Mount Washington Valley News Brought To You By Horsefeathers

For many years, the granite quarry at Redstone, New Hampshire – located at the south end of Conway’s Green Hills – was renowned for the quality and variety of its products. Though the site’s hammers and drills have long been silent, there are stories to be told about the people who worked there.

To learn more about this famous quarry, local residents and visitors alike are invited to attend a free public program on the evening of Friday, April 23. The program, offered by the North Conway Public Library, will feature local resident Steve Swenson.

Swenson’s ancestors were among those who operated the quarry, which saw activity from about 1883 into the 1940’s. The remarkable pink and green granite from Redstone made the quarry famous, and its stone was valued for building projects throughout the region and at least as distant as Washington, D.C. The community which supported the quarry was once a very busy one, including, in its hey-day in the 1920’s and 1930’s, such features as a store, school, church, railroad station, and boarding house.

Swenson will offer a slide presentation and will also have maps, memorabilia, and other materials from the quarry on display. The information and images shared by Swenson will allow program participants to envision the once thriving local community of Redstone.

The Redstone Quarry slide program will take place at 7:30 PM on Friday April 23 at the Mount Washington Observatory’s Weather Discovery Center, Main Street in North Conway Village (next to Citizens Bank). Parking is available next to and behind the building. The program is provided free and open to the public by the North Conway Public Library; donations are gratefully accepted. Special thanks are due to Steve Swenson for his generous contribution of time and expertise, and to the Mount Washington Observatory for its in-kind support.

As a special feature, Swenson will also feature a two-hour walking tour of the quarry site on Saturday, April 24, at 9:30 AM. Participants will be able to see what remains of the stone quarries, work buildings, and quarry machinery. Further details about the tour will be available at the Friday evening program.

For more information about the Redstone Quarry program and tour, please call the North Conway Library at (603) 356-2961.

It won’t be a night at the Academy Awards by any stretch of the imagination, but the Windows on Main Street at Horsefeathers will show a screening of Al and Jake Risch’s footage of the recent ski writers awards at Sun Valley Monday night, April 5, at 7 p.m.

Tom Eastman was named top newspaper feature writer and Marty Basch was named runnrup in the North American Snowsports Journalists Association’s annual Hirsch Writing Awards contest at the event.

Tom and Marty both write for the Conway Daily Sun of North Conway, among other publications, and Tom is also managing editor of the Sun’s Valley Fun monthly publication. He and his late brother Steve ran The Mountain Ear for 28 years before selling the paper to Salmon Press, after which Tom joined the staff of the Sun.

Marty is a two-time winner and this is his ninth honorable mention. Tom is a two-time defending runnerup.

Tom could not attend this year’s awards, so friends Al and Risch of Friends of Tuckerman Ravine went on his behalf and accepted the award — while also shooting some footage, too!

Tom writes Horsefeathers’ blog, so c’mon out for a beer and a post-Easter celebration to say congrats to Tom and Marty.

For more on the awards, go to tomeastman@Gmail.com.

And, speaking of Friends of Tuckerman, look for the return of the Tuckerman Inferno Pentthlon and Wildcat Wildfire April 17.

For further information, call 367-4417.

FRYEBURG — The 24th Tin Mountain First Season Auction and Benefit Dinner will be held on Saturday, March 27, at 5 p.m. at the Fryeburg Academy Ada Wadsworth Arena.

Widely recognized as the valley’s social event of the year, this year’s event will be filled with good company, music performed by the Mountain Aire Strings Quartet, a buffet New England style meal prepared by Chinook Cafe, spirits and cash bar thanks to the Oxford House Inn, a live auction with local celebrity George Cleveland and a silent auction with more than 400 fantastic items to bid on thanks to the many generous local business owners, craftspeople and artists. This year items include Gayle Baker’s Travel coach trip to Fenway Park where you can cheer the Red Sox versus Phillie game in June, an Eastern Mountain Sports Perception Prodigy kayak with paddle, life jacket and binoculars awaiting spring thaw, unique wilderness trips, dining opportunities, luxury get-a-ways, and fine art works and more.

To date sponsors include Lupine Inc, Green Thumb Farms, Northway Bank, Abbott’s Ice Cream, Chalmers Insurance Group, Eastern Mountain Sports,  Fryeburg Academy, Hill’s Florist and Nursery, M&M Assurance Group, Inc, Magic 104fm, Pinetree Power of Tamworth, Quisisana on Lake Kezar, 93.5 WMWV, WPKQ 103.7, The Mountain Ear. The Conway Daily Sun, The Carroll County Independent, and The Write Stuff. Read the rest of this entry »