Party Lines

[secondcurve]

I'm not that old (at least I like to think that), but as a kid I remember visiting my friend's place (actually his parent's place) in the 1970s and accidently picking up the phone on the short ring, when his cabin's phone signal was the long ring, and upsetting the folks down the street. The Lakes Region has really come a long way in the past 30-years. It used to be that Tuftonboro was the country, now it seems like it is just another suburb of Boston. Do others remember the party lines?

[camp guy]

You are so right, SC, it doesn't seem THAT long ago; however, sadly, I think it really was. I can remember in Wolfeboro when you picked up the phone and told the Operator who you wanted and she connected you to them. Sometimes the Operator knew the party you wanted wasn't home and rang up where they were, ie, Dr. Jim was out of his office, but the Operator knew he was at the Diner, so she rang the Diner. Those were the days, so easy, so pleasant, so peaceful, so gone forever, sooooooo sad.

[gtxrider]

Just think how easy it would be to tap someones line.
Amazing isn't it what technology has brought. When we were young we had 1 phone, 1 TV (black and white), 1 car, NO BOAT and 3 kids sleeping in one room.....

We didn't have a party line but the aunt and uncle had one on the farm. I wondered why no body picked up the phone when it rang.

[Old Hubbard Rd]

We had a party line. We lived in New Hampton. We had a special ring tone. I though we were from the pages of Green Acres. We were hillbillies on the weekends. We would compare city things with the country kids. We often wondered what the NH kids did for Halloween. We could not imagine not hitting 100+ houses on Halloween. We had 2-3 neighbors up in NH. In NH it would be so dark at night that when riding our bicycles we would need to whistle so we would not run into one another. The good old days. It's so nice up here. I went home one day this week after spending the last 3 weeks up here and I felt like I was returning to the rat race. So much commotion.

[Irish mist]

Back in the day on the Weirs......you could leave off the 366 & just dial the last 4 numbers to reach your party if you were also calling from the Weirs.
________
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[nj2nh]

I clearly remember my family's party line. Every summer, we would have to call the operator and have her ring our line since we could never remember our ring. Even when it did ring, we hardly ever answered because we could never be sure it was ours.

Those were the days when we had no TV and had to get our drinking water from the well in the side yard. My brother and I would go out with the enamel bucket, open the door, shoo away the flies, spiders and occasional frog, dip the bucket in and come on back into the house. I swear that water was cold all day. I never tasted anything so good and never will again.

The funny thing is that was only about 30 years ago. Now we have regular phones, water from the tap, cable TV and a DVD player. I am not sure we are better off now.

Jersey Girl

[Island Life]

We had a party line at the lake, shared between three homes: us, my grandparents and some cousins. That was about 30 +/- years ago. Thank god we weren't getting telemarketer calls back then.

We would compare city things with the country kids. We often wondered what the NH kids did for Halloween. We could not imagine not hitting 100+ houses on Halloween. We had 2-3 neighbors up in NH.

OHR, I had to laugh. We live (at our year-round-home) in a small town on a sparcely populated street and when my kids were small I worried about them not having the same trick-or-treating experiences I had. If we walked our street - dangerous at night - we'd probably hit 4 or 5 homes before their legs gave out. Then we discovered the Halloween tradition in our town. All the kids in town trick-or-treat in one of the few highly-populated neighborhoods. The residents of those neighborhoods get hundreds, maybe over a thousand kids ringing their doorbell. I've heard they have to buy 50 or 60 bags of candy. Imagine that! :eek:

[WINDinmySOCKIES]

Funny, I was just out to dinner last night with friends and we talked about how much has changed so quickly......kids don't even TALK to each other on the phone they text each other! I grew up in S. NJ...the Halloween thing..my cousins had to come to my house because it was all farmland where they lived...not enough houses...now most of the farms are gone and its all houses! Friends and I were talking about TV and how each house only had one, famillies would watch shows together. After the news was over, the national anthem would play with a picture of the flag waving........and that was it, TV was off the air until the next morning! You had to get up to answer the phone (no cordless) and change the channel.

[sa meredith]

It's ironic...as I read this thread, with the general theme of "how it used to be", it brings to mind what my sister and I did last weekend.
Many years ago (mid 70's), my parents would bring us to the lake every year, and stay at the same place and do the same things year after year. Well, as time past, I probably went roughly 15/18 years with even visiting the area, until purchasing a seasonal home in Meredith in 2002. And since then, have wanted to go back to the same places that we visited in the 70s, and see what became of them. Finally, after 5 years, I actually made the drive last weekend...
The "Holiday Bungalos" is where we stayed (on Paugus Bay). I remember staying in many of the different yellow cabins, and spending entire days, on the little beach there, and being allowed to used a row boat with 10 to 20 yards of the dock. Well, the buildings are still there, and it is now condos...much has changed, and God, everything seemed so much smaller. As a small child, it seemed like a huge complex. Driving thru there was a very weird feeling.
Next stop...we would always go to a restaurant, called "The Windmill". All I could remember was that it was up on a hill, and you drove around back to park. After some time, I believe we found it...I think it is a floor covering or some type of home improvement store. Maybe someone knows if indeed I was at the right place.
The Bowling alley on the Weirs strip was always a family favorite, but I guess it is long gone. Oh well...I was surprised to see the mini golf under the pier is still there...
The Drive In was the last stop, and although I knew it was still fuctional, I wonder how the owner has resisted selling that land over the years. What type of income can that place possibly generate.
Anyway...time goes by, and things change.

[ghfromaltonbay]

Just think how easy it would be to tap someones line.
Amazing isn't it what technology has brought. When we were young we had 1 phone, 1 TV (black and white), 1 car, NO BOAT and 3 kids sleeping in one room.....

We didn't have a party line but the aunt and uncle had one on the farm. I wondered why no body picked up the phone when it rang.

GTX,

We did indeed have a party line when we first moved back in 1955. Although you and I were too young to be making calls, I remember the folks being upset since the twin teenagers in the house behind us shared our party line and hogged the phone. Back in those days they had a letter such as J or W after your number to indicate the exact party on the line. NJ Bell had both 2 and 4 party lines. They eventually died out due to attrition.

[tis]

I remember that, too, Camp Guy. We would visit my aunt and uncle and the operator would transfer the call there. My parents would always call to tell where we would be. And then rembember, when there was a fire, everyone called the operator to find out where the fire was ? There WAS NOT a lot of privacy, as people DID listen in on the line. Ossipee had dial before Wolfeboro.

[Skipper of the Sea Que]

Next stop...we would always go to a restaurant, called "The Windmill". All I could remember was that it was up on a hill, and you drove around back to park. After some time, I believe we found it...I think it is a floor covering or some type of home improvement store. Maybe someone knows if indeed I was at the right place.

The old Windmill Restaurant building has had several different businesses since the restaurant closed. I forget what's there now but the business sounds like what you have described. You probably were at the right place.

About a 1/4 mile from the Margate headed toward the Weirs, past the other motels, Oriental Gardens and that mall/condo place, the road (Route 3) curves left and almost forks with White Oaks Road. White Oaks goes up the hill while Route 3 follows Paugus Bay.

If that's where you were then you were at the old Windmill Restaurant. It was the first building on White Oaks Road as I recall.