Plenty of attention goes to the state’s big museums such as the Currier Museum of Art, Canterbury Shaker Village and McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. But New Hampshire has a number of smaller, more focused museums that are perfect for a fun and intriguing day trip. Here are a few ideas:
New Hampshire Telephone Museum.
This unusual museum is a delight for those old enough to remember dial phones and party lines, as well as those young enough to be startled to learn people once existed without instant communication in their pocket at all times.
The museum started as the personal collection of Dick Violette, who spent a half-century with the Merrimack County and Hopkinton independent telephone companies, both now part of TDS. It has expanded since it opened 21 years ago and now has more than 1,000 items, including hands-on exhibits.
Displays range from the technical (how does sound move through electric wires, anyway?) to the historic (very early wall phones powered by wet batteries) to the cultural (“Let your fingers do the walking”) to the quirky (novelty telephones galore!) to the industrial (complete switchboards from long-gone “number, please” days). It also features information on acoustics and cabling and the social impact of telephones.
Open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Adults $9.
One Depot St., Warner. 603.456.2234
https://www.nhtelephonemuseum.org
Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum
Situated on 12.5-acres on Kearsarge Mountain Road in Warner, this museum was opened in 1991 to celebrate the past and present of the country’s original inhabitants. It features not just the discoveries of anthropology and archaeology but also modern creations by Native Americans. The mission is to connect people with 20,000 years of Native American cultural expression that continues to this day.
There are also outdoor areas, including the Medicine Woods Trail, which teaches some of the ways Natives historically used plants for food, medicine, dye, shelter and tools; the Betsy Janeway Arboretum; and an activity area with a spectacular view of the Mink Hills.
Open Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sunday from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Adults are $15.
America’s Stonehenge
This isn’t exactly a museum, and you need to take many of its claims with a very large grain of salt, but the place once known as Mystery Hill is still fun to visit.
The 100-acre site in Salem, near the Massachusetts border, contains some stone foundations, small caves and interesting rocks that the site says are an indication of prehistoric usage. A previous owner was sure they had been created by Irish monks who came over centuries before Columbus, although historians note that he moved rocks around to support his theory. Archaeologists are, to say the least, dubious.
Still, the stories are intriguing even if they’re unconvincing, such as the “sacrificial stone” with carved channels to drain off blood from animal sacrifices. It looks exactly like stones shaped by early settlers to extract lye from wood ash as part of making soap.
And this is a beautiful site in both summer and winter with wildlife walks, a pollinator garden and a bluebird sanctuary, as well as a gemstone kid for kids.
105 Haverhill Road, Salem. Open every day 9-5. Adults $19, kids, seniors, and veterans are less.
Aviation Museum of New Hampshire
This small but potent collection of artifacts from the Granite State’s surprisingly long aviation history sits in the quirky 1937 terminal for Manchester’s airport, an Art Deco building moved to the far side of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport main runway back in 2004.
Historic items include the 1929 Doodlebug, the first biplane built in New Hampshire; memories of Northeast Airlines with its “yellowbird” planes; a Norden bombsight, crucial World War II technology that was taught to airmen in Manchester during the fight against the Nazis; and the “send-help” message written in lipstick by a stewardess after a passenger jet crashed on Mt. Success in 1954.
It also has a huge library of aviation-related books as well as a top-notch flight simulator that visitors can try at certain times.
7 Navigator Road, Londonderry. $10 adults.
Wednesdays through Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
Call (603) 669-4820 ext. 404
The Fort at No. 4
The Fort at No 4 is an open-air, living-history museum dedicated to the rich heritage of the Upper Connecticut River Valley. The original fort was a stockade fortification protecting Plantation Number 4, the northernmost British settlement along the Connecticut River in the Province of New Hampshire until after the French and Indian War.
Now located in the town of Charleston, for almost 80 years, the Fort at No. 4 has shown life as it was during the Colonial Era, faithfully recreating the details of the structures that existed in 1746.
Tours and live performances are regularly scheduled events for families and history buffs.
Adults $15.
267 Springfield Road (Route 11), Charlestown.
