Day 26, May 11, Knocking Around Nashua (and Nashville)

Well, now you are wondering how could we be knocking around in Nashua and Nashville on the same day. That explanation will come later, I promise.

We spent the day in Nashua, New Hampshire. Originally, our plan was to visit with my Uncle Thomas Hooker, the youngest and last living sibling of my father. Unfortunately, Uncle Tommie (as I called him growing up) passed away in his sleep on May 5. We did not get to see him one more time, but we started the day by going to his house nevertheless. We had never seen his house or visited him here in New Hampshire; we had only seen him in Cincinnati, Atlanta, or Memphis -- that last being when Thomas came to visit Doug's father/Thomas' brother, a few days before Dad died eight years ago. Still, we thought it important to go to his house to pay our respects to his spirit. In visiting his house, we met one of his neighbors, who came to see why someone was walking around Uncle Thomas' house and backyard. We enjoyed talking to Marie Rose Miller and her grandson, Nick Gage. Ms. Miller had been Tom's neighbor for many years and shared some keen observations about him. ("Tom was determined to be as independent as possible and would not leave this house to seek medical care in a facility.")

Here are pictures of Uncle Thomas' house and his neighbors.

27 Cabot Drive (front view)

Back of house looking toward Ms. Miller's backyard

27 Cabot Dr. (front view selfie)

Patrise in backyard

Panorama of backyard

27 Cabot Drive (sideview)

Marie Rose Miller (neighbor), Nick Gage (neighbor's grandson), Patrise

After leaving Uncle Thomas' house, we went to visit the Nashua Historical Society, to learn more about this city he has lived in most of his adult life. After that we went to lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant and walked the downtown riverwalk. We were not allowed to take photos inside the historical society, so there are limited pictures from that stop. Many more follow from our lunch and walk around downtown. Here are all of them.

The site of the Nashua Manufacturing Mill. This was the textile mill owned by Daniel Abbott that put the town on the map.

The two of us in front of the Nashua River that runs through the center of town,

As part of our downtown river walk, we came pass a marker designating the historic Nashville District, Nashville-- New Hampshire, that is. At one time, there were two towns along the Nashua and Merrimack Rivers. On one side of the rivers was Nashua; on the other side was Nashville. Eventually, Nashville became consolidated with Nashua. This marker noted that this side of the river was once part of Nashville.

Here is a photo of the view of the river from the former Nashville side of town. After lunch and a brief downtown walk, we travelled back to the campground, with detours to Home Depot and a local grocery store. Here are pictures from the travel back to the Field and Stream RV Park.

Back at the camp, we worked on repairing one of the benches, whose facade was separating from the main seat. Then, we took showers and washed laundry. Here we are

returning to our RV after getting the clothes out of the dryers.

We settled down for the evening, until Doug went outside to take pictures of the moon and stars.

The moon hanging over the campsite, near the laundry room.

The moon peeks through the trees, overlooking the babbling brook near our campsite.

Can you spot the Big Dipper in this photo?

Can you spot the Big Dipper here?

Tomorrow we leave for our next campground neat Concord, New Hampshire. We will stop at a CVS to pick up some prescriptions we have already called in. Then we we settle in for two days, before heading on to Vermont.