Lights Out on the Lake!

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Originally Posted by ApS

We've lived in the same cottage since 1956.

About thirty years ago, new neighbors from Albuquerque, NM, built a new house on the empty lot next door. After three years it, and its noisy construction, finally got finished.

The two attorneys installed a burglar alarm that went off once or twice a week. On adjacent Tuftonboro Neck, a similar burglar alarm was doing the same thing.

I guess we could've gotten used to it, but after a few years, the false alarms stopped on their own.



I'm reminded of the recent complaint that trash is strewn down Beach Pond Road in Wolfeboro. She's lived there for decades and it's continually getting worse.

Drive down Beach Pond Road four miles, and you'll arrive at Wolfeboro's Town Recycling Center. (Or what we used to call the Wolfeboro Town Dump).

Couldn't she accept that Wolfeboro was going to "mature" as the years go by?

Isn't time for her to move away and let the new owners accept what has crept into that neighborhood over decades?

Realistically I only see 3 options, you can fight change, you can ignore or accept change, or you can move on if the change is too much for you to tolerate.

Compared to you, im a newbee, I've only been coming to Winnipesaukee since 1963, BUT I have endless family pictures of the family staying all over the lakes region since pre-war (the first one!) and one of the things they constantly did was change their preferred summer destination. My grandfather in particular (who came from Newfoundland) was looking for somewhere fun and lively, and after stays in various locations in the White Mountains, then Newfound Lake, Squam, etc, He discovered Winnipesaukee, and he never looked anywhere else again. In my years visiting the lake the ONLY constant has been change! Every year it gets busier, the homes grow larger, the lake is more commercial. What it has never been in my life time is a quiet, rustic, time stopping turn back the clock get away from it all place.

And like my grandfather I embrace it. My whole life I have wondered why we dont have 2 or 3 big chain resorts on Winnipesaukee, but then the realities of the seasonal aspects of Winnipesaukee probably make that not realistic.

As for the 3 options, ATB in fighting change, its unstoppable. My guess is most ignore or accept or embrace the constant and ongoing change. And all you have to do is look at the lake and the people selling out and going somewhere else to realize it is a reasonable option for some that just say I have had enough of this, its too much for me. Is there anything wrong in saying it was good for a while and now its time for something different??? Is it better to be dissatisfied and constantly fight against something you will not change (progress and more growth) and that is likely to continue. I seriously doubt there is anything you can meaningfully do to slow the Winnipesaukee development (and impacts such as "light pollution") especially when you have so many like me that truly enjoy seeing the lights and some of the other changes.

Now I dont care for all of the change, and I personally think maybe 1975 was as good as it ever got, but I realize its all 100% out of my control, so either I adapt to continue enjoying Winnipesaukee, or I need to go somewhere else.

Sorry thats just my perspective, you are certainly entitled to a different one, I just worry that anyone wanting to stop the clock and turn it back will ultimately be disappointed. I have not seen it done anywhere else.

And regardless if you are successful in getting residents to turn lights off, or they end up turning even more on over the coming years, I can assure you I will still enjoy Winnipesaukee however it ends up.

ATB