Corey Ford's "The Road to Tinkhamtown"

[Steve Hodges]

Originally Posted by Gary Laudermilch

For you historical research guys. You might be surprised to find old aerial photos are still available. I found 1938, 1955, and 1962 aerial photos of the area I hunt. Check with your state geospatial data repository. Most states have one these days to house, catalog, and diseminate GIS data.

On my photos it is amazing the change that took place during and following WWII. I am surmizing that the gas rationing and diminished male workforce led to many, many acres reverting to brushy habitat from mowed fields that existed in 1938.

That's a good point, but actually it was the farmers who had gas and rubber tires during the war. My grandfather, a dairy farmer here, never wanted for either during the war as farms were considered vital. And as far as farms being abandoned and reverting back to woods, again here in NH that had more to do with the poor soil and expansion of the textile industry than lack of manpower. Folks moved to the cities here to work in the textile and shoe mills along major waterways which initially provided power to the mills. Except along the Connecticut River, NH grows Granite, not much corn. And its amazing that after the rise of the textile industry here and the abandonment of the farms, the textile plants went the way of the farms in the late 1950's, early 1960's as high energy and labor costs forced them to move to the south. Mills were abandoned all over the state creating eyesores. Today, lots of those old abandoned mills have been rehabbed and are now trendy shopping malls and restaurants. And farming is making somewhat of a comeback on a small scale with farmers markets popping up in most towns in the summer. I guess what goes around comes around.