Individual stories become part of our collective memory only when we share them with our neighbors. Some stories get lost over time; others get disconnected from the place where meaning resides. The purpose of this on-line North CountryStories project is to find the stories that bind us to our place -- past present and future -- and to give those stories an audience and a shared context.
Please use the space below to tell your story. It can be a personal anecdote or a story told to you by another. While we are particularly interested in stories about defining themes -- town origins, farming, logging, transportation, the mills, distinctive geographical locations, the arts, the summer community, your story can be about anything that you think helps to explain why this region is unique, or helps to explain why things are the way they are today. Your story might be set in the distant or in the very recent past, but it must take place in the North Country region of New Hampshire Writer’s Guidelines .
You may write very casually, in conversational style, or more formally. You may write up to 1000 words. We reserve the right to edit your story before posting it on our Web site. We may want to contact you for clarification or documentation.
WE ARE SEEKING original stories about the North Country that serve to explore place through narrative, as Scott Russell Sanders explains: "the more fully we belong to our place, the more likely that our place will survive without damage. We cannot create myths from scratch, but we can recover or fashion stories that will help us to see where we are, how others have lived here, how we ourselves should live."
The on-line anthology will eventually be collected into a published volume, organized into various sections. We are especially interested in nonfiction stories which emphasize the connections between people and local features of the landscape or local historical events (settlement, agriculture, logging and camp culture, streams and ponds, manufacturing, railroad, hiking, tourism, special places, development). Each essay or story should address one of these themes.
The editorial advisory committee for this project includes Rebecca Brown, Katherine Morgan, Howard Frank Mosher, and John Harris.
If you have further questions concerning these guidelines, call John Harris at
(603) 899-4010.
Franklin Pierce University
40 University Drive
Rindge, NH 03461