News & Views
Photo of Sandwich Village by Joe Janis
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. Sewing4u525@yahoo.com 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. Tell us about your business. Birch Corner is a coaching practice that helps clients identify, claim and amplify their purpose in life. We work with nonprofit leaders and boards, small business owners and individuals who are seeking greater fulfillment in life or have momentarily lost their direction and/or traction. Bob has worked with several organizations facilitating the creation of their strategic plans and conducting developmental sessions with senior leadership teams and boards. Regional examples include Geneva Point Center, Green Mountain Conservation Group, Project Adventure, Kimball Union Academy, the NH and VT chapters of The Nature Conservancy, Squam Lakes Conservation Society, Proctor Academy, and the Sandwich Children’s Center. In 2008 we helped launch the Touched By A Horse coaching certification program (www.touchedbyahorse.com) and have been principal coaches, facilitators and supervisors ever since. TBAH is a two year course for students who are studying and practicing to apply gestalt principles and methods in partnering with horses to engage clients. Peggy continues to mentor the coaches of these programs and makes several trips to Colorado each year for 3-5 day experiential workshops involving the students and the horses. Several graduates of the program continue to seek Peggy’s coaching. What happened to your business this last Covid year? Our work with individuals and some organizations continued virtually and was pretty much uninterrupted. Peggy and her colleagues at Touched By A Horse maintained weekly classes. In-person workshops were postponed and have subsequently resumed in the spring of this year. What got you started in this profession? Earlier personal and professional experiences shaped the building blocks for our current work. Each of us experienced the disciplines, successes and defeats of competitive athletics - Peggy as a nationally ranked ice dancer and Bob as a varsity athlete in college. Each of our professional lives has been characterized by a sense of vocation to support others in developing their potential and their emotional and spiritual health. Peggy spent a decade in human resources at Energizer’s world headquarters in St. Louis. In addition to raising our family while at Energizer, she earned her MSW degree at Washington University and acquired her LICSW license for both Missouri and New Hampshire. Her family therapy practice in Moultonborough and Wolfeboro anchored Birch Corner Associates, as we launched our coaching business. 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. Goals for the future?
As long as we are able, we plan to continue offering our services to those who benefit, while enjoying the blessings of life in this community. We also keep in mind our ties to the land, inspired by Robert Frost’s wisdom related to birches and aging. …So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be. It’s when I’m weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig’s having lashed across it open. I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over… One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. ~Robert Frost Peggy and Bob MacArthur Birch Corner Associates PO Box 269, Ctr. Sandwich 284-7783, bob@birchcorner.com birchcorner.com 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 got you started in this work? My grandparents were both craftsmen. My grandmother, Isadora Lear, did crewel embroidery and was a weaver. My grandfather, Lester A. Lear, was a silversmith and did enameling on copper. My uncle, Peter C. Lear, was a silversmith. I was surrounded by talented textile people as a child, and l was encouraged from a very young age to work with textiles. Grandad studied silversmithing in London, England with Robert Stone, a member of the London Silversmith’s Guild while helping to set up Stars and Stripes, the military news magazine. When he came to Sandwich he studied with Karl Drerup and learned enameling. He sold both his work in silver and enameling at the Sandwich Home Industries. Grammy's parents lived in Mt Vernon, NY when she was growing up. Her father, Louis Schmidt worked as a medical illustrator, and later as a photographer for illustrations for medical books at the Rockefeller Institute located in Rockefeller center. He also did illuminated manuscripts and produced skilled etchings. Isadora Studied embroidery at the Royal School of needlework when they were living in London. She and Lester were both juried members of the NH League of Arts and crafts. When spending winters in Mexico both Isadora and Lester studied painting at the Art Institute of San Miguel d’Allende. Isadora taught herself how to do embroidery left handed so she could teach her left handed granddaughter the skills. Neither of my parents were full-time craftsmen. My mother, Nancy Lear Metcalf, was a skilled tailor and an accomplished knitter. My father, Winslow Harris Metcalf ( known as Lance) was a skilled welder, blacksmith, carpenter and mechanic. He designed many labor saving devices for many different trades in 1950s Sandwich. Growing up at 12 Main Street gave me endless opportunities to hang out and learn (pester, question) the League craftsmen. (Twelve Main Street was first my grandparent's home when they moved to Sandwich in 1945. They sold the house to my parents, Nancy and Lance, and I lived there until I went to boarding school.) I was within walking distance of the League shop and my grandparent's and my Uncle Peter’s homes during my entire childhood. I took many classes at the League as a child. Classes I took: pottery, silversmithing, drawing and watercolor and whatever was offered. I took classes every year. When/how did you start your business? When I was about 10 years old I was a locally-juried maker of potholders and Christmas ornaments sold at the Sandwich Home Industries. I’ve never stopped making things. I attended an arts-oriented boarding school, Wykeham Rise in Washington, Connecticut, and the Nantucket School of Needlery on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. I went to junior college for a year and I went to nursing school at Hartford Hospital and worked as a nurse for three years. Living away from Sandwich from 1964 until 1971 made me so homesick I got a pass to Old Sturbridge Village to remind of home within driving distance. I ran a bookstore in Conway and worked for Jan Burnell cooking and baking food which was delivered to Sandwich town folk by her husband. Many people remember Jan who worked as a chef for Jane and Don at the Corner House. For many years starting in 1981 I sold my work at the Corner House Inn when it was owned by Jane and Don Brown. Representatives from Better Homes and Gardens saw my work at the Corner House and invited me to design and produce kits for a variety of needlework techniques. I worked as a Better Homes designer for four years while remaining in Sandwich. What is the most fun/satisfying aspect of your work? I love the creation of designs, the problem solving in pattern making and color choices. I am never bored. I found it challenging and rewarding to use a sewing machine. I pretty much invented what I was doing so nobody had seen it before. What is the hardest? Working at home as a craftsman was a challenge at a time when it was not considered to be work by many. The local banks didn’t recognize craft work as employment so it was almost impossible to get a bank loan. There were a lot of interruptions because I lived in the village and people expected hospitality whether it was a convenient time or not. I was a parent and was trying to keep four employees busy. It is different now. I have more flexibility. My child is an adult. I have no employees. I have earned credibility. How has this last Covid year affected your work? Other than not attending markets or fairs, not at all. My work keeps well and I found retail outlets elsewhere. What are your goals and hopes for the future? To keep up my standards, abilities and eyesight as long as possible. What else can you tell us about yourself and your life in Sandwich? There were many craftsmen who settled here in the fifties, sixties and seventies, and I remember some wonderful collaborations. Bob Wright and Lance Metcalf created metal sculptures from found objects. Peter Lear collaborated with a local potter to make lamps. The INN wallhanging was a collaboration between Elli Ford, artist, Don Brown, artist, Anne Perkins and Judi Dunlap quilters. Many craftsmen collaborated on a friendship quilt for Daphne Alcock Frentress who lived in Australia for a number of years, including, Louisa Miner, Nancy Metcalf, Anne Perkins, Ellie Dow, Helen Bryant, Bunny Michael, Louise Page, Robing Dustin, Bunty Walsh, Shirley Burns, Dot Harding. I want to thank Jane and Don Brown, Mark Duffield, Nick Floyd, Crosby and George Bonsall, Betsy Switzer, Denny Taylor, Ferne Tilton, Betsy Leiper, Bruce Montgomery, Catherine Hope, Nancy Papp at Mocha Rising and the League of Arts and Crafts for encouraging my craft business. I want to thank my employees, Judi Dunlap, Elli Ford, Betty Alcock, Priscilla Grant, and John Perkins. My Daughter Ellen Perkins collaborated on a lot of designs with me and was an employee for a long time.
My current work is available for purchase at Willow Pond Antiques & Goods, 22 Main Street, Center Sandwich. |
News & Views
News of what's happening in Sandwich and other items of interest. Meet Our Members
Please enjoy the Sandwich Business Group's 2021 project called Meet Our Members. Read interviews with fascinating people who live here and run businesses, organizations, and engage in other creative pursuits.
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