Stow

Will White stood in the middle of a gravel driveway with the natural wood buildings of the Summit Achievement school in the foreground and the mountains of the White Mountain National Forest in the background. "In a way we are trying to be - and want the students to be - like the town of Stow itself," he said. "There is no Internet, no iPods, no DVDs. The town is beautiful, and quiet, and a real friendly community."

Stow butts right up against New Hampshire, sharing a 10-mile border with the state, and extends no more than 4 miles distant from New Hampshire at its westernmost point. Town Clerk/Tax Collector Christine Carone said the town has about 300 residents, up from the 288 recorded in 2000.

White, who is clinical director and one of the founders of Summit Achievement, said that Stow is an ideal location for the school, which takes in troubled students ages 13 to 17 year-round for periods of six to 12 weeks. It combines an educational program, counseling and outdoor activities such as hiking, camping and canoeing. Sometimes, White said, the students will just hike out from the school to their wilderness experiences.

The school has about 40 employees, and now has about 25 students. The students come from all over the United States and from a few foreign countries, including Russia and Korea.

White said that when the school was formed nine years ago, it was the only school in the country that combined a nonconfrontational program of therapy, outdoor programs and education.

The school has fit in well in the community, in part, White says, because students work with local residents, do volunteer projects such as stacking wood and building a hockey rink, and keep a low profile.

"They are fitting in very well," said Steve Eastman, who owns the Chester Eastman Homestead in Chatham, N.H., which conducts living history programs. "They just keep a low profile. Living a mile down the road, you'd hardly know they were there. Except for traffic from the employees, there's not much impact."

"They're fine," said Alfred Wright, who with his wife, Linda, is owner of the only other business in town, the Stow Corner Store. "Every now and then they'll call up to say one of the kids has walked away, and I disconnect the pay phone so they can't call anyone."

STOW CORNER STORE

The Stow Corner Store amounts to the center of town. The Wrights have owned the store for 25 years, and had a store and deli in Pennsylvania previously.

"Some people come to hike the trails (in the White Mountain National Forest) just so they can stop here after," said Linda Wright. "We're especially known for Alfred's eclairs."

And the eclairs are wonderful - a flaky crust, filled to overflowing with a vanilla cream, and a rich chocolate icing. I also had a whoopie pie, which was very good, and my son-in-law, who stopped in with me, had a bear claw, which he said was excellent.

"We used to make all our pastries," said Linda, "but recently cut back."

They also sell a lot of ice cream, pizza, sandwiches, groceries, used books for people who are camping nearby, some clothing and just about anything a person actually needs - except gasoline, because the state a few years ago forced them to remove their tanks.

Although they actually live a mile down the road, in Chatham, the Wrights are kingpins of the community. Linda is warm, friendly and proud of her store, and Alfred is, well, opinionated and friendly.

A major complaint involves the state law passed last year requiring New Hampshire snowmobilers to pay a license fee to ride in Maine.

"That cost me a lot of business," Alfred said. "The people from New Hampshire just stopped coming."

TWO STATES, ONE COMMUNITY

The local community where people socialize and know each other consists of Stow and North Chatham, N.H.

"Obviously there are tax differences and we go to different towns," said Steve Eastman. "But you cannot drive a car from North Chatham to South Chatham without going into Maine, and you can't drive to anywhere else in New Hampshire from Chatham without going through Maine. There have always been close connections between Chatham and Stow.

"Many of the farms, including mine, have land in both Stow and Chatham," Eastman said.

Will White, at Summit Achievement, noted that students in Chatham go to school in Fryeburg and are part of Maine SAD 72. And White had trouble remembering which of the community projects the students worked on were in Stow and which were in Chatham, because he doesn't think about the community that way.

OUTDOOR RECREATION

Part of Stow is in the section of the White Mountain National Forest that juts into Maine. The trail head for the popular hikes up Speckled Mountain is in Stow, although the summit is in Stoneham.

The Cold River that enters Maine in Stow runs south toward the Saco River in Fryeburg. It is easy to wade and easily reachable from Route 113, the scenic road that crosses the state line between Maine and New Hampshire several times in its run through Stow.

"It's very good for fishing, with both brookies and browns," said Town Clerk Carone. "There's no salmon. For that you have to go to Kezar Lake."

About two miles of the shoreline of Kezar Lake is in Stow, and about 18 lakeside camps are located in Stow.

On the east side of Deer Hill, on federal property that is part of the White Mountain National Forest, is a public rockhounding site. You pay $3 and get a permit at the trail head leading to the site, and you can spend a day looking for amethyst, tourmaline and other rocks.

On the other side of Deer Hill is a private amethyst mine where in 1993 three part-time miners found what is believe to be the second largest amethyst ever found in the United States. That mine is still being worked, but it is off-limits to the public.

Originally published Sunday, July 17, 2005
Staff Writer Tom Atwell can be contacted at 791-6362 or at tatwell@pressherald.com

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