Fun Facts Module
 

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:

Thanks in advance for any other ideas.

Don

here a couple
 

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.

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:

Alton's ice runway
 

Don-

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

Houses on islands
 

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

A couple of suggestions
 

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:cool:

Another one
 

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

Jetskier:cool:

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

I loved that one when I saw it.

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."

Mail Boat
 

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

Many Fun Facts About The Laconia Airport....
 

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]

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. :cool:

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

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

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

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

Did You Know...
 

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.

Lake Winnipesaukee Mystery Stone
 

Here is a fun fact that I found

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

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.

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.

A few more...
 

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.

I "Think" this is true....
 

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. :emb:

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. :laugh:

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

Wolfe, Wentworth, and Sunken Canoes
 

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! :eek:

I ain't buyin' that "Beautiful Water" interpretation: that one was unheard of locally until recent years—and—the rapid rise in property taxes. :rolleye2:

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". :D

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? :confused:

Aps
 

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!:laugh: