Fun Facts Module

[webmaster]

I've installed a new module that shows random Fun Facts about the Lakes Region. So far it only appears on the homepage and ice-out page but I'll be adding it to other pages soon.

Right now there are only 24 Fun Facts in the database and I'd like to have at least 50. If you know a fact or piece of information on Lakes Region history, recreation, geography, celebrities or almost anything else that would be interesting to site visitors please post it here.

Here are a few examples I thought of:

The 1991 movie "What About Bob" with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss was set on Lake Winnipesaukee but was actually filmed at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

Lake Winnipesaukee witnessed the first intercollegiate sporting event in the United States, as Harvard defeated Yale by two lengths in the first Harvard-Yale Regatta on August 3, 1852 at Center Harbor.

The 2006 comedy "Click" has a flashback depicting Adam Sandler as a kid playing on a beach on Lake Winnipesaukee.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy vacationed on Lake Winnipesaukee in August 2007 at the home of former Microsoft Corporation executive Mike Appe in Wolfeboro.

Thanks in advance for any other ideas.

Don

[TomC]

Like your "what about bob" example, parts of "on golden pond" which was set on squam lake were filmed on winnipesaukee.

And, another fact I always found interesting: the northern border of massachusetts once extended to the channel to paugus bay (lake) - there is a marker describing this at the weirs beach.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by TomC

Like your "what about bob" example, parts of "on golden pond" which was set on squam lake were filmed on winnipesaukee.

Thanks Tom but I already included that one.

It looks like I'm not getting much help with this. Here are all the Fun Facts that are now appearing:

In 1982 the 205' M/V Mount Washington Cruise Ship was cut in half and a 25' section was added converting her into the 230' M/S Mount Washington that cruises the big lake today.

There are 273 lakes and ponds in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The largest is Lake Winnipesaukee.

The original steam ship Mount Washington was destroyed by fire at Weirs Beach in 1939. The fire also consumed the Weirs Cafe, Railroad Station, and at least one seaplane.

In 1913 Industrialist Thomas Plant began construction on "Castle in the Clouds", a magnificent mansion 750' above Lake Winnipesaukee. He chose the lake after searching North America and Europe for the perfect location.

The 1981 film "On Golden Pond" was set and filmed mostly on Squam Lake but several scenes were also filmed on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Wolfeboro is known as the "Oldest Summer Resort in America" because Governor John Wentworth was the first to built a summer home there in 1771.

Lake Winnipesaukee was first "discovered" in 1652 by an expedition from the Massachusetts Bay Colony while searching for the headwaters of the Merrimack River. Native Americans had already been living there for 10,000 years.

There are three islands named "Loon" on Lake Winnipesaukee. One in Moultonboro, one in Tuftonboro, and one in Meredith.

Mile Island, Three Mile Island, Five Mile Island and Six Mile Island describe their distances from Center Harbor.

President Theodore Roosevelt drew a crowd of 20,000-40,000 when he visited the Weirs on August 28, 1902 to deliver a speech at the NH Veterans Association.

The deepest point in Lake Winnipesaukee is 213' about 1 mile southeast of Welch Island in the Broads.

In the Three Stooges 1940 short "No Census, No Feeling" Curly answers a query about his birthplace with "Lake Winnipesaukee." When Moe asks him to spell it, he switches course, and says "Make that Lake Erie".

In 1982, composer Alan Hovhaness, who spent much of his childhood in New Hampshire, composed Lake Winnipesaukee, Op. 363, a sextet for flute, oboe, cello, two percussion, and piano.

The 2006 comedy "Click" has a flashback depicting Adam Sandler as a kid playing on a beach on Lake Winnipesaukee.

A 2008 episode of Law & Order features a defendant remembering trips to a cottage at Lake Winnipesaukee.

Thornton Wilder's 1938 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Our Town, refers to Lake Winnipesaukee at the beginning of Act III.

Lake Winnipesaukee witnessed the first intercollegiate sporting event in the United States, as Harvard defeated Yale by two lengths in the first Harvard-Yale Regatta on August 3, 1852 at Center Harbor.

Although 365 and 274 are traditionally listed as the number of islands on Lake Winnipesaukee, current counts show the number close to 253.

"Winnipesaukee" has been said to mean either "Beautiful Water of the High Place" or "Smile of the Great Spirit".

[rrr]

Don-

What about the ice airport(?) in Alton. Isn't it the only one that's FAA approved?

[Mee-n-Mac]

Did "we" ever get a final count on the number of island houses ? That might be apropro for the FFM.

[jetskier]

Originally Posted by webmaster

Thanks Tom but I already included that one.

It looks like I'm not getting much help with this. Here are all the Fun Facts that are now appearing:

I have a couple of suggestions:

1. Dog Sled Finals - The annual location of the international dog sled championship
2. Celebrity houses - I believe that there are quite a number including Adam Sandler etc...

Jetskier

[jetskier]

NASWA - stands for North American Spring Water, I believe that they used to bottle lake water and sell it in Boston.

Jetskier

[hazelnut]

Originally Posted by webmaster

In the Three Stooges 1940 short "No Census, No Feeling" Curly answers a query about his birthplace with "Lake Winnipesaukee." When Moe asks him to spell it, he switches course, and says "Make that Lake Erie".

Correction Mr. Webmaster sir Curly replies to Moe when asked to spell Winnipesaukee
"W-O-O-, WOOF! Make that lake Erie"

I loved that one when I saw it.

[murph]

this might have been said but in an american express commercial several celebrities are talking and a guy walks by and suggests "keepin lake winnipesaukee clean."

[Sunset Bob]

How about the Sophie C. mail boat is the only floating post office?

[trfour]

The original Laconia Airport property was purchased in 1934. The airport closed in 1941, after the new airport opened in Gilford

More can be found in our Historical Photograph section, PhotoPost. Info From The Weirs Times.

Laconia Airport; http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...php?photo=4154[/i]

[ApS]

No nails were used to build the mansion at Castle in the Clouds. It was built entirely of five-sided stones—representing the five great international powers of the time.

Winnipesauki is said to mean, "Smile of the Great Spirit".

There are live mountain lions in the Science Center in Holderness where "On Golden Pond" was filmed.

Before WWII, my Dad commuted from Melvin Village to Manchester to manage the Manchester Airport.

Okay, I guess you won't want that last one.

[bilproject]

That the L.L. Bean Spring 2009 catalogue was photographed at and in the vicinity of the Bear Island Mail Dock in the summer of 2008. There are photos on the dock, on the wall at the beach behind the dock, in the yard of the first house south of the dock and on the porch of the white house on the point north of the dock. There is also a pic taken on a boat floating south of the dock looking north at the Brown boat house south of the mail dock.
This is the catalogue that just was mailed in the last month in case you are now tearing apart the house. The other 1/2 of the pics are taken ocean side.

[riverat]

Here is a fun fact that I found

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/top..._mystery_stone

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by Sunset Bob

How about the Sophie C. mail boat is the only floating post office?

Are you sure about that? Because there was another floating post office that operated out of Detroit to deliver mail to passing freighters, I thought it was still in operation.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by Acres per Second

No nails were used to build the mansion at Castle in the Clouds. It was built entirely of five-sided stones—representing the five great international powers of the time.

I also heard that all the stones were 5 sided and then I saw this wall while I was there. It seems the stone mason who made it couldn't count.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone. There are some good ones here.

[angela4design]

New Hampshire covers only 9,304 square miles (168 miles from north to south and 90 miles at it's widest)

The highest wind speed recorded at ground level was on April 12, 1934 at Mt. Washington. The winds were three times as fast as those in most hurricanes.

The first potato grown in the United States was planted at Londonderry Common Field (now Derry) in 1719.

The first recorded visit to New Hampshire took place in 1603, when an English sea captain, Martin Pring, explored the shoreline and a small part of the interior.

President Lincoln established the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1863, inspired by letters from Sarah Josepha Hale of Newport.

The First Transatlantic Cable in the Nation stretched 3,100 nautical miles from Balinskelligs Bay, Ireland, to Straw's Point, Rye Beach, NH, completed in 1874

Earl Tupper (1907 - 1983) of Berlin, NH invented “tupperware” while working at a DuPont chemical factory. He founded the Tupperware Plastics Company in 1938.

Alan B. Shepard Jr. (1923 - 1998), born in East Derry, NH became the first American in space when he orbited the earth in the rocket Freedom 7 in May 1961.

[SteveA]

VP Al Gore landed in the largest plane to ever land at Laconia. I think it was during the run up to the 1996 (2nd Term) election. I was there to see the plane land and was told at the time in was the largest plane ever at Laconia.

The crowd was large. Many people I spoke with while we waited for the arrival made the comment they where there to see the plane land.. Not Al.

I believe it was a 737.. but don't hold me to it. By the time they opened the door for Al to do the " Smile and wave." most people where on their way back to their cars.

I've searched every way I know to find a news story or images on-line with no luck.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by webmaster

"...Here are all the Fun Facts that are now appearing...:"Wolfeboro is known as the 'Oldest Summer Resort in America' because Governor John Wentworth was the first to built a summer home there in 1771."

1) Governor Wentworth's Wolfeboro summer home was seized by the State of New Hampshire and sold at auction when Governor Wentworth, a Tory, fled the country during the American Revolution.

2) Governor Wentworth built the first carriageways through central New Hampshire, some of which bear names that reflect the reason Governor Wentworth built those roadways. (Like College Road). With very few exceptions, modern secondary roads still follow those old carriageways.

3) General Wolfe, for whom Wolfeboro was named, never lived long enough to see "The American Colonies" evolve into the "United States of America".

4) Had General Wolfe survived that last battle for King George III—he would have been doing battle with American Patriots as a Redcoat General.

Some legacy that is for Wolfeboro!

"Winnipesaukee" has been said to mean either "Beautiful Water of the High Place" or "Smile of the Great Spirit".

I ain't buyin' that "Beautiful Water" interpretation: that one was unheard of locally until recent years—and—the rapid rise in property taxes.

If the Abenakis had named The Big Lake something, they would have named it something on the order of, "Decent fishin', but a bit of a hike", "Winter bad, Summer good", or "Gather lots of firewood".

Come to think of it, in the lakes region, ancient dugout canoes have been found intentionally weighed down with rocks to sink them. Perhaps it was to put them below ice level to find them after they'd returned from migrating to warmer latitudes?

[Pineedles]

2009—This family's 53rd year at the same Winnipesaukee lakefront location—which has a better view than Pineedle's!—and has been owned by the same-surnamed family!—and...and...

53 yearson the lake? 53 years? I've got a mole on my butt that's older than 53 years!