How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
Kaleb grew up in town and lived just outside the village for the majority of his childhood, but we moved to Sandwich together in 2022. Kaleb’s grandparents, mom and aunt had visited Sandwich in the late 70’s during a Sandwich Fair weekend and fell in love with the town and people. His grandparents vowed to move their family here someday and did so in 1980. Kaleb’s mom grew up in Sandwich, attended Sandwich Central and Inter-Lakes High School, traveled a bit after college but ultimately decided that Sandwich offered Kaleb the best community to grow up in and moved back to town in 1998. Kaleb and his two younger siblings, Phoebe & Roley Hoag all attended Sandwich Central School and then graduated from Inter-Lakes High School where Kaleb and Liz met, became close friends and later started dating. Liz grew up down the road in Center Harbor, so Kaleb picked her up for school on the way by. Liz’s parents often took her for drives through Sandwich, parking at a friend's house nearby so they could swim at the potholes and a trip to Sandwich wouldn’t be complete without driving down to the creamery for some ice cream. Liz has many memories of having dinner at the Corner House, sitting on the couches next to the fireplace, and of course attending most, if not all, Sandwich Fairs, Halloweens to trick or treat, and Third of July Fireworks. Like many people who grew up in Sandwich, Kalebs first job was at the Corner House working for Don Brown where he started as a dishwasher, shortly later being promoted to a busser and for the majority of his time, a waiter. ​

What is the most fun and satisfying aspect of your work? 
Of course, as many know, window cleaning is very satisfying to watch! Taking on dirty windows and turning them into shiny masterpieces everyday is not only just satisfying, but it’s extremely rewarding too. One of the things we love most about our business is that every day is different. One day we could be on the lake, the next up in the mountains, and later in the week down in Meredith cleaning another local business, sometimes all three places in one day! We’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of different houses and properties around the state, and have met and talked with so many people with all different backgrounds. In result, we’ve made a lot of new connections, being one of the things we love most about what we do. Another fun thing about Summit is that we’re a family business! Kaleb’s brother, Roley, started working for us when he was 15 years old. Roley’s now turning 20 this May, has worked for us for the last 5 summers and is planning on coming back this Spring. Also, our amazing head house cleaner, Dana, is Kalebs cousin! It’s been really fun working alongside both Roley & Dana and we are grateful for all of their hard work and dedication to Summit's success! ​

What else can you tell us about yourself, your business, and your life in Sandwich?
Last year, Liz & Kaleb became the Vice Presidents of the Sandwich Business Group and love working with all of the other local businesses in Sandwich and surrounding towns. For the group, Liz created and maintains the Discover Sandwich Instagram account where she posts pictures, events and business highlights from around town. She also became the Market Manager for the new Sandwich Farmers Market coming this summer! Liz started another Instagram account, Explore Lakes Region, where she posts videos and pictures of businesses around the Lakes Region in hopes to help promote and bring more business to them. Going along with her passion for photography and supporting small businesses, she has recently started another endeavor, Liz Brennen Photos. Summit Window Cleaning has won Best Window Cleaners in the Lakes Region for the last six years in a row and they hope to win again this year. Kaleb & Liz got engaged in Croatia in 2022 and finally got married last Fall on the pond in Quimby Park after 10 years of dating and truly love everything Sandwich! They feel beyond grateful to call this special community home and are looking forward to their future here in town with their dog Jack and two cats, Oscar & Lulu. If you’re in need of any window cleaning or house cleaning, you know who to call! ​

What is your name and the name of your business?
My name is Heather Cameron, owner of Eastman House, LLC dba Eastman House Creative Counseling & Yoga.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
That’s a long and lovely story. In 1983 my husband Ray, whom I was dating at the time, brought me to New Hampshire to meet his family for Thanksgiving. After spending Thanksgiving Day with extended family in Andover, MA, Ray learned that the Lakes Region had received some snow. Ray was excited to share his beloved Squam Lake and family history that was deeply woven into the fabric of Rockywold Deephaven Camps where he had spent most of his summers growing up. ​

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
My business is service oriented. I am a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (NH and NC), an Expressive Arts Therapist, and a Registered Yoga Teacher. I offer counseling for adolescents, adults and elders. My work with individuals is collaborative and holistic. It is based on an appreciation for the connectedness of the mind and body. It addresses all aspects of a person's health and well-being. This includes spirituality and sense of purpose, social connectedness, physical health and living an authentic life.

​In therapy, I create a safe, non-judgmental space that allows the individual's own healing wisdom to direct the work. I teach practical coping skills that address immediate concerns like overwhelming emotions and anxiety. I may invite clients to explore their creative nature through expressive arts-based therapy and yoga, providing another level of insight.

In addition, I offer yoga classes in my barn studio as well. I explain yoga as an ancient Hindu philosophy that encompasses a variety of practices which most commonly include postures (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), meditation, mantras, and lifestyle changes. In my practice I teach all aspects, generally with a focus on gentle yoga. Currently I provide three in-studio classes per week and may also hold virtual class opportunities when requested. I work with groups, and privately for individuals seeking deeper knowledge or those with specific needs.​

How did you get started in these professions?
In late 2003 my life took a sudden and dramatic turn, shaking up the foundation of what life had been, giving me an insight on defining a new focus and direction. It was then that I began to explore what this life meant and how I wanted to BE in it. I decided to investigate a graduate program in counseling with a certification in expressive arts therapy. I wanted to better understand the psychological aspects of the human condition and how healing can be accomplished through the use of various therapeutic interventions such as art. 

My graduate school experiences were wonderful, challenging and life changing. After completing my graduate work in 2009, I had gained experience with treating cancer patients, their caregivers, and medical teams. I counseled women who had experienced domestic violence and sexual assault, and their families, as well as staff who worked with this population. Soon after graduation, I provided addictions counseling for opioid addicts at a methadone clinic, and later served as the clinical director for a day treatment center for children. Since then, I have continuously had a private practice where I hold gratitude for all my clients and their stories of hope, faith, resilience, pain, and their desire to live the life of their choosing.

Upon becoming a resident of Sandwich, my friend Leslie Jose informed me that Dragonfly Yoga Barn was offering a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training that fall. As I was in the midst of a huge life transition and having been a student of yoga, I decided to enroll. I was not sure where the training would take me. I hoped that my desires would unfold naturally. For a long time, I could see the potential intersection of counseling, expressive arts and yoga, so that is where I began. Once I completed the program it was clear that I enjoyed teaching yoga and that my desire to integrate yoga into my counseling practice would add value and benefit my client’s wellbeing and healing. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
Making a difference in the lives of others. That’s all that matters… I have so much fun practicing yoga with others and I gain satisfaction when my students feel successful and less stressed as a result of the practice, connecting mind, body and spirit.

What is the hardest?
Living in today’s world can be very difficult and for some it can feel scary, unsafe, and hopeless. When faced with a client who has reached a dangerous space of hopelessness one must reach deep and access the necessary training and resources to provide immediate assistance. That’s hard…

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My primary goal is to continue to grow and develop my counseling practice. I hope to offer group opportunities in areas of need, workshops, and expressive arts events just to name a few. Additionally, I hope that my yoga classes develop and provide an outlet for students to achieve physical health, mental clarity, spiritual growth and expansion.

What else can you tell us about yourself, your business, and your life in Sandwich?
The business name Eastman House is a historic revival of our home’s identity. The Eastman House was named through the ownership of Nellie Eastman (widow of Charles Everett Eastman) who had inherited the property from her family named Watson (Dana). Although the earliest known owner and presumed builder of the home was Gilbert Hodgdon, the name Eastman House seemed to prevail for some time until the reference became lost. 

I thought it important to focus the business around the land and history associated with our property. Eastman Brook flows through the land as it has meandered to Squam Lake for thousands of years. Eastman House Creative Counseling & Yoga is located in our barn which was relocated from a property on Wiggin Farm Road in 2020. Rich Benton and his amazing team took care of the dismantle, transportation, and re-assemble of the barn. My husband Ray then took on the finishing aspects of the space creating a beautifully warm and inviting studio for counseling, yoga, and art-making. It was truly a labor of love.

What does living and working in Sandwich mean to you?
It is as if I have come full circle, 40 years later. I am living my dream and so grateful for the new opportunities and friendships that have met me along the way. And what a place to land! The natural environment, flora and fauna, and the most interesting collection of humans… life is good!

Note: All photos are by Heather and Ray Cameron

Heather Cameron, MA, LCMHC, RYT200
[email protected]
828-964-0828

What is your name and the name of your business?
My name is Ashley Benes and I am the owner of Papa Beans Ice Cream. 
 
How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I grew up in the Lakes Region and my first time I can remember being in Sandwich was at the age of four going to the Sandwich Fair. This is where I experienced my first pony ride and my love for horses.  

When I was in my early 30s I taught lessons and volunteered for the local Mt Washington Valley Pony Club that was fortunate enough to use the fairgrounds for their practices. Around that same time, 2011 or 2012 I believe, I helped organize a 5K Turkey trot based out of the Sandwich fairgrounds as a fundraiser for the Pony Club. My father is an active member of the White Mountain Milers running club and I had dabbled in some races by this time in my life and was hooked. I went on to attend a 5k turkey trot from the Beach to Bar, Christmas Jingle Bell Run put on by a yoga studio, Booty Farm 5k, and the Old Home week triathlon.

 I remember thinking this is the kind of community I want to live in. When Brad and I started dating a few years back our first official date was hiking Mt. Israel and eating ice cream afterwards. As life partners and residents of Sandwich we find it important to enjoy the nature and beauty in our area as often as we can and our busy lives allow.

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
I make small batches of homemade ice cream using local New Hampshire diary and source ingredients locally when ever possible to stir in the ice cream. We are located inside Young Maple Ridge Sugarhouse. You can purchase pints, half pints, ice cream sandwiches and ice cream cakes or pies. One of the most popular flavors is the Maple Bourbon Ice cream that is flavored from Maple Bourbon aged syrup made by Brad right in the Sugarhouse.

How did your business get started?
 In the late 1980s my father’s construction business was taking a hit due to the economy. My parents decided to take a chance and open a homemade ice cream business they called Bobby Sue’s, located in West Ossipee where M & V’s gas station is located now.

At the age of 7, I knew that my ice cream tasting passion would continue. My favorite flavor then was peach with rainbow sprinkles. After a successful couple of years my parents sold the business and my father went back to construction. My father has opened a couple other homemade scoop shops in Conway area over the years and acquired a few nicknames: “Scoop Man” and “Papa Beans.”

Since a young age I have always dreamed of owning my own small food business and had been brainstorming this idea for several years. I have a BS in Business Management from PSU and was working as Assistant Utility Manager for a water company the last 8 years and knew I was ready for a career change. My father had given me his ice cream machine and Brad offered to share his kitchen space at his sugarhouse. I began the process of filling all the requirements for a new business and inspections needed before making the big jump of leaving my office job. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
 Have you ever seen someone eat ice cream who is not smiling? The ice cream is not always the first thing guests look at when they arrive at Young Maple Ridge Sugarhouse. Often they are surprised by the assortment of maple syrup choices in glass & plastic bottles. Then they see the Maple Candy, Maple Sugar, Maple Cream, and Maple Bourbon Syrup.

What gets most of the attention is Brad’s evaporator, the 40-gallon barrels, stacked syrup drums, and the wooden bourbon barrel filled with syrup that is aging before being bottled. We love seeing people’s reactions to the sugaring process and the assortment of flavors of ice cream we have made. The ice cream sandwiches are a huge hit and many are thrilled to see our unique flavors.

What is the hardest?
The hardest part is not eating all the profits. Starting a business with unstable and rising product costs has posed a huge challenge for me especially in figuring out my own costs and pricing. I have attended many farmers markets and estimating what items to bring or have on hand has been difficult. Having the support of family, friends and community has allowed starting this business a little less hard.  Brad and his parents, Rae & Bob Streeter, are always available and willing to step in and help. My father is even finally sharing some of his secrets of success. 
 
What are your goals and hopes for the future?
I hope to have a successful sustainable business that allows connections with other small business and community. Anyone local that has ingredients that would pair well with our ice cream please reach out.

What else can you tell us about yourself, your business, and your life in Sandwich?
Being an ice cream eater, I must stay active and where else to do that than Sandwich. I am an avid runner, hiker, and in recent years gravel bike rider. I am a proud dog mom of Simon (14.5) and Chuck (2.5) and enjoy spending time in the woods with them and Brad. 

Sandwich offers so much for such a small town because of the compassionate people that choose to live here. I truly appreciate and value being able to eat while listening to local musicians at The Foothills and The Corner House, shop at the numerous farm stands on my way home, take a yoga class, and still be able to explore quiet trails and nature.

Ashley Benes
Papa Beans Ice Cream
301 Wing Road, Sandwich NH
603-393-6948
[email protected]

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
My relationship with Sandwich goes back as far as I can remember. We summered in our small family cottage on Dinsmore Pond until we moved here permanently in 1999 to renovate the old brick store. My parents met in Sandwich in the early 80s doing theater with the Sandwich players in a production of Our Town.

My father owned and operated the only gas pump by the only "traffic light" in town. Generations of our family on the Howe side (my father’s mother was a Howe) have lived on Diamond Ledge and Howe Hill, including Rev. Chester Howe. My father has cousins who still live on Howe Hill in Sandwich. I had moved away to Portland, Maine in 2014 after college, but returned in 2020 to start my own cabinet shop. 

What got you started in this profession?
My father has always been a carpenter and cabinet maker, so growing up I would help him as much as I could. After gaining my degree in Environmental Studies from The University of Vermont, I pursued a career in teaching but after being waitlisted for grad school, I began working at a cabinet shop in South Portland, Maine.

​For five years I worked my way up to production supervisor at one of the largest cabinet shops in New England, while simultaneously attending Southern Maine Community College to earn an Associates Degree in Architectural and Engineering Design. I then saw an opportunity to return to Sandwich with the skills I had gained, to try my hand at running my own cabinet shop. I knew my father was retiring, as well as a few other cabinet makers/carpenters in town, so I felt that there would be an eventual void that needed to be filled. In the winter of 2020 I started Lower Corner Millworks.

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
Initially I began making signs and small wooden crafts like cribbage boards, catch-all trays, cutting boards, etc., but knew I wanted to be making cabinets and furniture. It took about six months but I eventually built my first kitchen for a client. I’ve made several tables and I was hired to fill an entire home with bookshelf built-ins, bunk beds, an entertainment unit and a full kitchen. I still provide sign engraving services, custom gifts and other misc. products, including 3D topographical maps, flight boards for breweries (a flight board is a serving tray for small glasses of beer or wine or spirits)  and the occasional cutting board! 

I also have a relationship with The Shaker Furniture Company to make furniture parts and I use a CNC router for some projects. A CNC Machine or Computer Numerical Control Machine is a computer-aided router that allows the user to program text or shapes to be cut out or engraved onto a designated material. In my case, I engrave signs into wood or signboard, cut out furniture parts out of wood, create 3D landscapes out of solid wood or cut cabinet parts out of plywood. ​

​How did your business get started?
My business began pretty easy. Registering my LLC, acquiring start-up funds from The Wentworth Economical Development Corporation and finding a shop space to rent all happened very quickly. My first client was The Shaker Furniture Company, who hired me to make furniture parts before I even had my shop set up. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
The best part of my job is setting my own hours, deciding what jobs to take and basically just being able to do what I love every day. I could be working on a live edge table one day and then making a custom charcuterie board the next. The scope of my work is diverse, which I love. I also get to bring my dog to the shop which is probably the best part.

What is the hardest?
There are a few difficult aspects of my job. I make my own hours which is fantastic, but not having a "clock-in" time sometimes results in sleeping in a little longer than I should some days! Definitely the most difficult part of the job is juggling every task that goes into running your own business, specifically, bookkeeping. I cannot stress enough how boring yet important it is to keep track of all the ins and outs of my business and  I'm learning quickly that hoarding receipts in a manilla folder until tax season is not a great habit to get into. 

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goals when I started this adventure were pretty straightforward; to build what I wanted and continue the tradition of craftspeople in Sandwich. I had to leave Sandwich to really appreciate the town I grew up in. When I knew my father was retiring from his long career as a cabinet maker and carpenter, I knew that there would be opportunities to fill the void he left behind. 

The first year of operating I made four signs for local businesses, several large cabinet jobs, and a contract to provide Sandwich-based Shaker Workshops with furniture parts. I have made countless gifts and game boards for people I grew up around. I joked in my college essay that "Sandwich is a vibrant town full of carpenters and yoga instructors, where the post office parking lot looks like a Subaru dealership." Fifteen years after writing that essay, I find myself driving my Outback to the post office to pick up mail for my own woodworking business.     

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
I'm learning something new everyday. Working in Sandwich means a lot to me. Personally, Sandwich has always been my home, whether it be summers as a small child, becoming our "new home" when I was in 5th grade or when I returned after years away. Creating my business in this small town full of hardworking men and women makes me very proud. Carrying on the traditions of these people is something I take very personally and I hope I can make my family and neighbors proud.

To learn more about Lower Corner Millworks visit: lowercornermillworks.com
or get in touch with Parker at: 603-986-8391, [email protected]. Facebook and Instagram people can search Lower Corner Millworks

Sam Kachmar, new owner of the Corner House Restaurant & Bar, tells us how he came to Sandwich. Enjoy!

Tell us about yourself: How did you connect with Sandwich, NH? What made you decide to live here?

I connected with Sandwich in the early 2000s. A family friend bought a piece of land up on Smithville Rd, and engaged SKA, my architecture firm based in Cambridge, MA to design a weekend home for them that they could eventually retire to. It looks out to Red Hill. Over time they decided to reside permanently up in Sandwich, so we added two wings on either side of the main structure.

​In going up for site visits to the land in Sandwich, I heard about the Sandwich Fair, and came up for that with my wife and kids. We visited Beede Falls, hiked with family friends, and really enjoyed being surrounded by nature. We found Sandwich to be such a special place that our family came to visit often the following year. 

While here on a site visit my wife found a listing for a home down on Metcalf Rd.  We went and looked at a beautiful cove with a really run down cabin from 1970. We bought it. We thought about tearing it down and starting new, but we loved the bones of the house, so we worked to restore some of the mid-century detailing as well as providing modern amenities to the home.

While we don't live in Sandwich full time, we do spend as much time as we can at our home during the summer when it's not rented out. In the fall, winter, and spring we enjoy being in the quiet of Sandwich rather than the busy scene of Cambridge and Boston. 

What were you doing before you came here and what are you doing now?

I have been running the SKA Architecture Studio in Cambridge, MA since 2008. We design residential homes in Cambridge and the surrounding areas, and now that I have opened up an SKA office in Sandwich, we offer that same service in the Lakes Region of NH. 

SKA is pronounced  S…….K…..A, not skah, like the music. We utilize Virtual Reality in our work to allow our clients to experience their homes before they are actually built. This technique creates a reduction in variables and surprises during the construction process, and that makes our projects boring in the best way. When the project is complete, the clients say, "Wow, that looks just like it did in VR." 

What made you decide to buy a historic business in the center of town?

I wanted to buy a building in Sandwich as I have loved the time spent up here over the last few years. 22 Main St became available and presented itself as a unique opportunity to house the Corner House restaurant, the Sandwich Creamery, and Sam Kachmar Architects (SKA). 

Where do you see the Corner House in the next few years? What are your hopes for the business?

I see the Corner House improving as a destination restaurant over the next few years. The building and land are in need of some significant maintenance and upgrades. We are planning to replace the roof with a solar roof, upgrade the insulation and HVAC systems of the building, replace rotted wood, etc, in an effort to bring the building back to the prominent status that it has held within the town for decades. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your life here? 

One of the most fun and satisfying aspect of my life in Sandwich is to see people coming back to the Corner House and being excited to have the restaurant going again. Some people have described the Corner House as “Sandwich’s living room.”  That is a really nice moniker to have associated with the restaurant. 

There are so many ways I love being in this town. I love spending time at the Foothills with Nancy and Rebecca, and going to the dump to see John and Kevin. Old Home Week this year was a such a fun event for our kids. I really love walking out into the woods near our house, and just standing in the trees. It recharges my batteries. 

What else can you tell us about your experience of Sandwich?

This town is brimming with intelligence, energy, thoughtfulness, and caring people. I’m happy to see high speed internet making its way into the town. Sandwich is such an appealing town that it has become a beacon for retirees from many parts of the country. As we move forward with high speed internet utilities, there is an opportunity for Sandwich to chart its course and redefine what kind of town it wants to be going forward. I love coming up here from the city. I can feel the stress of the city falling off my shoulders as I drive down 113 towards Sandwich. 

What is your name and the name of your business?
Ben Bullard, H.B. Bullard and Company, Inc.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
In the early 1970s, Betty and I would visit her family's summer home. We were living in Boston and going to college. She had been coming up to Sandwich in the summers since she was born and we both liked it so much that directly after graduation, we moved here and were married in the summer of 1973. At the time, there were 600 year-round residents. Sandwich was a different town than it is today. It attracted us because of the arts and crafts nature of the town, which persists today.

What got you started in this profession?
Trained as an artist, I loved working with my hands and creativity, and building became the way to use both simultaneously. Most of the carpenters back then in our age group started working for Van Adriance in some capacity. He started a large crew and we all, as friends and co-workers, built a few houses  together. After a few years we started to peel off from that to start our own ventures and partnerships. 

Rich Benton and I worked together for a few years, then Roger Korpi and I partnered up for 20 years and built many beautiful buildings together. Around 2000, I started this company H.B. Bullard and Company, Inc.

Tell us about your work. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
I started doing mostly timber frame construction. I was intrigued with Eric Sloan's books explaining the age old practice of mortise and tenon joinery in barn and house construction more than 200 hundred years ago. My first effort was building our house at Lower Corner. Trees on the property were cut down and  hewed into beams with an adze and joined into a timber frame. Later we used local sawyers to mill the beams. 

Our company designs and builds custom homes and barns, does restoration work on old buildings, does whole house renovations and everything in between. Eighty percent of our our work is in-house designed, twenty percent with architects. Personally I like classic design, be it house, barn or camp and the use of as much local product as I can.

What is the hardest?
The challenge of course is to be a good scheduler, keep everyone happy and make a consistently great product. You have to really like people and remain optimistic to do this consistent juggling. 

How has this last Covid year affected your work? 
Our industry is going strong in the Covid era but circumstances have changed making scheduling challenging because of lack of supply,  lack of labor and availability of sub-contractors.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goal at this time is to retire soon, become a recovering contractor and let the next generation of excellent builders take over! Hopefully I  can use my fifty years of experience in building to inspire others to take up this vocation that I love. It is financially rewarding, and you use your head, heart and hand.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?
Sandwich is a wonderful place to live, work, and raise a family. The strong sense of community is a valuable and special aspect of our town, and one that has meant a lot to our family over the years and continues still.

How/when did you get to Sandwich, NH? Life before Sandwich?
We visited Sandwich regularly for the past 10 years but only became Sandwich property owners two years ago when we bought Polly Jewett’s house. 

​Before Sandwich Mark and I lived in Nebraska City, Nebraska for about 30 years. It was there that Mark retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency as well as his 28 year career as an Air Force active duty and reserve member. We were both intelligence officers in the Air Force but I separated after seven years and started “Peppercricket Farm,” an antique store and Bed and Breakfast.  

How/why did you start your business?
Mark and I always wanted to restore another old house and looked at dozens of homes in the New England area over the years and never could find “the one” to restore. Too expensive, wrong location, beyond our capabilities etc etc. 

Then there was this big old yellow one with the awesome porch.  Mark loved it right away and I couldn’t wait to paint it!! So we bought it and got to work. We weren’t sure what kind of business we were going to start but the longer we worked on it the more sure I was that it had to be retail. This house was meant to be shared with others. 

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer? 
The Porch features an eclectic blend of antique, vintage and new home décor as well as a women’s clothing line.  The building, with all of its natural light, high ceilings and expansive floorspace provides a great backdrop in which to showcase the merchandise.  The antique furnishings also blend in nicely with the new items so that customers can better visualize what they may look like in their own home or office.       ​

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job?
The restoration process of the house and working on antique furniture that will have a new home are definitely the most satisfying, but finding inventory with Mark and setting up displays with my sister Chris Milanovich are the most fun. Mark calls it “playing house”! 

The one on one conversation we have with our customers is also a fun part of the job. It is truly amazing where folks are from, their background and what their plans are for the pieces they buy from us. We both love the interaction with our growing customer base at The Porch.

What is the hardest?
The days when no one comes in.  It happens in all retail but is never easy.
​ 
What are your goals and hopes for the future?
To become a shopping destination that brings more people to Sandwich to appreciate the unique beauty of the community. We are looking at expanding the shop into the second floor to complement what we already have in the barn and first floor. The architecture of this house lends itself to display and is something we want to take advantage of. 

What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?  
Our number one priority in our lives are our two daughters Helen, who is now a freshman at Stonehill College, and Mary Lynn, who is a junior at Moultonborough Academy.  Family is a very big part of our lives and something we have learned to cherish. 

We truly love the town and the folks who live here and the surrounding communities.  Sitting on the front porch of the shop in the summer invites conversation with all who walk or ride by. We hope to be doing it for many years to come.

theporchnh.com
facebook.com/porchnh
[email protected] 
(402) 326-5450

What is your name and the name of your business?
Nancy Jones Hansen, my business name is Sewing. It leaves no question as to what I do!  ​

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I met a guy....! I came to Sandwich in 1980, married a local. We lived here for several years and then moved to Bethel, Maine for 15 years, returning in 1999. On our first date, my husband, Carl, looked at the Brick Store and announced he was going to live there some day. So here we are in the Brick Store, running our businesses from one of the most iconic buildings in town. 

What got you started in this line of work?
My mother was a sewer, and taught me to sew over Easter vacation when I was 12, on my grandmother's treadle sewing machine. (Sounds like I'm really old, but it was a really old machine at the time.) I've been sewing ever since.  

Once out of college I realized I could make money sewing. I applied for a job with a small wallpaper/fabric store. I had a basic  book on how to sew everything. The owner would ask me if I know how to do... whatever. As long as it was in the book I said yes and got the job.  I've been sewing for people in Sandwich for 30 years.

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
There is no Home Economics any more in schools, so people are not learning sewing as a craft or vocation. I think it's a dying art. I am fortunate that I have sewed for over 50 years and have done just about everything in the field, from simple alterations to designer drapes and swags. I've done prototypes for people with new ideas, and repaired antique quilts.  

When/how did you begin your business?
In the 80s Carl worked as a contractor and I became a division of that, Hansen Homes & Interiors/Sewing. Carl has retired from building, mostly, so now he works for me.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job?  
I like to see people happy with something they thought was ruined and now it's good. Weird is fun, repetition is repetitive, but it pays the bills. Quite often I get clothes or ties from someone who has lost a loved one and want a quilt made from them. T-shirt quilts are fun because usually all of the shirts have meaning to those who receive it. If I know the person, even better, then I can add to what I know of their personality. My business is my hobby, so I get to do it everyday.

What is the hardest?  
The hardest is being sure people are happy. Even after all of these years making things for people, a little voice always wonders, "will they like this?"  So far so good.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year?
I had the best job during Covid. People still needed things fixed. I just did a lot of business out on the porch. Of course I made many, many masks. Both donated and some for sale. It was a good way to use up small pieces of fabric. ​

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goal for the future is to retire! This seems impossible as the phone keeps ringing. Two or three seamstresses have closed in the last year for different reasons so there are not as many people sewing.  For the near future, I'm still working. I have a new shop space at our house and I hate to give it up.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich?
In 1980 I married into Sandwich. Coming from Detroit, it was a big change, but a good one. Friends from 1980 are still here and still friends, and now their grandchildren play with mine. All three of our children live in town, which made our Covid bubble very nice. We travel more now, but it's always nice to come home. We live in the most beautiful place.

[email protected]
603-387-4767

What are your names?
Peggy and Bob MacArthur, Birch Corner Associates ​

How did you get to Sandwich?
After two decades in the Midwest, we returned to New Hampshire in 2004.  Having spent fourteen years raising our family in Hanover and exploring many of the state’s peaks, trails and tributaries during our days with Outward Bound, we were happy to return to the land that is home to our spirits.  

While in St. Louis Bob served as president and CEO of the American Youth Foundation, a national youth development organization. Camp Merrowvista in Tuftonboro is one of AYF’s program centers, and over the years Bob made many trips east to oversee the expanding program and renovations to its facilities. It was during those trips that friends introduced us to Sandwich.

Why the name of your business?
Exploring the land while our home was being built, we were drawn to one corner formed by the intersection of two rock walls.  We found the woods contain a preponderance of birch trees.  Many are beyond mature, bearing the wrinkled bark of decades and the scars of the 1998 ice storm. Nearby, younger birches grow strong and supple with the skin of youth.  An author we read at the time opined that the symbolic quality of birch trees includes “cleansing of the past, new beginnings and vision quests.”  True or not, the attributes resonated, and we embraced the name as emblematic of our work in this chapter of life. ​

After attending seminary, Bob spent two years as Episcopal chaplain at Dartmouth. He recognized that his vocation was not to parish ministry but a broader calling to build community and help others attain their goals. In addition to chaplaincy roles, Bob’s formal leadership experience includes directing the Dartmouth Outward Bound Center for twelve years and for nineteen years serving as President and CEO of the American Youth Foundation.  

What is your name and the name of your business?
Anne Metcalf Perkins, Anne Made

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I am one of the fortunate who was born in Sandwich. I have always known how special that is. My mother’s parents had a camp on Winnepesaukee and  they decided to settle in Sandwich at the end of World War II. Lester Lear was from Gallipolis, Ohio. Isadora Schmidt Lear was born in Philadelphia. 

My father’s family had a camp on  Squam Lake. At the age of 20, my father, Lance Metcalf, decided to settle in Sandwich, after leaving the Marine Corps at the end of the war. My parents met in Sandwich, probably at a Town Hall square-dance. After my mother, Nancy Lear, attended UNH for a year, they were married at Saint Andrews in Tamworth. 

Tell us about your work. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
I am a textile craftsman and have made and sold everything from bed quilts and wallhangings to Christmas ornaments and dolls. Currently I’m working with cashmere and making fingerless gloves.

What is your name and the name of your business? 
I am Cathy Crooker and my business is Crooker Consulting.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH? 
Mine is one of the typical Sandwich stories – I spent my summers here as a kid. As a family we hiked, played tennis, went canoeing, and performed together in the 70’s versions of the Sandwich Players Gilbert & Sullivan productions under the legendary Bob Bates!
 
When my parents, Charlie and Lib Crooker, retired here in 1980, this became “home base,” the place I came back to for family visits.  I lived in Oregon all those years, primarily working for nonprofits doing fundraising, but treasured my visits to see family and get back into the mountains I love. 

When my husband, Griff O’Brien, retired a few years ago, I had the flexibility through my business to live anywhere, so we chose to return to Sandwich full-time.  And we are so thrilled that we did!  We love this community and are honored to be a part of it.

What got you started in this profession?  
After graduating from Oberlin College with a Soviet Studies degree I migrated to Oregon.  Like many fundraisers of my time, I happened upon an opportunity in development with no notion that this would be my career. When an entry-level job at the Easter Seals Society showed me how donors could help improve the lives of children with disabilities, I was hooked! 

From there I went on to run all the special fundraising events for The American Heart Association in Oregon, and my path in fundraising was set!  I went on to work in healthcare and higher education fundraising in and around Portland, Oregon, with a detour during the 1990’s running a business exporting food to Russia (another topic for another day!)

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
Crooker Consulting helps dedicated nonprofit leaders achieve bold visions.  I help volunteers, boards and staff learn how to raise more money, I help them develop strategies & visions that will resonate with donors, and I help boards grow and evolve.

I have a passion for improving our community.  It is a gift to be in a profession where I help connect committed donors with organizations that are creating positive change, whether that is curing cancer, housing the homeless or enhancing the cultural fabric of the community. And I know that anything is possible when we align our energies in common purpose!

How did this business get started?  
In 2015 the wonderful woman I was working for at Community Action in Oregon was set to retire.  I decided at that time I was also ready for a transition to the next phase of my life and was ready to launch out on my own to offer what I could to a range of clients.

My experience in both very large and very small organizations lends me a unique set of skills.  I am trained in the best practices of major fund raising inside large capital campaigns and I use my creative abilities to bring those vital tools to organizations with small staffs and limited budgets.  I have learned that budget and size are not a hindrance to creating breakthrough fundraising strategies.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
When I see a board and an organization pull off a big dream that they weren’t sure was possible, I get a lot of satisfaction.  The size of the budget doesn’t matter that much – for example, it was just as exciting for me to help the small arts cooperative raise the $100K they needed to repair their gallery as it has been to help the $55M arts center raise the money they needed.  The joy comes from  helping these incredibly dedicated volunteers achieve what they set out to do for their community.

What is the hardest? 
I wouldn’t say it is hard, but it makes me a bit sad when an organization turns out to be “un-coachable.”  It doesn’t happen often, but I have had a few instances when organizations paid me to give them advice, to help guide them, and then they decided not to listen and learn. I have come to understand over the years that when this happens, I need to sever the relationship as early as possible, and not take any more of their precious money, most of which was usually given to them by donors. I have to recognize when they are just not ready for the next step.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
At the start of the pandemic my business did drop – several capital campaigns that were underway or about to start stalled or didn’t launch.  But after a few short weeks of mild panic and some readjustment, I found new projects with some long-term clients who needed extra support during the crisis.

 For example, one of my very first clients, a food bank in Portland, Oregon, was raising MORE money than they ever had and needed a lot of help navigating through their busiest fundraising year ever!  I was inspired to see how the community stepped up in unprecedented ways to give to this organization that was right on the front lines of the crisis, and it was also amazing to realize that with all our modern technology (bad internet in Sandwich aside…) I could be just as helpful to them from our little village as I could have been had I still been in Portland.

Griff & were also able to adjust our lives so that during COVID – and now moving forward – I don’t have to work a hard as I did!  So, I am taking more time for tennis, hiking, fiber arts, and spending time with friends.  

What are your goals and hopes for the future?  
My goal is to continue to be of service to the clients I have the privilege of supporting, and to balance that with plenty of time for all the richness that life in Sandwich has to offer – and to add more travel back into the mix!

What else can you tell us about yourself?  
I am an avid hiker and active with the Over the Hill Hikers.  I am also an addicted fiber artist - my new home studio holds my nine spinning wheels and multiple looms!  Since moving to Sandwich, I have also enjoyed getting more involved in a formal way with some volunteer work, including serving on the Broadband Advisory Committee.

Griff & I just recently moved into our new, permanent retirement home, a project that has been in the works for a few years (and a challenge during COVID).  We are now enjoying settling into our completely off-grid home on Elm Hill Road.

Cathy Crooker
503-577-5448
[email protected]

What is your name and the name of your business?
Drs Casey and Adrien Cloutier, Sandwich Animal Hospital.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
We moved here in 2017 from North Dakota, after purchasing Dr. Dolan's practice and former residence. We had been looking to move closer to family - Adrien is from Stark, NH and Casey is from southern CT - and we missed New England. When Adrien found Dr. Dolan's advertisement in the back of a veterinary journal, it felt like it could not have been a more perfect fit for us and our growing family, with its distance to our family and the ability to have a small farm on the property.

What got you started in this profession?
Both Adrien and I wanted to be veterinarians since we were children. We met while attending veterinary school at Tufts University. We both worked on the school's farm for several years and enjoyed working with both small and large animals. I worked solely as a cattle veterinarian, working in local sales barns and in the countryside of North Dakota, for nearly two years before switching to mixed practice. Adrien has worked in mixed practice since graduating veterinary school. 

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
We are a mixed animal veterinary clinic. We offer both in-clinic, farm and house call services, when possible, and see everything from guinea pigs to pigs on a farm! In addition to Adrien's surgical skills, we are able to have a board-certified surgeon in-house for some more complicated procedures and we recently have begun working with a mobile veterinarian who provides ultrasound services in-house, with advance appointment.

How did your business get started?
We were lucky enough to buy an existing practice from Dr. Dolan, who built the business over several decades of hard work and compassion. In addition to the excellent preventative and general practice care that Dr. Dolan provided, we have been slowly adding more services to the clinic - like basic large and small animal ultrasound capability and in-house labwork. We hope to continue to build our skillset and offer more to the community in the next few years, such as acupuncture and laser therapy.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job? 
Being able to care for the animals, the furry family members, of our community is the most satisfying - we love seeing happy, healthy, thriving patients around town. 

What is the hardest?
Medicine and health care is not one-size-fits all, both from a lifestyle and a financial perspective. We work hard to make treatment plans that adhere as closely to the established standard of care while taking into consideration the family's budget and expectations, as well as the animal's quality of life. This is hardly ever easy but it is one of the most important parts of our profession.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
Like many businesses, we have been operating as a curbside service since March 2020. While our clientele all took this in stride, and adapted to curbside care as we did, we miss the quality time we spend with owners inside the exam room. We have always felt strongly about working as a team with owners to guide care and we enjoy getting to know owners as more than just a person attached to a pet - this has been much harder to do with social distancing and curbside care. 

We have also halted our house call services for the time being. We were proud to offer house call service for our elderly/home bound clientele, as well as for our elderly patients. It was a much appreciated service and we know it is missed.

We are lucky to have remained open (and busy!) this past year but, as our children have remained home since March 2020, have been limited to one doctor in the clinic at a time. By the fall, we should be back to operating with two veterinarians in the clinic at least three days a week.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
We hope to continue providing high quality personalized care for the animals in Sandwich and surrounding areas. 

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
People can't help but notice, whether they are driving by or visiting the clinic with a pet, that in addition to the clinic, we manage a small farm. We raise Angora goats and a handful of Shetland sheep, in addition to innumerable chickens, geese, pigs, Maremma sheepdogs, and the occasional bottle calf. 

Our kids love helping out with chores and are often running around the place, making mud pies or building fairy houses. We feel truly lucky to be able to both work and raise our family here in Sandwich and are grateful to this community for their support.

Sandwich Animal Hospital
477 Whiteface Road
North Sandwich, NH 03259
O: 603-284-6206
F: 603-284-6110

What got you started in this profession? 
I have been immersed in artmaking since childhood and started teaching at the University level after graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have always been interested in teaching all levels of art. In graduate school I got my start teaching children’s art classes. Throughout my career as a professor I continued to produce my own sculpture works and eventually moved into painting. 

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
I started my business Field Fine Art in 2015. It is a professional teaching studio and practicing art space. The business functions on three levels. First, as a teaching studio. I want to provide a space for people to explore their creativity and learn new skills. Second, as a showroom/gallery space where I meet with clients to show them the range of my sculpture or painting works—models of completed commissions and works in process. 

And third, it is where I do my work. When not teaching or meeting with clients, I am a full-time practicing artist, painting and creating sculpture. My work is represented by Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Sandwich.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
Teaching people and guiding them to see the possibility of integrating creativity with their lives is the most thrilling and satisfying aspect of the job. Having students return year after year and sharing in their enjoyment of working in the studio space and sharing ideas with others is most gratifying. Students range in age from 4 to 93 and every age brings a new and different perspective to the art process. 

Working on commissions is equally fulfilling. Commissions are a collaboration of minds. A client brings a vision or idea of what they want. Seeing the joy they get when I can visually bring life to their concepts, feelings and thoughts making a tangible piece of art for them to enjoy. I work on sculpture commissions for both private homes and public spaces. I have over a dozen public sculptures located in the Midwest and East Coast at universities, churches, public buildings, and parks. 

This loon sculpture was designed for a private client for their summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee. The client wanted a sculpture of a loon. We talked for several hours in my studio where I showed him other sculptures of birds that I had created, we discussed material options, scale and cost estimates. During the meeting I drew some ideas out and discussed the idea of using the wind to make the sculpture turn. The next step was to make a life size scale model of the loon. I took the model to the client's lakeside property and made a video with my phone which I sent to the client who lives in Washington state. 

The final drawings were done with paper and pencil, then photographed and worked on in Adobe illustrator, turning the drawings into a vector format which then go to the fabricator. Once the pieces are laser cut I work in the shop with the fabricator on shaping and bending the pieces until it is finished. This part of the process is also a collaboration of several people, that's what makes it so gratifying. 

My paintings, and small bronze and stainless sculptures, are in over a hundred private collections in the USA, Australia, and China. My most recent commission will be installed in Betsy’s Park in Holderness, NH. Another bonus of working on commissions is that I get to collaborate and work with my husband Leo Dwyer who is a trained architect and is an invaluable part of my creative process. 

The three paintings below were created for an exhibition titled Sandwiched in Seasons, exhibited last summer at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Sandwich. The inspiration for each of these paintings were from daily walks I take in our town and an exploration of the seasons. I always have my camera on my walks and there is an endless source of imagery in our own backyards.The scale of my paintings range from small intimate landscapes to large 3ft. x 6ft.  canvases. 

I work in watercolors and primarily oils. I also paint with oils and gold leaf on my laser cut stainless steel works. I really enjoy combining materials and seeing how the different textures play off each other to evoke a unique surface. During the quiet of Covid I had time to experiment and began working on a series of large weathervanes combining landscapes and animal images. These new sculptural creations serve both form and function, a whole new twist for my business to explore.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business/organization? 
I enjoy working with others to enrich our community especially in the area of the visual arts and education. I serve on the board of the Yeomans’ Fund for the Arts and The Sandwich Home Industries. Both organizations strive to bring creative educational opportunities to our community. I am a hiker, avid gardener, and enjoy being outdoors as much as possible. 

Visit my professional website at www.kathrynfield.com and my teaching website at www.fieldfineart.weebly.com.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
Performing. touching an audience enough to make them laugh, cry, discover something new about themselves, or  inspire them to make the most of the brief time we have. 

What is the hardest?
Satisfying my need to do the perfect show. Someday I will do that. I'm pretty hard on myself. I usually follow the bows with the feeling that I could have done better.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
I have not started Club Sandwich yet because of Covid. We open July 2, 2021

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
Stay healthy. Sing better.  Play guitar better. Write more songs. Create the perfect musical performance. Welcome people back to my show again.

What else can you tell us about yourself?
I like people who are open, honest, and outspoken.  That's New Hampshire at it's best. I also like people who choose happiness.   

Click to watch John give a tour of the new Club Sandwich.

Club Sandwich, 973-634-8149.
For tickets and information please visit johndavidson.com

What is your name and the name of your business?
My given name is Margaret Merritt, but usually go by Peggy. When I was a child in southwestern Ohio, my mother used my given name only when I was in trouble; i.e., “Margaret Merritt, you get in here right this minute!”

I started “Basket Street Papers” around the time my husband Ron Lawler and I bought our house on Basket Street and I began making paper there. My focus has now turned from papermaking to printmaking.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?  
I first visited Sandwich in the early 1970s during an afternoon drive to explore the region around the Holderness School where I was attending a scientific conference.  

My real connection with New Hampshire began with a 1986 vacation, when Ron and I were living in Norfolk, Massachusetts. We rented a Lake Ossipee cottage from Betsy Rouner who soon became a close friend. She introduced us to a number of Sandwich folks, including her brother Lee and his wife Rita. We bought a camp on Mt. Israel Road, near Booty Farm, in 1989. Summer weekends and vacations in that camp led to our buying the Basket Street House in 1996 and becoming year-round Sandwich residents in 2002. 

How did you get started in your profession? 
I began taking evening classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art in Michigan when I was research chemist at The Upjohn Company and eventually found my art niche in printmaking. I left active printmaking when I began teaching at Wellesley College in 1982.  In my last two years at Wellesley, I taught  “Chemistry and Art,” a lab-studio course for non-science students and included a section on etching.   Parts of that course were expanded and included in a lecture series on the “Chemistry of Library Materials” that I presented to staff of the Harvard University libraries in fall of 2003. 

The beautiful papers used in printmaking drew me into my first New England art-making experience in 1998 when I took a course in Japanese hand papermaking at the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. That experience led to my making paper outside on Basket Street during the summer and in the bathtub in winter. While still at Wellesley, I was juried for papermaking in the Sandwich Home Industries and began to show and sell some of my paper art there and elsewhere.  My work, under Basket Street Papers, included cards, pulp paintings, and dyed and painted papers and grew in scope after my retirement in 2002.

One of the my most interesting papermaking projects was creating a piece containing recycled U.S. currency in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Crane Museum of Papermaking in 2005. The Crane family has made the paper for all United States currency since 1879. Composed of shredded discarded U.S. currency and Asian fibers, my contribution  “Strong as the Dollar” highlights the inter-dependency of world currency and is now in the permanent collection of the Museum. 

I painted with wet colored pulp in addition to making paper in sheet and sculptural forms. Such pulp paintings served as the basis for a collaborative piece, with lithographer Anita Dillman, that now hangs in the cancer research center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Suzanne Lee of Lakes Gallery at Chi-Lin, then in Meredith, helped facilitate this commissioned piece. 

Even when making art papers, I longed for an etching press. Etching processes require a fairly expensive, heavy press in contrast to the simple equipment used in Asian-style papermaking.   Shortly after refreshing my printmaking skills in a 2005 course at Plymouth State, I bought that much desired press. As with each sheet of handmade paper, most of my prints are now made—pulled—individually by hand, using my press.

Although I continued both hand papermaking and printmaking work for over a decade, my principal focus gradually shifted to the latter. I recently gave away most of my papermaking equipment; some will be used to establish a papermaking studio at Smith College. 

The experimental and collaborative nature of modern printmaking resonates with the scientist in me. Printmakers constantly seek new ways to translate their imagined images into reality and willingly share their discoveries. One of my most rewarding printmaking adventures came from collaboration with two other New Hampshire artists, Anne Garland and Wendy Ketchum. Together we produced twenty unique prints containing a distinct layer from each of us, and led to an exhibition at the Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in 2016. 

Tell us more about your work. 
The natural world provides the inspiration for most of my designs, ranging from realistic impressions to abstract interpretations. I make each of my hand-pulled prints individually by transferring inked images from one or more flat plates to paper. I often overlay different images by sequential printing of multiple plates with different inks to produce a single print.

Most of my early Sandwich prints were made from traditional chemically etched copper plates to produce black and white etchings.  

I have embraced other techniques and color in more recent prints. “On the Edge,” was included in a 2017 exhibition focused on climate change at the Carrega Gallery. 

Using printing plates constructed from dried plant material, I made the 2019  “Running Pine” print.

Scissors served as a model for the multi-colored 2020 “Rambling.”

I mainly show and sell my hand-pulled prints through galleries, locally at the Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery in Sandwich, and Artworks in Chocorua. I also exhibit my work through the New Hampshire Art Association, the Monotype Guild of New England, and Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, Massachusetts.  My own processes use “environmentally green” processes, pioneered by Zea Mays. All my materials and resultant prints are of archival quality. 

How/why did your start your business? 
I use the name “Basket Street Papers” to describe all my work and provide a means for publicizing and sharing my artwork through organizations like the Sandwich Business Group. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
I love the technical details of printmaking as well as learning and experimenting with new techniques and materials. The rhythm and flow of printing by hand imparts a sense of timelessness and meditation to my daily work and, I hope, is reflected in my art. 

What is the hardest?
Beginning a new project.  I often start by exploring materials as well as constructing trial plates to get something that “feels” right enough to finish a print or a series of related ones. I make many false starts.  

How has this last Covid year affected your work?  
The Covid year has broadened the horizons of my art life with online workshops and weekly virtual lunches, through my membership in Zea Mays Printmaking. Although sorely missing the company of local folks, I have acquired new friends and artist colleagues from across the country, thanks to ZOOM and Zea Mays. I spent far more time in my studio than in a “normal” year and was able to experiment with many different techniques and subjects. My husband’s companionship transformed the Covid year on Basket Street into a productive retreat.

“Hampshire Hog” serves as an example of a 2020 print made using a sandpaper-covered plate. 

“Bits and Pieces” is one of my first attempts at collaging and printing on pieces of old prints. 

I devoted a good deal of the spring of 2021 on a series of woodcuts, like the one shown here. 

What are your hopes and goals for the future?
I hope that the experimentation that carried me through the Covid-year will continue to enliven my art life.  And I look forward to spending more time with the wonderful people of Sandwich.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your work as an artist?
The Sandwich community, including Sandwich Home Industries folks, helped my transition from chemist to artist.  I first exhibited my paper art at an Old Home Week Art Show, reborn now as Artisans on the Green.  Of the many people who have supported my efforts to “make art,” I would like to acknowledge a few of them: my husband Ron Lawler for his unflagging encouragement of my work; my late neighbor Bob Wright for his pithy advice; and Will Lehmann for his generosity in helping me frame my own art work. I especially thank Patricia Carega for her thoughtful critiques of my art, exhibiting it, and making her gallery a Lakes Region destination for all lovers and patrons of fine art.

Contact:
[email protected]
https://mvmerritt.com/home.html

What is your name and the name of your business?
My name is Molly Simmons and I own and teach yoga at 2 Basket Street Yoga in Sandwich. 

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
My husband Paul’s family has been here since 1961. Sandwich was one of the first places Paul brought me after we met. That was Fair Weekend of 2010. I remember riding along the Holderness Road heading to Paul’s mom house and marveling at all the beautiful fall leaves. I had never been to Sandwich, NH and didn’t know what to expect. It was lovely. I also met many of Paul’s oldest friends when we went to watch the parade in town. We watched from one of Paul’s friends house. Many of the people I met that day are now dear friends of mine and also a big part of the community at 2 Basket Street Yoga.

What got you started in this work?
I started practicing yoga 20 years ago at a studio in Cambridge, Mass. I fell in love with the practice of yoga. Not only did it make my body feel stronger, but it also brought so much peace and healing to my mind. As fate would have it I started to work at the studio where I took my first class. I  continued on to teach at many different yoga studios in Boston and surrounding suburbs.

Tell us about your business. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
The studio is in our barn and offers beautiful views of Mt. Israel and the Sandwich range. This magical healing space was once used as an artist’s studio by the former steward of the property. It seemed fitting to give the studio a renewed look and create 2 Basket Street Yoga.

My style of teaching is a Vinyasa Flow, which means you will move from pose to pose. I also offer modifications if something is too challenging or you’re nursing an injury. You can rest also when you need. These are all-level classes; novices and experts alike are encouraged to come.

How did your business get started?
When my husband and I bought the property at 2 Basket Street here in Sandwich we were so lucky because the beautiful barn had a studio and I knew that I wanted to create a healing space. The setting is so lovely with the views of Mt. Israel and the Sandwich Range. With fine work of Chris Read, a local contractor and friend, we tailored the studio to fit its current need.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
I love teaching yoga! It is one of my favorite things to do and it doesn’t feel like work. I tell my students all the time that being able to teach yoga and bring yoga into the lives of others is such a gift. I love the community aspect of creating a yoga studio and bringing people together from the community to learn the practice of yoga and all of yoga’s amazing benefits. It is not about being able to touch your toes, it is about being present in the moment, taking care of you physical body and mind though the practice of yoga. The benefits of a yoga practice happen on and off the mat. 

What is the hardest?
Marketing my business is sometimes challenging because of the time it takes and also needing to be creative to spread the word, that is why I am grateful to SBG offering this platform to share.

What happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
Luckily, I was able to keep my things going by offering my yoga classes on Zoom, which was fantastic. I also held some classes outside late summer/fall last year. I am really excited to be offering in-person classes again here at the studio. For now, I am asking all students who attend in person to be vaccinated. I am also still offering classes on Zoom.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
My goals and hopes for 2 Basket Street Yoga are to add more classes to the schedule, to continue to create a space for people in the community to come together and practice yoga, feel the healing benefits, and enjoy the beauty of the mountains.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
I am also a Reiki partitioner and own powersofhealing.com which I founded in 2007. I provide Reiki healing to clients in my Cambridge office. I also offer Reiki healing sessions here at 2 Basket Street Yoga. 

I am a twin. I love hiking, biking, skiing and running the trails & the roads with my sweet husband Paul and our dog Penny!

Molly Simmons
[email protected]
617-461-9512
2basketstreetyoga.com

Please enjoy this edition of Meet Our Members in which we learn about Derek and Linda Marshall, wonderful artists and craftspeople, who have lived and worked in Sandwich for decades. We are extremely fortunate to have so many fascinating and talented people in our midst.

What is your name and the name of your business?
Derek Marshall. Currently we operate as Derek Marshall Lighting, but before that, we operated as "The Sandwich Kiln " starting in 1971. Basically, it is the same business except we work more with glass than clay...but all comes under the rubric of ceramics.

What got you started in this profession?
 After graduating from college in 1965 Linda and I were married. We were then whisked off to Japan where I was to join my ship, the Destroyer Henry W. Tucker, DD875 to serve as her first lieutenant. This was the real start of the American involvement in Vietnam and the Tucker was utilized almost continually for shore bombardment with our 5" guns. 

Tucker also worked in carrier operations, running interference against possible enemy submarines and also as a decoy in the Gulf of Tonkin to lure the North Vietnamese to attack us to justify President Johnson’s Tonkin Resolution, the sole justification for our increasing presence in this war. That attack never happened.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
As it often happens, winding up in Sandwich was a random process. While we were in Japan, Linda's parents had left Connecticut for NH to open a gift shop,The Towle Hill House, in Meredith. 

When we returned from Japan in late winter of 1971, it was our intention to find a likely spot for setting up a pottery studio in Maine. A friend suggested that we look at Sandwich. A little investigation revealed that Sandwich was a delightful rural community with a long tradition of crafts and in fact was the birthplace of The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. The Sandwich Home Industries was one of several League shops selling New Hampshire art and crafts in the state.  

As it turned out, the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen is a unique organization, the envy of other crafts people around the country.  For several years I served as VP of the organization, headquartered in Concord.

How did your business get started?
We started out as potters which meant building a studio, a couple of kilns and all the associated gear necessary to what amounted to a small factory.  We made tableware, bowls of all sizes, plates, cups, and such like. It was a lot of work, going through about 8 tons of clay a year which I mixed in a repurposed mortar mixer.

One day we were approached by Norman Perry, a premier maker of table lamps for the architectural and interior design trade.  He asked if we would be interested in making some ceramic bases for his company to turn into table lamps. 

This we did for several years and became his bestselling line. We won the Roscoe award from the New York City Resources Council for one of our lamp’s designs. In 2019 we won Best of New Hampshire lighting from New Hampshire Magazine.

From this we found a lighting market which not only included table lamps, but also wall sconces. Eventually we incorporated elements of art glass into the sconces and then it was but a short jump to making wall sconces out of glass alone. 

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work?
We always enjoy selling our art to interesting people and places.  We have sold our lighting in many places, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, China, etc. 

In 1976 we were commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts to design and produce a dinner service for a special luncheon for the senate wives hosted by the President’s wife. A single serving of this is now in Sandwich Historical Society.

We do not necessarily know about the interesting people as so much of that kind of thing is handled by third party professional designers...but we have made and sold various of our lights to Richard Branson for his private islands in the Caribbean. I am also delighted when I see our lights in movies and television shows, most of which I have forgotten, but include Friends, Seinfeld, Fraser.  

In 1978 we returned to Japan for three shows of our ceramic art with our two children in Kyoto, Kurashiki and Takamatsu.

What is the hardest?
Minor problems occur dealing with customers who have a hard time making decisions. Our job is to help them see clearly what they want.A challenging part of our work is conceiving a new design, reducing it to a two-dimensional draft, then taking that to a three-dimensional pattern from which a series of negative and positive molds must be produced to finish the design. 

Usually there is a period of trial and error where all the previous steps may need to be tweaked, or worst case, abandoned to start all over again. Going from an idea to a finished product can take up to a year or longer.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year? 
Cautious people are slower to spend money and the people who produce the glass we love sometimes run out of product. These are typical problems that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
We are always coming up with new designs, finding interesting new glass and other related parts for our designs, usually metal, metal castings and even nuts and bolts with appealing finish and texture made from brass, bronze or stainless steel. 

Reaching our market is always a challenge when you live on a dirt road in the middle of New Hampshire.  We advertise in design journals such as New Hampshire Home and Interior Design and send out press releases to inform the world that we exist for their pleasure.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
We stock about 4-5 dozen styles, textures and colors of the best art glass made in the world. The glasses have all the intrinsic charm of gem stones all being made from the same elements.  We have access to thousands of different colors, mixes and textures and can fulfill customers’ requirements for custom work.

All this information and more is on our website.  Please come and browse: derekmarshall.com

How did you get to Sandwich?
Sandwich found me. My brother lived in Moultonborough in a wonderful house with a view of the Sandwich Range and the best cold-water pond ever. I fell in love with the White Mountains. I was at a juncture in my life and in search of a new adventure for the next phase. My four children were in college or beyond, and I wanted to get back into the gallery business that I had left behind in a move from Washington, DC to Miami.  

A barn in New Hampshire would allow me a life in the mountains and the challenge of selling contemporary art in New England. I left Miami and moved north to Center Sandwich.  I have never been disappointed that the barn on Maple Street screamed, “Buy me” during the summer of 1999.

[email protected]
603 284 7728
www.patricialaddcaregagallery.com 

What is your name and the name of your organization?
Jim Mykland of the Sandwich Historical Society.

How did you get to Sandwich, NH?
I first washed up on the ledges at the Pothole in July or August of 1956 when I was six months old. My parents were friends in New York with the Pohls and the Lungams who had bought houses in the Maple Ridge/Mount Israel Road area and we came up to visit them that summer. We came back summers after that, staying in the cabin that the Pohls had on Maple Ridge Road.

In the mid 1960’s my father retired and, the North Shore of Long Island having grown up from the farms and pine barrens of the immediate post war years when they moved there, my parents decided to move to Sandwich full time in 1966. 

We moved here the October I was in fifth grade, just after the Fair. I went from a baby boom Town with three elementary schools (and building a fourth) of three or four classes of each grade to Sandwich Central School with a combined fifth and sixth grade class of about 16 students.

What got you started working with SHS?
I have always loved our little Town between the lakes and the mountains. All the old houses and fascinating people I remember growing up. 

I first visited the Museum probably the summer after we moved here. The thing that grabbed my attention at 11 years old, naturally, was the dugout canoe. And the model of Center Sandwich made by the Quimby School boys in the 1930’s. I came back often over the years to wander around the house. I was fascinated by Sandwich history.

In the late 1980’s, in what I can only assume was an act of desperation, I was asked to serve as a Trustee of the Society. I’ve been here pretty much ever since serving as a Trustee and officer including four years as President. I came back in the 2010s as a Trustee and later Vice President. In December 2020 I was asked by the Trustees to serve as Interim Executive Director.

Tell us about your organization. What do you make, do, or offer as a service? 
The Sandwich Historical Society has, in its hundred plus years, made a concerted effort to collect and preserve historic artifacts and ephemera that directly relate to Sandwich. It became evident that a building would be needed to house this collection and in the 1920’s the Society bought the Elisha Marston house at 4 Maple Street in The Center. Over the succeeding years, the Society has added other buildings to our holdings as the need became evident. 

We currently own the former Quimby School barn, which was moved across Maple Street and now houses the Transportation Museum of Sandwich-related vehicles, both great and small, including the magnificent Sandwich Coach that used to transport mail and people from Center Harbor to Sandwich and West Ossipee. We also own the former Mount Israel Grange Hall on Maple Street, the former Heard family barn off Skinner Street in The Center, and the former Lower Corner Schoolhouse on Schoolhouse Road.

Throughout the year the Society sponsors programs, talks and walks that highlight features and people of our little hill town. One of the more popular programs is ‘Pictures from the Vault’, an hour or so sample of some of the thousands of images in our collections. Another day might find a walk in The Center or Lower Corner or The Notch highlighting architecture and people who have lived in the area in the past.

Perhaps of more lasting impact than artifacts and buildings, the Society, following its founding principle of collecting and sharing the history of Sandwich, has a unique canon of over a hundred years of written history of the Town in our annual Excursion Booklets. These Excursion Booklets cover the entire history of the Town from the very beginning until today. In the early years these were truly excursions to various neighborhoods in Town sharing the history of each area and collecting the precious memories of older residents before they slipped away. 

These booklets form an invaluable history of our small town between the lakes and the foothills of the White Mountains. In 1995 the Society published ‘Sandwich, New Hampshire 1763-1990’ a one volume history of the Town compiled by a number of talented writers who were also members of the Society.

How did SHS get started?
The Sandwich Historical Society was founded in 1917 by a group of full-time and seasonal residents who had grown concerned with the steady loss of artifacts leaving Town as old homesteads were sold and auctioned off as well as the loss of the unwritten Town history as older residents passed away and their stories and memories vanished with them. For a more detailed history of SHS, please visit: http://www.sandwichhistorical.org/society-history.html

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? 
Working with our great knowledgeable staff Jennifer Wright and Lauren Hansen and our Trustees and Officers. The Society is truly a group effort and being able to interact with these smart, hard working staff and volunteers is exciting and intellectually challenging and very educational to me.

What has happened to your organization in this last Covid year? 
The Society offers an annual exhibit at the Elisha Marston House Museum. Last year due to Covid our buildings were closed and the volunteers and staff created a virtual exhibit, both remote and online, with banners and QR codes around Town highlighting historic women of Sandwich and their stories. There was also a virtual Excursion during Old Home Week that provided a driving tour to all their houses. 

This year we are planning to be back in the Elisha Marston House Museum with the exhibit featuring portraits by Susan Lirakis of Sandwich mothers and their daughters taken over the last forty years.  There will also be an online exhibit again this year.

What are your goals and hopes for the future?
In the most immediate sense my goal is to get the Society back to its normal functioning level as quickly and as safely as possible. Our goal for this year is to have a summer exhibit and our annual excursion this August.

What else can you tell us about yourself and your organization?
The Society is still governed by a volunteer board of trustees with the assistance of a few paid staff members. It exists through the generosity of our members and donations from the public and the thoughtfulness of benefactors over the years. We are here to try and answer your questions about Sandwich and what went on here and what is happening here today. We offer our superb research library to writers and those doing genealogical research. For more information on when our buildings are open and to check a listing of upcoming programs and events visit our website at www.sandwichhistorical.org. Or you can contact us at [email protected].

Contact [email protected], through our Facebook page at https://facebook.com/hillpeoplevineyard
or by calling 603-986-9769 (Gunnar) or 603-491-2004 (Cathy).

What is your name and the name of your organization?
Jessie Chapman (Executive Director), Advice To The Players

How did you get to Sandwich, NH? 
ATTP's founder, Caroline Nesbitt, was a guest Director at Plymouth State University while I was a student there. Caroline invited me to perform in As You Like It in the summer of 2007 and I fell in love with the town and the company. I returned many times as a teaching artist, stage manager, and performer and finally moved to Sandwich in the fall of 2019.

What got you started in this job?
I earned my degree in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College in hopes that I would be able to return to Sandwich someday and help the company that had meant so much to me thrive. I have always loved teaching, and working with ATTP has allowed me to share my love of teaching and theatre with this truly unique community. 

Tell us about your organization.
Advice To The Players creates live theatre productions, Shakespeare based educational programs, and a myriad of other literary and performing arts opportunities for local teens, amateurs, and professional artists. We produce Shakespeare outdoors in the summer, working with area schools, performance venues and retirement communities—and even host an annual holiday production of Twelfth Night. We offer camps, workshops, and personalized mentorship opportunities for teens and early career theatre artists. 

How did your organization get started?
Caroline Nesbitt founded Advice To The Players in 1999 after training with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. ATTP originally produced performances with Community School students and professional actors at The Barnstormers Theater in Tamworth.   

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job? 
The best part of my job is seeing teens and young adults who have worked with ATTP grow up and discover how they'd like to engage with the world. There are many adults who now perform with the company or work as Teaching Artists who were students of mine in ATTP's camps or at Plymouth—and there are many others who do not continue in theatre but are making remarkable contributions to our world.  

What is the hardest?
The most difficult aspect of my job is the hard decisions I need to make when income for a program falls short, or unexpected expenses arise. There is a level of personal sacrifice involved with running a small nonprofit that can be challenging—thankfully the boundless joy involved outweighs this almost every time. 

What has happened to your organization in this last Covid year?
We saw tremendous support from the community, which allowed us to survive, despite losing over 80% or our anticipated earned revenue. We created theatre in new and innovative ways and were able to safely provide a full season. While we were able to provide lots of opportunities to local artists, many of the professional artists and emerging artists we hire rely on lodging in the community in order to come here, which was not possible last year because of Covid, so there were many artists who could not work with us due to these circumstances.

How do you see the future of this organization?
I see a future for ATTP where we have a much stronger and more involved connection to the area schools along with further developing many of our budding partnerships with other local institutions.   

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
Since we could not safely have an audience for our March production this year or tour in person to area schools--we created a unique filmed performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the beautiful Partridge Hill Farm Barn in Sandwich (a thousand thanks to the Hird family for generously offering their beautiful venue). This production will be available to all virtually from April 23-May 2 only. We hope you will enjoy this one of a kind offering featuring local talent and quite a bit of magic. Email [email protected] for the link!

Jessie Chapman
Executive Director
Advice To The Players
advicetotheplayers.org
603-284-7115

Please enjoy the second installment of SBG's Meet Our Members!

What is your name and the name of your business?
My name is Katie O’Connell, and I am the owner of Dragonfly Yoga Barn Studio & Retreat.

Katie O’Connell, E-RYT, AHP, HBM 
Dragonfly Yoga Barn
280 Bennett Street, North Sandwich, NH 03259
(603) 707-7529, [email protected]
​https://dragonflyyogabarn.com

Tell us about the Sandwich Home Industries.
The Sandwich Home Industries is a non-profit organization supporting local artists and the local economy by providing a welcoming gallery and educational programs for area residents and visitors to Center Sandwich.  The gallery sells a wide selection of fine hand-crafted items, and offers classes in arts and crafts. Our gallery stocks traditional and contemporary fine crafts made by juried members of the League of NH Craftsmen. Our Education Program is the cornerstone of our mission – we create a varied curriculum for both adults and children. 

How did the Sandwich Home Industries get started?
The Sandwich Home Industries (SHI) has a rich history of supporting the craft economy of Sandwich. The Industries began in 1926 when Mrs. J. Randolph Coolidge and a committee of local Sandwich women organized an exhibition of locally made rugs and brought an expert from Boston to give a talk on the practical aspects of making and marketing rugs. From this experience the committee decided to form a cooperative venture. The Sandwich Home Industries opened in the summer of 1926 selling locally made handicrafts to support the local economy. ​

It was such a success that, a few years later, Mrs. Coolidge went to the Governor of NH to request a state-wide arts and crafts organization. In 1931, NH Governor John Winant supported their idea, establishing and funding the NH Commission of Arts and Crafts. As a result, the League of NH Craftsmen was formed in 1932 with Mary Coolidge as their President.

​The League of NH Craftsmen has become one of the oldest and most recognized craft organizations in the country with seven galleries located throughout the state. For over 88 years, the nonprofit League has promoted fine craft, supported craftspeople, and educated and enriched New Hampshire’s communities.

What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your job? 
The manager job allows me to use skills I acquired in my career as a teacher. I find it most satisfying to collaborate with creative people, so setting up the gallery each season is quite fun. I am interested in Feng Shui and enjoy arranging the gallery so that it not only looks beautiful, but has the positive feel and flow of energy throughout. It is most satisfying to observe customers’ reactions when they visit the gallery. I also enjoy learning more about the many aspects of marketing and social media, which has been new to me!

What is the hardest?
The hardest part is schlepping inventory from League Headquarters! Many artists deliver their work to us (we take most work on consignment), but we will also pick up merchandise in Concord.

What has happened to your business in this last Covid year?
The beginning of the pandemic was nervewracking. We (the Board of Directors and myself) had no idea if it would be safe to open or if people would want to come out to shop. Ordinarily, we open mid-May, but we were in lockdown, so we waited to see what the State would decide. When we were able, we decided to open on a limited basis last year, which meant 3 days/week.  We laid off staff and reduced my hours. We applied for the government grants and were able to stay afloat, thankfully. 

I was surprised at the number of people who came by to shop last summer. They were happy and thankful that we were open. Of course, we practiced safety measures recommended by the State, and the season progressed smoothly. This season, we are planning on opening mid-May with our usual 7-day schedule. We are also planning our 2021 education program.

How do you see the future for this business?
The brick and mortar retail business is challenging these days since one can buy almost anything on the internet. SHI has even started selling some inventory through the League Galleries Webstore. However, I believe that seeing fine craft in person at our historic gallery and being able to touch it and pick it up as well as imagine it in your own space is critical. 

Our town, in the summer particularly, is a tourist destination. People enjoy stopping by and finding that special NH-made gift or item for their home. It is best to experience art with the senses and one can’t get that while online shopping. 

What else can you tell us about yourself and your business?
We have amazing talent and dedication on our Board of SHI Directors and are working on strategic planning for the future. We maintain the historic character of the building while making necessary repairs and updating displays. Collaboration with local businesses is also important to us. Last summer we held an Artists on the Porch series where we invited local crafters to sell their work. We are always looking for new ways to engage our community and would love to hear more ideas from Sandwich folks.
​
I am looking forward to Spring and starting our annual opening process. This year marks our 95th season and we are working to keep SHI going strong through its 100th Anniversary and beyond. 
​
Martha Nichols, Gallery Manager
League of NH Craftsmen Center Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery
PO Box 164, 32 Main Street
Center Sandwich, NH 03227
603-284-6831
Open mid-May to mid-October
Shop our gallery online!!