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.
EDUCATIONAL
OPPORTUNITIES
