noon, open year-round

Admission: Free (donation suggested)

Description: Founded in 1964, the Society has an impressive collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, documents and research materials spanning nearly four centuries of Exeter history, from its founding in 1638 and its pivotal role in the Revolution (it was briefly the state capital) to the growth of Phillips Exeter Academy.

Don’t miss: Check out the many Native American artifacts along with pieces from President Lincoln’s visit to the town as part of his Cooper Union speech tour in 1860.

John Hay Estate at The Fells

456 Route 103A, Newbury (763-4789, thefells.org)

Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays June 17-Sept. 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., opens May 23

Admission: $15 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: The lakeside retreat of American statesman John Milton Hay and his wife Clara was built in 1891 and refined in the early 20th century under the direction of prominent New York architect and landscape designer Prentice Sanger. Docent-led guided tours are conducted at 1 p.m., when the Main House is open.

Don’t miss: “Gardening in Granite,” an exhibit that draws on the reflections of John Hay’s son Clarence Hay regarding the ingenuity and perseverance required to garden in the rocky terrain of The Fells.

John Paul Jones House

43 Middle St., Portsmouth (436-8433, portsmouthhistory.org)

Hours: Thursday-Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open Memorial Day-October

Admission: $6 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Run by the Portsmouth Historical Society, which also runs the Discover Portsmouth Center at 10 Middle St., this is a 1758 Georgian boarding house where John Paul Jones stayed.

Don’t miss: The museum’s collection of 18th- and 19th-century Portsmouth silverware, paintings, and household objects that illuminate the refined domestic life of a prosperous colonial seaport.

L. L. Lee Scouting Museum

395 Blondin Road, Manchester (867-2501, scoutingmuseum.nhscouting.org)

Hours: Wednesday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., select Saturdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m., open year-round

Admission: Free (donation suggested) (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Contains colorful and historic exhibits on the history of scouting, including original paintings of Boy’s Life covers, a flag taken to the moon by astronaut and Scout Alan Shepard, plus a display of sketches, letters, and Boer War memorabilia belonging to Scouting’s founder, Robert Baden-Powell.

Don’t miss: The large collection of “sealed samples” — one-of-a-kind prototypes of new uniforms, patches, awards and gear, some going back to the beginnings of Scouting In America, with items like a uniform dating back to 1920 signed by the first National Scout Executive, James E. West.

Laconia Historical & Museum Society

695 N. Main St. (Laconia Public Library), Laconia (527-1278, laconiahistory.com)

Hours: Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m., open year-round

Admission: Free

Description: Set inside the Laconia Public Library, it has regular programs on Lakes Region history. Exhibits highlight its heritage in boatbuilding and knitting mills, along with a focus on Scott & Williams Machinery, a company that was once the world’s leading supplier of circular knitting machinery.

Don’t miss: “Then & Now: The Weirs,” a collection of historical photographs tracing the property’s evolution from an Indigenous gathering place to a 19th-century resort and the NH Veterans Association encampment.

Lake Winnipesaukee Museum

503 Endicott St. North (Route 3), Laconia (366-5950, lwhs.us)

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open mid-June-Columbus Day

Admission: Free (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: The volunteer-run museum’s property is a historic landmark, purchased in 1923 by lifelong resident and long-time state legislator David O’Shan. First run as a poultry farm, it was developed by O’Shan into a cabin colony in the 1930s. The Museum building is his original residence, and the yellow cottages nearby are part of the original cabin colony.

Don’t miss: “The Steamboat Era” includes photographs and artifacts from a variety of old vessels, a working model of the old Mount, and a collection of photographs showing the launching of the new Mount in 1940.

McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

2 Institute Dr., Concord (271-7827, starhop.com)

Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (fall/winter/spring); daily summer; open all NH school vacation weeks, open year-round

Admission: $13

Description: New England’s leading air and space museum honors two New Hampshire heroes of the Space Age: Christa McAuliffe, the Concord High School social studies teacher was was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to be NASA’s first Teacher in Space and perished in the Challenger disaster of 1986; and Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space in 1961 and walked on the moon in 1971.

Don’t miss: A planetarium show in the Center’s 10K full-dome theater. It’s one of only three such systems in North America, offering an immersion in space that no home theater or cinema house can replicate.

Meredith Historical Society

45 Main St. and 61 Winona Road, Meredith (279-1190, meredithhistoricalsocietynh.org)

Hours: Main Street, Saturday 12:30-3 p.m.; Farm Museum, contact for hours, open Saturdays

Admission: Free

Description: The compact and charming Main Street Museum is open on Saturdays only and offers visitors a view into the rich history of the region, initially settled in 1748. The Farm Museum, focused on the annual life cycle of a New Hampshire farm, is only open for special events (check website for those).

Don’t miss: The Society’s Farm Museum, displaying the tools and implements used by 19th-century farmers, laid out in sections highlighting the activities during each of the four seasons.

Millyard Museum

200 Bedford St., Suite 103, Manchester (622-7531, manchesterhistoric.org)

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open year-round

Admission: $12 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Operated by the Manchester Historic Association, the museum sits in a space that was once home to the world’s largest textile manufacturing complex. Its collection contains more than 600,000 documents and artifacts, from neon shoe store signs and Victorian household objects to massive textile looms.

Don’t miss: “Reflections of the Revolution: The Derryfield Perspective,” celebrating the U.S. semiquincentennial with portraits, artifacts and stories from Manchester residents involved in the fight for independence.

Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum

18 Highwatch Road, Warner (456-2600, indianmuseum.org)

Hours: Summer, Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m.; winter: Friday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (tours 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.); open year-round

Admission: $15 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: New Hampshire’s only Native American museum preserves and interprets cultures from across the North American continent, from the prehistoric past through the modern age. Its main gallery contains thousands of Native-made objects, including clothing, baskets, beadwork, ceramics, carvings and tools, all contextualized within the living traditions of the tribal nations who created them.

Don’t miss: The Medicine Woods Trail is an educational walk through plants used by Native Americans for medicine, food and shelter. It reflects a philosophy that understanding Native culture begins with recognizing its deep relationship with the land.

Nashua Historical Society

5 Abbott St., Nashua (883-0015, nashuahistoricalsociety.org)

Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (office); house museum tours by appointment, open year-round

Admission: $10

Description: The museum’s galleries present both permanent and rotating exhibitions covering Nashua’s industrial history, its role in the Civil War, the immigrant communities that transformed the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the lives of notable Nashua residents.

Don’t miss: Declaring Independence: Then & Now, a live performance happening on June 4, utilizing primary source material to reveal how local colonists engaged with the independence movement in 1776, followed by an annotated reading of the Declaration of Independence.

New Hampshire Boat Museum

130 Whittier Highway (Route 25), Moultonborough (569-4554, nhbm.org)

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday noon-4 p.m., open seasonally

Admission: $5 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Founded in 1992 by boating enthusiasts, the sprawling facility has more than 2,500 objects, including vintage motorboats, canoes, race boats, engines, ephemera. The museum is now in the midst of transforming 6,500 square feet of its main floor into a hub for education, exhibits and more.

Don’t miss: A rare 1929 Chris-Craft Closed-Cabin Limousine Sedan, one of only five in existence. Designed to ferry commuters or party guests, it was last used by a doctor and his family at their Lake Sunapee retreat.

New Hampshire Historical Society

30 Park St., Concord (228-6688, nhhistory.org)

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., open year-round

Admission: $10 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Founded 1823, it’s the oldest and most comprehensive repository of Granite State history, with permanent galleries including a 19th-century Concord Coach, a collection of White Mountain art by masters like Benjamin Champney and Frank Shapleigh, Abenaki artifacts, and a rich array of historical objects.

Don’t miss: The Concord Coach, one of the most famous wheeled vehicles in American history. The stagecoach, manufactured in Concord, carried mail, passengers, and gold across the American West.

New Hampshire Telephone Museum

1 Depot St., Warner (456-2234, nhtelephonemuseum.org)

Hours: Tuesday and Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (May-October); limited November-December and March-April; closed January-February

Admission: $9

Description: This wonderfully specialized museum traces the evolution of telecommunications from early telephones to the wireless devices of today, with particular attention to the unique history of telephone service in New Hampshire.

Don’t miss: A collection of hand-cranked magneto telephones and early switchboards, along with the story of how the 1938 hurricane hastened the end of the state’s era of local, independent phone companies.

Robert Frost Farm

122 Rockingham Road, Derry (432-3091, robertfrostfarm.org)

Hours: Thursday-Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (last tour 3 p.m.); grounds dawn-dusk year-round, open May 22-Oct. 12

Admission: $5

Description: A National Historic Landmark and State Historic Site preserving the two-story white clapboard farmhouse where the poet and his family lived from 1900 to 1911. They were formative years; the majority of the poems in Frost’s first two books, as well as many poems from his third, were written during that time.

Don’t miss: The kitchen where Frost wrote his early masterpieces by lamplight, as well as the staircase that inspired one of his most wrenching dramatic poems, “Home Burial.”

Sandwich Historical Society

4 Maple St., Center Sandwich (284-6269, sandwichhistorical.org)

Hours: Most Sundays 1-4 p.m., open April-September

Admission: Free

Description: With two facilities, the circa 1850 Eliza Marston House and the Quimby Barn Transportation Museum, the Society’s mission is to “collect and preserve the material culture and historical record … in service to the public through educational experiences and outreach to the community.”

Don’t miss: From June 27 through Sept. 5, celebrate 100 years of the Sandwich Home Industries, a look at the legacy of Mary and J. Randolph Coolidge, how the support of local artisans contributed to the effort, and a display of collected artifacts from a century of retail.

Seacoast Science Center

570 Ocean Blvd. (Odiorne Point State Park), Rye (436-8043, seacoastsciencecenter.org)

Hours: April 16-Oct. 14 open Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Oct. 15-April 15 open Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Open year-round.

Admission: $10

Description: Located inside Odiorne Point State Park (separate entry fee), this is the state’s premiere marine science education institution. Its aquariums, indoor touch tanks and interactive exhibits bring the ecology of the Gulf of Maine to life for visitors of all ages.

Don’t miss: The suspended 32-foot humpback whale skeleton that hangs in the main gallery and provides an impressive reminder of the scale of marine life in the nearby waters.

SEE Science Center

200 Bedford St., Manchester (669-0400, see-sciencecenter.org)

Hours: Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Monday, open year-round

Admission: $15

Description: Manchester’s hands-on science discovery center is located in the same mill building as the Millyard Museum. Founded in 1986, SEE engages visitors of all ages in the joys of actively exploring science, technology, engineering, art and math, with a wealth of interactive exhibits spread across multiple floors.

Don’t miss: The Lego Millyard Project, a stunning three-million-brick model capturing Manchester’s industrial past at minifigure scale. This feat of civic artistry is the largest such installation in the world.

Strawbery Banke Museum

14 Hancock St., Portsmouth (433-1100, strawberybanke.org)

Hours: May-June and September-October, weekdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; July-August daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Open May-October (plus winter Candlelight Strolls)

Admission: $25 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: A wonderfully inspiring outdoor museum and New Hampshire’s first Smithsonian Affiliate, with more than 30 historic buildings, it preserves more than 350 years of history in the Puddle Dock neighborhood of Portsmouth’s South End, where English settlers first established the colony in the 1630s.

Don’t miss: The new Cousins Apartment exhibit, which tells the story of a Black family living in 1930s and 1940s Portsmouth. It’s a moving addition to the museum’s interpretive program.

USS Albacore Museum (Albacore Park)

569 Submarine Way, Portsmouth (436-3680, ussalbacore.org)

Hours: Daily 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., open February-mid-December

Admission: $14 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and launched in 1953, the USS Albacore was a pioneering research submarine. Its revolutionary teardrop hull design became the template for future subs. The 205-foot vessel now sits in a dry basin surrounded by a memorial garden, maritime museum gallery and gift shop.

Don’t miss: The periscope walk-through in the sub’s control room, along with compelling audio narration by veterans who once served aboard the fastest submarine in the world.

Woodman Institute Museum

182 Central Ave., Dover (742-1038, woodmanmuseum.org)

Hours: April-November, Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; December-March, Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Open year-round.

Admission: $16 (NH Museum Trail member)

Description: Called “a Victorian cabinet of curiosities” by one writer, this complex encompasses history, natural history, militaria, decorative arts — and sewer-dwelling action heroes. It includes one of the state’s oldest intact garrison houses, a Victorian funeral exhibit with a horse-drawn hearse and a medicinal garden.

Don’t miss: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Collection, added in 2024 in recognition of the made-in-Dover franchise. It includes bronze statues of the comic’s characters, donated by co-creator Kevin Eastman.

Wright Museum of World War II

77 Center St., Wolfeboro (569-1212, wrightmuseum.org)

Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday noon-4 p.m., open May 1-Oct. 31

Admission: $16

Description: Founded in 1994, this 20,000-square-foot institution is dedicated to educating, entertaining and inspiring visitors with the story of WWII-era Americans. Its signature Time Tunnel strolls visitors through American home life during the war years. For America’s 250th, it’s highlighting the contributions of the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Don’t miss: The Military Vehicle Collection, particularly an operational WWII tank that looks to have blasted through an exterior wall. On special Family Day events there’s the chance to ride in one of the vehicles.

21 museums for the price of two : A look at the NH Heritage Museum Trail Passport

A vital tool for diving into the state’s heritage, the NH Heritage Museum Trail Passport provides a year’s worth of access to 21 different museums for just $30. Led by Manchester Historical Association Executive Director Jeff Barraclough, the Museum Trail was created as a collaborative marketing effort.

“It’s an incentive for people to seek out museums that they otherwise might not have visited … we’ve found it’s a great way to help promote one another,” Barraclough said by phone recently. “If someone is going to be visiting two museums in the course of a year, it’s basically worth it.”

From the Aviation Museum in Londonderry, at the fringes of Manchester’s regional airport, to the Millyard Museum (also led by Barraclough) and its rich manufacturing history, along with unique New Hampshire Boat Museum in the Lakes Region and the oddball Woodman Museum in Dover, there’s lots to explore.

“There’s a bunch of different things that folks might not immediately think of, but this is an opportunity for them to consider it,” Barraclough continued, adding that the 250th anniversary of American Independence is another driving force.

“I think there’s a heightened interest in our country’s history,” he said. “At the Millyard Museum, we opened a temporary exhibit on Manchester’s role in the Revolution, talking about John Stark and other key people … and there are watch parties throughout the state relating to Ken Burns’ American Revolution series.”

Starting with a December 2024 event to mark the 1774 raid on Fort William & Mary, NHMT member museums have participated in an ongoing initiative highlighting key people in New Hampshire history, called “25 Stories for 250 Years.” Barraclough noted that it covers a widely diverse field.

“There are stories about the USS Albacore, the fastest submarine in the world; John and Lucy Hale, with John being an important anti-slavery politician in the lead-up to the Civil War and having a really impactful role on public sentiment on slavery at the time; and the Mount Washington cruise ship on Lake Winnipesaukee.”

See the full list at nhmuseumtrail.org/25-stories-for-250-years.

A look at a complex, elegant, comforting and not at all ordinary culinary star

We take vanilla for granted. According to pastry chef Addie Leader-Zavos, we use vanilla as a background flavor in so many things we eat that it’s easy to forget it’s there.

“The special thing about vanilla,” Leader-Zavos said, “is that it adds so many beautiful top notes to whatever we cook with it. You want things that are going to taste good and are going to taste good in your mouth for a long time. And vanilla has so many intricacies that it really helps make other flavors more complex, more interesting. But at the same time, because it has been used for so long and in so many contexts, it’s part of what people expect. But if it’s missing in some context, it can really feel like the flavor of the food is a little flat.”

“You know, there’s no possible way for actual natural vanilla to meet the demands that we have for it,” Leader-Zavos continued. “It only comes from three or four places in the world. And there’s only two or three species that pollinate it. A lot of vanilla is actually hand pollinated. Unless it’s grown in Mexico, there aren’t any natural pollinators.”

There are dozens of flavor compounds in vanilla, but one of the main ones is a chemical called vanillin. It is present in many species of hardwood, Leader-Zavos explained, which is one of the reasons many types of alcohol — most famously bourbon — are aged in oak barrels. “Straight bourbon has to be aged in American oak barrels and also has many of the same scent components as coconut, as cocoa butter, as oddly dill. All oak species have some amount of vanillin in them — the French varieties have the most, followed by American varieties.” This is where artificial vanilla comes from, she said.

Because vanilla extract is usually suspended in an alcohol solution, many high-end pastry chefs use actual vanilla beans, Leader-Zavos said.

“Some people kind of like the flavor of the alcohol that’s with the vanilla. I don’t as much because I think it’s a little bit distracting. I want to taste just the vanilla and not the sort of alcohol. That’s sort of a preference issue.” The alcohol in vanilla extract is one reason many recipes call for adding it after a dish has come off the heat. “The flavor compounds are really volatile in vanilla. And alcohol can carry them away as it cooks off. Generally, you want to add it off the heat, or to use gentle heat, hot enough to take care of the alcohol but not hot enough to break down the vanilla compounds — about 170°F.”

Ashley Savoy is the owner and baker of Savvy Sweets and Treats, a baking business that specializes in French-style macarons. She takes vanilla very seriously. Because people typically eat macarons slowly and focus on their flavors, the vanilla she uses has to be of the highest quality possible, she said.

“We talk a lot about quality ingredients,” Savoy said, “but people tend to forget about vanilla, which can be a mistake. It really is one of those ingredients that you want to spend your time and your money on because good vanilla really can make a big difference. So in my kitchen, in my bakery, I make all of my vanilla [extract] and my vanilla paste from scratch. It’s not bought from a store. I buy high-grade vanilla beans from places that ethically source them. It’s really quite simple to make your own vanilla. People, you know, think it’s quite complicated, but it’s really not. It’s just, it’s simply vanilla beans and vodka. It’s not anything else. You don’t even really want to use a high-end vodka because the high-end vodkas tend to have more of a flavor profile. And that’s not really what you want. You want the flavor of vanilla beans.”

“Really good vanilla has a flavor that can really make a dish go from just kind of a dish to something really special,” Savoy said, “because the vanilla really does have that much of a change based on how good it is. Once you start having real vanilla — the good stuff — you’ll start to notice the difference. You can pick out that imitation vanilla almost immediately. You know that something there isn’t quite right, and you’ll end up getting a taste for it.”

“If you’re looking for more of a pronounced vanilla flavor,” Savoy said, “a lot of times people just fall back on throwing vanilla paste in, but for a pastry cream or anything like that the best thing to really do is to infuse your milk or your cream with the vanilla [beans] before you’re making your pastry, and that’s going to give you the most flavor enhancement and it’s, again, it’s quite simple to do. You just, you heat up your milk or your cream — not to a boil — just until it starts to steam a little, and then you split your vanilla pods in half and throw them in. One is usually enough. Just give it 30 minutes to an hour, and the cream is completely infused and ready to cook with.”

Vanilla pods can be used more than once, Savoy said.

“A lot of bakers who use the vanilla beans — the pods — we save them because they have a lot to give. Even if you scrape all the seeds out, down to just the pod, the pod still can be thrown in vodka and then made into vanilla extract. It still has way more life to give.”

Ice cream

Most Americans associate vanilla with ice cream. According to Jim Richardson, the owner of Richardson’s Farm Ice Cream, there’s a reason for that: Vanilla has an affinity for dairy. The problem, he said, is finding the right vanilla.

“We use an extract,” he said. “We have tried four or five different vanillas over the course of several years, and it took a while to find one that we liked better than the others, a good, clean vanilla. There are a couple that have a sharp, bitter end to them. We’ve tried the Dare [Virginia Dare, a well-regarded brand of vanilla]. It’s expensive, but I don’t like the flavor of it. And we tried a bourbon vanilla two years back, and I wound up putting two ounces of that in a batch of vanilla ice cream just to use it up, and it was vile!”

(“Bourbon” vanilla doesn’t have anything to do with bourbon whiskey; Bourbon vanilla beans are grown in a particular part of Madagascar.)

“Over the years we’ve tried several. The one that has a consistently nice flavor — a good clean vanilla — is Edgar Weber, out of Illinois. We use almost all of their flavors because they make all natural flavors and they won’t sell it to us unless we sample it. If you want a sample to try something, you call them up and they’ll ship us eight ounces … or 12 ounces, depending on what we’re making.”

Richardson said vanilla ice cream is in such a constant high demand that he keeps two tubs of it open in the freezer at all times.

“We use it all the time,” he said. “Sometimes the two look like different colors, because [vanilla ice cream] changes color as it warms up. It also tends to be a little bit softer. With warmer ice cream, the flavor comes through more.”

By the way, when looking for vanilla ice cream you might find both vanilla and French vanilla on the menu. What’s the difference? Eggs. French vanilla uses a custard base made with eggs, which is why it has a deeper, slightly more yellow color than plain vanilla. Ice cream made without eggs is referred to as “Philadelphia-style” ice cream.

Beer

At a completely different end of the food spectrum from ice cream is beer. Brian Parda is the head of sales and marketing for Great North Aleworks, which is known for its vanilla porter.

“Our Robust Vanilla Porter dates all the way back to the beginning of Great North Airworks,” he said. “It was one of our original releases and it goes back even before the brewery. It was one of the original home-brew recipes that the owners, Rob and Lisa [North], would serve when their friends came over. If they didn’t have it on tap at home people would be outraged. And so we’ve been making it for over 10 years now and we make it year-round. As a matter of fact, a couple of summers ago we tried to pause making it for a couple months over the summer because sales will slow a little bit. But we got enough phone calls and emails and messages that we never did that again. So we now make it year-round.”

One of the reasons Great North’s vanilla porter is so popular, Parda said, is that it defies expectations.

“Porter is a darker beer,” he said. “I mean, if you hold it up to the light, it’s more brown than black. Obviously, you eat and drink with your eyes, but I think a lot of people see a dark beer and are intimidated by that. They think it’s going to be heavy and thick and rich and cloying and sweet. The porter that we brew before we add the vanilla is actually a very light drinkable beer. It’s flavorful. It has a lot of those darker flavors — kind of more reminiscent on the chocolate side than on the heavy roast, like a stout would be. It doesn’t really have the heavy coffee roast, but a little bit of coffee. I think the vanilla bridges that gap there where people kind of go from intimidated to, ‘Oh, wow, that’s actually really good.’ We get a lot of that when we’re pouring it for somebody for the first time.”

“I think that vanilla, when people smell it,” Parda continued, “it usually has a positive olfactory memory for people. You smell vanilla and you think of all kinds of great, delicious things. So yeah, maybe it’s being taken for granted or considered ordinary — like ‘plain vanilla’ — that kind of thing. But I think it’s actually kind of the special sauce, if you will, for our porter. I don’t know that it would sell as well if we made it without it.”

“When I’m sampling it, either at a store or at a beer festival,” he said, “if someone comes up to the table and they say, ‘Hey, what’ve you got?’ I’ll tell them about our IPAs [India Pale Ales — light, very hop-forward beers] and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want anything too bitter. I don’t want anything too hoppy.’ I’ll say, ‘Why don’t you try my porter?’ and they’re like, ‘I don’t know…,’ and they get all intimidated. It’s funny, because I think the vanilla kind of shocks them and they realize, ‘Oh, maybe I could drink a dark beer.’ I sometimes describe it as like French vanilla iced coffee for people that are trying to understand it. Again, there’s just a touch of that light roast coffee flavor from the darker malt, and then that vanilla, and it’s cold. It blows their minds a little bit.”

To avoid breaking down vanillin and other flavor compounds, the vanilla is added after the actual brewing process, Parda said.

“It’s added what we call ‘on the cold side.’ After the beer’s been fermented and is getting close to being finished as we’re preparing it to be packaged is when we add the vanilla.We use a really high-quality extract. The origin of the beans is Madagascar, if you want to get specific. A couple of years ago there was a hurricane or something in Madagascar and there was a bit of a supply issue, so we explored some other brands and some other products, and none of them worked. We couldn’t change the flavor profile too much, but thankfully we were able to source enough and we continue to be able to source that same brand.”

Scent

Many of the subtle characteristics of vanilla come from its smell, something that is very important to Tamsan Tharin, the owner and chief perfumer of Essense Parfumerie.

“One of the most interesting characteristics of vanilla,” she said, “is that it has the ability to impinge equally on both sense of smell and sense of taste. Vanilla is used in so many products. It’s considered like a comfort food. People find it very, very comforting. It’s the ultimate comfort food like sugar cookies with a slight aroma of vanilla or vanilla cake. But it’s also used in products like baby products or some cleaning products. It’s put in almost all lipsticks. So people just have the sense of comfort with the smell of vanilla. As you say, they don’t necessarily recognize it as vanilla, but they’re getting these comfort feelings from it because nothing affects our feelings and our emotional states more than smell. When you smell something, it goes right to the old part of your brain, the old lizard part of the brain and the brain stem. And so we have immediate reactions.”

“Vanilla is a base note,” Tharin said, “but it plays well with everything. It mixes with everything. You can put vanilla with musks. You can add it to powdery scents like baby powder. You can add it to oriental scents, which is an amber-based, exotic, woodsy scent. It’s comforting. … People consider it sexy and they associate it with love. And again, we’ve got the comfort association as well.”

The vanilla panel
Eden’s Table Farm (240 Stark Highway North, Dunbarton, 774-1811, edenstablefarm.square.site)
Essense Parfumerie (Main Street, Meredith, 409-2799, essense.com)
Great North Aleworks (1050 Holt Ave., No. 14, Manchester, 858-5789, greatnorthaleworks.com)
Richardson’s Farm (170 Water St., Boscawen, 796-2788, richardsonsfarmnh.com)
Savvy Sweets and Treats (Bow, 387-0241, savvysweetsandtreats.com)

Vanilla recipes

Vanilla Cream Pie

This is a vanilla-forward take on an Indiana-style sugar cream pie. It is extremely user-friendly, but during the final bake you need to watch it like a rattlesnake to make sure it doesn’t overcook.

• One pie crust, blind baked — this means prebaked. If you’ve never blind-baked a pie crust before, watch a how-to video. It’s not difficult – you will probably want to crumple up a sheet of parchment paper and weigh it down with dried beans. I like to use chickpeas.
• 1 cup (198 g) sugar
• ¼ cup (28 g) cornstarch
• 2 cups (454 g) whole milk
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, cubed
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a medium saucepan, whisk the sugar and cornstarch into the milk. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer. The mixture will thicken considerably. Keep cooking, stirring or whisking continuously until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the sweetened milk mixture from heat, then stir in butter and vanilla.

When everything has incorporated, transfer the mixture to your pre-baked pie shell. Bake until golden brown — after 10 minutes or so, keep a close eye on the pie to make sure it doesn’t get too dark. While delicious, the pie filling is not to be trusted; it will darken suddenly and with almost no warning.

Let the pie cool, then chill in your refrigerator for at least two hours. It is very good served at room temperature, but I prefer it very cold. It is very vanilla-forward and satisfying.

Vanilla-Rum White Russian

• 1 ounce coffee liqueur — Kahlua is the classic base for a white Russian, but coffee-flavored brandy will work well too.
• 1 ounce dark rum — because the focus of the flavors in this drink is vanilla, don’t bother using a top-shelf, expensive, aged, sipping rum for this. I like Myers’s. Yes, it’s a “spiced” rum, but guess what constitutes the spices – mostly vanilla.
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract — probably the best you can find. Artificial vanilla is perfectly fine for many applications, but not this one. Use the real stuff.
• ½ ounce Galliano — this is a vanilla-scented Italian liqueur in a really tall bottle.
• 2½ ounces half and half

In a mixing glass, stir all the ingredients except the cream with ice until it is chilled and combined thoroughly. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.

Place a spoon against the side of the glass, and very gently pour the cream over the back of the spoon. The cream is slightly less dense than the boozy mixture and will float on top of it, making lava-lamp-looking layers. This is a good second-date, make-an-impression drink. It tastes of coffee, cream and, of course, vanilla.

Vanilla Soufflé

• 3 Tablespoons butter, cubed
• 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup (227 g) whole milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla paste or extract, separated – 1½ teaspoons and 1½ teaspoons
• ½ cup (99 g) sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• Butter and sugar to coat your soufflé dish

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Butter and sugar the inside of a soufflé dish — I like to use a generous amount of butter for this, about a tablespoon.

In a saucepan or small skillet, combine the flour, butter and salt to make a “roux.” This means that you will melt the butter and cook the mixture over medium heat for several minutes, until it darkens slightly to something like the color of a lion. Remove from the heat. Reassure the roux that you will come back to it; make sure it doesn’t feel abandoned.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and half the vanilla, stirring until it reaches a gentle simmer. Add the roux to the milk mixture, and whisk to combine. Add the sugar, and bring the mixture back to a simmer, whisking constantly. Cook for two to three minutes, until it thickens noticeably.

Remove the mixture from heat and stir in the butter and the rest of the vanilla, combining thoroughly. Temper in the egg yolks. Return to the heat, and bring it back to a simmer, whisking constantly, then transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl, and set it aside to cool slightly. The egg yolks will turn the mixture yellow.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the yellow mixture “to loosen it up.” (This is what most cookbooks say, though in my opinion that sounds a little judgmental. Who are we to tell the mixture that it needs to loosen up?) Gently fold half of the remaining egg whites into the mixture, until it is 95 percent incorporated, then fold in the remaining egg whites.

Transfer the now fluffy egg mixture to your prepped soufflé dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until it has puffed up and turned golden brown. When it is ready to take out of the oven, it will still be slightly jiggly in the center.

This is when you’ll want to take a picture of your soufflé. As it cools, it will shrink a little; if you like to post photos of your food to social media, take the picture as soon as it comes out of the oven. This will be a warm, delicate, vanilla-forward dessert that will top off your cooking confidence. Soufflés have a reputation for being temperamental. They really aren’t, but when you manage to achieve soufflé victory, you will know that you are capable of anything.

Vanilla Tapioca Pudding

This is a delicious, very old-fashioned dessert, with a caviar-like texture.

• 2 cups (454 g) whole milk
• 1 cup (227 ) heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (61 g) small-pearl tapioca
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• 1/3 cup (66 g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
• I Tablespoon nonfat dry milk (optional)

Combine the milk, cream, salt and tapioca, then set it aside for 45 minutes or so, to let the tapioca pearls hydrate.

Add the sugar and milk powder, and cook over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. Cook the mixture for 15 to 20 minutes, until it thickens and the tapioca becomes tender.

Remove the mixture from the heat, and whisk in the egg yolk and vanilla. Return the mixture to the heat, and simmer it for two to three minutes, whisking continually, to make sure that the egg yolk has become completely incorporated and there are no egg pockets to turn into scrambled eggs.

Remove the mixture from the heat, and let it cool for 30 to 45 minutes, then transfer it to serving dishes, and chill overnight, or at least two hours. Serve cold with a sprinkle of grated nutmeg.

Native plants support wildlife and offer beauty in your garden

In recent years there has been a real upsurge in the use of native plants in the landscape as a way to support pollinators, birds and other wildlife. This is due, in part, to the fact that native plants are recognized and used by our wildlife, while most foreign species of plants are not. For example, birds generally nest in native trees and shrubs, but avoid those originally from Europe or Asia, and caterpillars rarely are seen on any imported species of plants. Not only that, most natives are hardy and lovely.

Scientists have found that birds depend on the caterpillars of butterflies and moths as the primary food source for baby birds. No caterpillars? No birds nesting. Entomologist Dr. Doug Tallamy found that a clutch of chickadees needs 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to survive from hatching to fledging. So let’s take a look at some common native perennials, trees and shrubs that are handsome and easy to grow.

According to Dr. Tallamy, the best perennial for pollinators is goldenrod. There are many species of goldenrod. Some of the wild types are not suitable for garden beds as they spread by root and easily elbow out plants we also want. But there are some nice ones readily found for sale at nurseries and that do not spread like crazy.

My favorite goldenrod is a variety called ‘Fireworks.’ It grows to be 2 to 4 feet tall and stays in a nice clump that does increase in size but is not aggressive. It does best in full sun with damp soil, but will take some shade and dry soil.

The Mt. Cuba Center is a research center in Hockessin, Delaware, that trials and rates native plants. They rate ‘Fireworks’ goldenrod as the very best, a 4.6 out of 5.0. Another one I like is a dainty little goldenrod called blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia) that grows well in dry shade, blooming late in the fall. For me it stays about 18 inches tall.

You probably know that monarch butterflies need milkweed for their caterpillars. The milky alkaloids in milkweed are ingested, making the caterpillars distasteful to predators. But common milkweed, the wild one, spreads aggressively by root and seed, making it a problem for most gardeners. The answer? Buy swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). This comes with pink blossoms (or sometimes white ones) and stays in a nice 3- to 5-foot-tall clump. Other pollinators enjoy the nectar and pollen of this fine plant, too. It does best in moist soil, but will grow in ordinary garden soil. It blooms in early to mid-summer.

One day last September we were visited in our garden by hundreds of migrating monarch butterflies. Just like marathon runners, monarchs need lots of calories before their long trip. These were feeding on nectar from a late-blooming native plant, Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium spp.). I’d not seen so many monarchs all at once in 30 years or more.

There are several species and cultivars of Joe Pye weed. All do best in full sun or partial shade, and consistently moist soil — though I’ve read that they will tolerate ordinary garden soils once well-established. Most Joe Pye weeds are tall — 5 to 8 feet tall — and develop into large clumps. Blossoms are purplish to pink, lasting for several weeks in the fall. Their seeds are eaten by birds in winter if you leave the stalks uncut in the fall.

My favorite Joe Pye is a variety called ‘Gateway.’ It has purple stems and the blossoms look good in a vase longer than the wild ones I also grow. There are two varieties that are claimed to stay short, one called ‘Baby Joe’ and another ‘Little Joe.’ Both are said to grow to just 3 feet, but I haven’t grown either one.

Goldenstar or Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) is a nice, low native that does well as a groundcover. It blooms with 1-inch bright yellow flowers in early June for me, but also re-blooms off and on throughout the summer. It does fine in shade or part shade with rich, moist soil. If the soil stays moist, it will grow in full sun, though it will go dormant in the heat of summer. Each plant can cover a circle about a foot in diameter. Look for it in better nurseries: It is not a plant you’ll find in a big box store. It is native to Pennsylvania but is hardy in all but the coldest pockets of New England.

All wildflowers are native, and many are called ephemerals because they disappear after an early spring flush of flowers. All are important for native pollinators and beneficial insects because there are few sources of pollen or nectar in a New England spring. A good selection of wildflowers are available at The Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Mass. The Garden in the Woods is a nonprofit garden, education center and plant nursery run by The Native Plant Trust, formerly called the New England Wild Flower Society.

One of my favorite spring ephemerals is Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucularia). This is a low-growing plant with delicate, finely divided leaves and white blossoms that look to me a bit like pairs of white long underwear! Mine is growing under an old apple tree in partial shade and deep, rich soil. It only blooms for a couple of weeks.

If you see a bumblebee at this time of year, it is a queen that has overwintered. They love Dutchman’s breeches and other early wildflowers — they use the pollen to feed their worker bees that are growing into real workers, so the queens can retire to a life of luxury.

Dutchman’s breeches have two relatives that you may know or grow: bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) and wild or fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia). Some books say both are natives, others say Dicentra spectabilis is native to Asia, or native both here and there. It dies back in late summer.

I’ve seen wild bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) growing in the wilds of Vermont, though it is not common. It is an unusual wildflower because it keeps its foliage all summer and blooms on and off all summer. It is much lower-growing than its bigger cousin and has nice finely divided delicate-looking leaves. Both of these plants are readily available in nurseries.

If you live in suburbia with a big lawn and want to support wildlife, think about giving up some lawn and planting native trees. Trees really are the workhorses of the plant world. They have more leaves and greenery than our annual and perennial plantings, and hence can let moth and butterfly larvae munch their leaves — and you will probably never notice. Before you plant any full-sized tree, do your homework. Learn how big it will get and leave plenty of space for it.

According to Doug Tallamy’s excellent book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, the very best trees to plant to support wildlife are the oaks. There are 90 species of native oaks that grow in the United States, and all are excellent. Of these, the white oak (Quercus alba) is the best. It commonly grows wild in the Northeast and it supports many more species of caterpillars than any other tree. Not only that, it grows to be a huge tree, one that can live for hundreds of years. So the white oak is also great at sequestering large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere, helping to reduce global warming.

If you want to plant a white oak, do not be deterred by how long you think it might take to grow. If you can afford a tree that is already 6 to 8 feet tall, it will be 20 feet tall inside of five years. Or if you are young and patient, you can plant acorns. At this time of year, or soon, you should be able to find and dig up seedlings that are just starting to grow. Oaks send down deep taproots, so digging up bigger plants is more difficult.

The only downside to white oaks, from my perspective, is that deer love to nibble on them when the trees are young — much more so than red oaks, which are also good native trees to grow for wildlife. If you plant a white oak and have deer in your vicinity, the safest way to protect it when young is to surround it with a wire mesh fence.

However, I have planted white oaks where deer are a problem and did not fence them. Instead I relied on a repellent device that clips onto twigs like a clothespin. It is called “Fend Off Deer and Rabbit Repellent” and contains garlic extract in small cylinders. Once you puncture the seal inside the capsule, it emits a strong odor that deer hate. These repellents last for over six months. I’ve seen footprints of deer going right up to white oaks with these garlic oil repellents — and then walking away without taking a bite.

Oaks have very strong limbs and can send out limbs that are almost parallel to the ground, sometimes 20 feet or more in all directions. So do not plant your tree near the house. It is a good “specimen tree” suitable for the middle of your back lawn, or protruding out from the edge of a wooded area. White oaks do not do well in areas that have poor drainage. For such an area, choose a swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor). They also do well in ordinary soil.

We all know and love the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) for its great fall colors and delicious syrup. Unfortunately it is not a perfect choice for suburban landscapes. It is not tolerant of pollution, compacted soils or salt. It does not tolerate long periods of wet soil. It struggles in soils low in calcium. It is better suited for rural areas where it grows wild.

If you want a maple tolerant of soil compaction and suitable for soils from wet to dry, sandy to clay, our native red maple (Acer rubrum) is a good choice. It is relatively fast growing and shows off bright red leaves in the fall. It does not tolerate road salt, so it is not a tree to plant near a paved road. But almost anywhere else? It’s a great tree.

According to the terrific book Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States by Tony Dove and Ginger Woolridge, the red maple supports 300 kinds of caterpillars as well as providing nectar while blooming in the early spring. Some varieties have male and female trees, but others have flowers of both sexes on the same tree. The seeds on female trees are important for birds and small mammals.

For smaller properties there are many fine native shrubs to choose from. One of my favorites is mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), the state flower of Connecticut. I grew up with it blooming in hardwood forests with a high canopy — mature oaks in particular. I did a lot of off-trail hiking as a boy and always stopped dead in my tracks when I came upon mountain laurels in bloom. Here I have planted three of them as they are hardy but are not found in the wild near me.

Mountain laurel, I have read, is not an easy shrub to grow, but my own experience is different: I planted my first one on a moist hillside with morning sunshine and acidic soil. It has thrived and blossomed nicely for decades even though I do nothing for it. It is a relatively slow-growing shrub, 6 to 12 inches per year. In the wild they can grow to 10 or 12 feet in height, but they stay smaller in cultivation.

Mountain laurel is in the heath or heather family, so it needs soil that is quite acidic, pH 5.5 or so. When planting, dig a nice wide hole and add sulfur or soil acidifier to the soil. It’s best to use a pH test kit to determine the soil pH, and then add acidifier as directed on the package to bring down the pH. Adding peat moss at planting time will help, too. Mulch with pine needles if you have them.

The mountain laurel has glossy green leaves that are a bit like those of rhododendrons. They look good all year. But then, ka-boom, the buds and flowers appear in June. The blossoms appear in clusters, which open up to small cups, often with a mixture of pink and white inside, though there are some varieties that are deep rose throughout.

Hydrangeas are well-loved shrubs for home gardeners, though many of them are not native. According to the Mt. Cuba Center, the best native is one I grow, a smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) called Haas’ Halo. This is a relatively new selection with lacecap flowers in mid-summer. The flowers have both fertile and sterile blossoms on flat-topped corymbs 4 to 8 inches across. Bees and other pollinators flock to it when blooming. In the wild, smooth hydrangeas are found in woodlands, and this one will boom well in either sun or shade, and tolerates dry soils well.

The best-known smooth hydrangea is ‘Annabelle,’ which I don’t use because the first time the blossoms get rained on they flop to the ground. Not so with Haas’ Halo. It has sturdy woody stems that hold up its blossoms well. Even after the flowers go by, the dry floret looks good into the fall and winter. Though I have seen reports saying it is not attractive to deer, I have seen deer demolish young Haas’ Halo shrubs. I cut the stems right to the ground in late winter or early spring as they bloom on new growth, and this keeps the shrub from getting too lanky.

My last pick for a handsome native shrub is Common Sweetshrub (Calycanthus florida), which is native to Pennsylvania and south through Florida, but hardy here to Zone 4. It does best in part shade with well-drained rich loam — but will grow in clay soil and survive in full sun if given adequate moisture. I have had it scald in full sun, so I don’t recommend that.

Common Sweetshrub’s claim to fame is the strong fragrance of its wine-red 1- to 2-inch flowers. I suggest you buy one in bloom if fragrance is important to you. I have two specimens, both of which have only a minor fragrance. But the blossoms are delightful to look at, and they are vigorous plants. It provides pollen to bees and the leaves are eaten by caterpillars.

Although statistics vary, most authorities agree that at least 50 percent of Americans do at least a little gardening. If all of us planted a few native plants, it would help our birds and pollinators to thrive. Remember, native plants co-evolved with our native animals over millions of years. They are wired to recognize and use natives. So strive to plant more natives this year!

Henry can be reached by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. If you’ve grown some of these plants, feel free to e-mail him and give a report on how yours did.