GLOBAL
VILLAGE OF THE FUTURE AGAINST A PICTURE POSTCARD BACKDROP
To a traveler, Peterborough,
NH
and the Monadnocks appear to be a quiet region of quaint tourist
attractions,
trails, rivers, craft shops, scenic views and hideaways for artists,
nature
lovers and those in desperate need of tax breaks. (New Hampshire has no
income or sales taxes.) But the arts, discreet affluence and outdoor
sports
are just some of the threads that weave this amalgam of historic
village
and high tech community.
Many of its professional
ex-urbanites
telecommute or drive to nearby Nashua or Boston; a few bi-coastals work
with West Coast technology and publishing firms. Some enterprising
residents
start up their own consultancies, private schools or entrepreneurial
ventures.
Others join the area's flourishing technology, publishing and direct
mail
industries. Still others run the infrastructure of a traditional New
England
town, which so far has escaped tourist chic through its idiosyncratic
Yankee
spirit.
MONADNOCK'S HISTORY, CULTURE
&
ECONOMICS
The Monadnock Region is home
to
an unusually rich mix of cultural, business and publishing landmarks.
The
following are just a few:
- the MacDowell Colony
where
the likes
of Leonard Bernstein, Terry McMillan (How Stella Got Her Groove
Back ),
Thornton
Wilder (Our Town) and many other writers, artists and musicians
have retreated for 75 years to create their masterpieces
- Toadstool Bookstore, the
largest store in downtown Peterborough and mainstay for book-signings
and author sightings because of the area's many writers; complete with
audio, used book and tea-room annexes
- Birthplace of Byte magazine
and dozens of other technology publications fathered by publishing
entrepreneur
Wayne Green and those he mentored
- the Monadnock Summer
Lyceum, century-old
lecture series featuring John Kenneth Galbraith, Mary Catherine Bateson
and various Washington political notables
- birthplace of
ActivMedia
Robotics/MobileRobots.com and iRobot, the world
leaders in intelligent mobile robotics design and manufacture;
MobileRobots.com makes security and office robots, iRobot makes the
popular Roomba vacuuming robots.
- Yankee magazine, voice
of
New England's
history, folklore and crafts
- EDS and many smaller
software consultancies
serving Fidelity Investments, Sun Microsystems, Sanders-Lockheed,
Digital
and other Boston / Nashua area businesses
- Kennedy Information
Center, the international management consulting firm for management
consulting and HR professionals.
- factories that supply
industry and
businesses across the US and abroad, including New Hampshire Ball
Bearing,
Filtrene, Millipore, Johnson Abrasives, Markem, NEBS, Schleicher &
Schuel, and the Millard Group
- more than a dozen
bestselling authors,
including P.J. O'Rourke (Peace Kills, America's Fun New Imperialism)
Elizabeth Marshall
Thomas (The Hidden Life of Dogs), William P. Kennedy (O'Reilly's
HTML: The Definitive Guide) and award-winning illustrators such as
Tomie di Paola and Erick Ingraham
- the Peterborough
Players,
offspring
of the Mariarden summer theatre where Paul Robeson first starred in Emperor Jones and where
Bettie
Davis acted as a teen
- Eastern Mountain Sports
corporate headquarters
and large outlet for this international purveyor of outdoor clothing
and equipment, plus a small Orvis outlet downtown
- Atlas Advanced
Pyrotechnics, supplier
of fireworks displays to the White House and Disneyland
- Mount Monadnock,
second-most climbed
peak in the world
- bike path along portions
of the Contoocook River
- many wonderful
restaurants from the sophisticated cuisine of Acqua Bistro to the
congenial pub atmosphere of Harlow's to the sidewalk cafe sunlight of
12 Pine and R.A. Gatto's.