Corey Ford's "The Road to Tinkhamtown"

[Dean Romig]

The Northeast side of Lake St. Francis ain't too shabby for good grouse numbers. Take a canoe... two hunters and a dog fit a canoe just right. That will get you into the untrammeled places.

[todd allen]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

This twelve minute video has been put on YouTube so I guess it is public now.

It is narrated (read) by our friend Des Young of "Hunting With Hank" fame and produced by Laurie Morrow who has been given exclusive 'curatorship' by Dartmouth College, where Corey Ford was a professor, of all of Corey Ford's writings, letters, and private property.

"Cider", the blue belton English Setter in the video in reality is "Earl's Coronation" and is of the Earl Twombly line (from which came Ford's "Cider" and "Tober") and is the sire of the pup "Olga's Grace" that Kathy and I will be picking up in the first week of August. Coronation Kennels in Lowell Vt. is owned and operated by Legh and Jenn Higgins. Legh makes an appearance in the video, second from left, in the clip of the four hunting companions.

Please enjoy the Timkhmtown video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_PN6ZL0fMA

What a beautiful story! Thanks for posting.

[Bill Murphy]

My favorite Corey Ford story is "Seat of Justice" because it includes a Parker .410 in skeet configuration, field chokes, boats, bad wives, marksmanship, and "law and order". Would anyone be willing to particiapate in a U Tube video reenacting "Seat of Justice"?

[chris dawe]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

The Northeast side of Lake St. Francis ain't too shabby for good grouse numbers. Take a canoe... two hunters and a dog fit a canoe just right. That will get you into the untrammeled places.

When do it leave Dean ,is there room for a big Newfoundlander? were born quite good on the water you know

When we last spoke I thought you had sworn off getting another dog...I think you made a wise choice ,beautiful head on that pup I can't wait to hear reports of her Grouse adventures .

[Dean Romig]

Chris, I think that was back before I was able to convince Kathy that a true bird dog was absolutely necessary to my continued sanity or at least would bring me closer to such a state. It took some tactical persuasion by not only myself but a few well-meaning hunting friends.

[OH Osthaus]

Wondered about that myself

Looking forward to seeing this pup (and her litter mate another friend is getting) grow up. My wife loves the dogs but adding a third might get a bit crowded in the house.

[Dean Romig]

Rick, I have seen and held John's pup. She is a wonderfully active and competitive girl and may just turn out to be the best hunter of them all. She is eager and is "The Boss" of the litter. She's the one they call "Bandit" because of her black face mask with the white stripe up from her freckled snout to behind her ears where everything else is mostly white. She's a very striking looking pup. I'm certain John will be very happy with her.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Rick Losey

A third might get a bit crowded in the house.

Legh and Jenn have six adults and nine pups in the house and I don't hear any complaints from them. Their vacuum cleaner sure gets a workout though.

[Tony Ambrose]

This has always been one of my favorite Ford pieces.

Over the years I have always envisioned that Corey's "Tinkhamtown" came from the Tinkhamtown Brook area which is Southeast of the Dartmouth Skiway, the Dartmouth-owned ski resort just outside of Lyme. In this day and age, using tools like Google Earth, it's fun to zoom in on that area and think about what it would show if we had good aerial photos from "back in the day". It always made sense to me that Ford would have picked either an area close to Freedom or an area near Darmouth as the basis for this piece. Tinkhamtown Brook is less than 2.5 miles southeast of the small mountain that is Dartmouth Skiway.

[Dean Romig]

That theory makes perfect sense to me Tony. I know he hunted and fished those areas with his friends whom he based his "Lower Forty" characters on - Jim Hall, Perk Perkins, Judge Parker, Cousin Sid and the rest... they all had real names and were Corey's real friends and some were favorite students at Dartmouth.