Diane Johnson writes: Lexi Townsend, owner of the Corner House Restaurant & Bar (284-6219), and Nick and Elaine Vazzana, owners of the Village Art Café & Country Store 284-7071), have been very supportive of our community during this pandemic.

They are helping people get fully prepared meals to go, groceries, and needed supplies like hand sanitizer and toilet paper.  Both businesses are ordering and providing for pick-up food which families can prepare at home. The Corner House has added a service where people can order and add items to the restaurant's bulk order and have food available for pick-up on Friday morning when the produce and meats arrive. Let's remember to support these businesses and their owners who are doing extra to provide for us.

We are very fortunate in our lovely little town to have very kind folks who are doing lots of things to make this time of uncertainty more bearable. In addition to take-out groceries and food, we have free baguettes, wellness phone calls, many makers of masks, the Sandwich Board, and lots of folks taking walks outside and waving at each other. It is a blessing to live in a beautiful place where we can be out in fresh air and able to keep a safe distance.

Find more information about Sandwich's response to the coronavirus here.

The Sandwich Business Group is once again sponsoring a house tour on August 17 to benefit the Sandwich Central School’s 6th grade class trip to Washington DC. Five great locations are on the tour this year. In the village visit:

36 Church Street – The David H. Hill House, a classic New England village house with attached shed and small barn built in 1854.

7 Maple Street – The Ezra Gould House, another classic New England village house built on Maple Street which was referred to by locals as Quaker Lane.

21 Main Street – the Masonic Lodge, known as the smallest lodge in the state.

While you’re in the village be sure to visit the Sandwich Historical Society and their Transportation Museum. Then venture up to 317 Wentworth Hill Road – the Brick Store built in 1845 which over the years housed a Post Office, law office, court room, newspaper, and jewelry making; and back by popular demand: 284 Wentworth Hill Road – Isaac Adams Homestead (formerly Chestnut Manor) and its collection of outbuildings.

You may start at any of the locations to purchase your ticket; $10 per person is the suggested donation. The tour runs from 10:00 – 3:00 and parking is available at 284 Wentworth Hill Road and at town hall for the village locations. Food and beverage are available at the Village Café. The Sandwich Home Industries features beautiful hand-crafted items, and the Samuel H. Wentworth Library is a treat with its barrel vaulted ceiling.

The Sandwich Business Group is a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 to facilitate affordable collaborative advertising and marketing projects for businesses located in Sandwich, New Hampshire. Some of our businesses cater to visitors, some to residents, and many to both. Promoting the economic and social vitality of our town is a benefit to everyone who cares about Sandwich. To learn more about SBG visit this page.

House Tour
The Sandwich Business Group presents a house tour of four historic Sandwich homes on Saturday, August 18, from 10 – 3. Learn about the history of the town as you walk through these wonderful homes, two in the village center and two on Wentworth Hill Road, both with amazing views of surrounding mountain ranges. All have undergone renovations by the current owners. Visitors can start at any of the 4 houses and pay and get a ticket. Their ticket will be hole-punched at each house.The suggested donation of $10 for all four homes will benefit the 2018-2019 Sandwich Central 6th grade class trip to Washington DC in April 2019.
 
29 Church Street: Historically called the E.J. Bryant house, physician Aaron Howe owned the home in 1850. William Ham, another resident, died as a result of wounds received during the civil war and was given the first military funeral in Sandwich.
 
15 Maple Street: The Heard Family home was built by Quaker Timothy Varney in 1948. James L. Marston, proprietor of a successful basket shop, owned the home for a time, before passing it to Arthur M. Heard in 1920. His heirs are the current owners.
 
252 Wentworth Hill Road: The Wentworth Homestead was built by Col. Joseph Wentworth in the grand style of a southern mansion. The views from the house are extraordinary.
 
284 Wentworth Hill Road: The Isaac Adams Homestead (formerly Chestnut Manor) is perhaps the best known house in Sandwich. Originally built in 1844, Isaac Adams added other houses to the original house, numerous outbuildings, and developed extensive gardens. Subsequent owners made other changes to the property, and the current owner is doing extensive renovations, bringing the buildings and property back to life.

Location participants: Surroundings, Carega Gallery, Marshall Lighting, Field Fine Art, Will Lehmann Framing, Tappan Chairs, Sandwich Home Industries, Historical Society and Transportation Museum, Willow Pond, Farmers’ Market, Elevens, and The Corner House Inn.
 
Helpers and exhibitors out front and behind the scenes: Don Brown, Cindy Oxton, Nancy Hansen, Taryn Flynn, Jessie Chapman, Sue Sabella, Susan Davies, Diane Johnson, Vicky Galkina and her crew, Lobin Frizzell, Dick Seery, Rich Benton, Casey Clothier (and her 2 little helpers!); and Sandwich Central School & Diane Booty for the popcorn popper.
 
Gift Basket: Oxton Landscaping, Peggy Merritt, Surroundings, Field Fine Art, Will Lehmann Framing, Corner House Inn, Wayside Farm, Dessert Table, NH Furniture, (I know I'm forgetting someone! but thank you everyone!)
 
A special thanks to the Sandwich Fire & Police Departments for bringing over the cool vehicles!

I hope I haven’t forgot anyone – if so my apologies! It couldn’t have happened without all of you. So send your comments and suggestions for the file for consideration in planning for another year.
 
Thanks again everyone! Wendy Shambaugh & the Committee (Cindy, Jessie, Nancy, Taryn)

By Adam Nudd-Homeyer

The Sandwich Business Group (SBG) has been awarded a kind and generous grant by the Quimby Fund and its Trustees for 2018. With their help, and with the help of WEDCO (the Wentworth Economic Development Corporation) which acted as the grant administrator, the SBG has been able to create a major print media advertising campaign focusing on the Group's community and tourism outreach website, DiscoverSandwich.com.

With over half a dozen large advertisements appearing in Yankee Magazine, New Hampshire Magazine and other regional publications from May to October,  SBG hopes that readers of these magazines will become visitors to the website, and through that portal discover the beauty, culture, and attractions that Sandwich has to offer, and themselves become visitors during our tourism season.

As a "spokesperson" for the group, and as a visitor whose travels could be documented as she herself might Discover Sandwich, the SBG advertising committee chose Mona Lisa -- someone known for having a secret that is
itself waiting to (finally) be discovered. Could these things be one and the same?

Suspicions were heightened when, no sooner than the committee began to ponder Mona as its representative, we read that the Mona Lisa was going to be going on tour this year, leaving the Louvre for the first time in decades...! Only time will bring the truth to light, but we would invite the reader to follow the Discover Sandwich Facebook feed as April turns to May and beyond, keeping a sharp eye out for Mona. Word is, she has several Sandwich destinations in mind!

The Sandwich Business Group wishes to extend its sincere thanks to the Quimby Fund for this support and opportunity—it is a tremendous one—and WEDCO for helping facilitate it. We hope that this campaign by its reach and appeal helps to harness that spirit of the Quimby Fund which has for nearly a century now served to encourage and support the economic vitality and uniqueness of our great town.

We further wish to thank the many businesses that have helped us bring this to life with the kind considerations, discounts and donations that they have provided us with: New Hampshire Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Salmon Press, Laconia Sun, Megaprint, Aubuchon Hardware, and Apart Creations. Additionally, we have received and continue to receive marvelous photo submissions of our beautiful town; Jude Davis, Allan DiBiase, Julie Deak, Janina Lamb, Doug Wyman and Judy Blomquist being central among those.

Finally, thanks to Janina Lamb for her technical expertise and artistic orchestration of DiscoverSandwich.com, and the incredibly creative and dedicated work performed by the advertising committee itself: Patsy Carega, Taryn Flynn, Jon Greenawalt, Martha Nichols, and Adam Nudd-Homeyer.