Buying new books can be exhilarating, and borrowing from the library is always great. However, there are a few used bookstores just outside of Concord that may have some rare titles not found anywhere else.
From tomes of New Hampshire history to travel guides and fantasy novels, these bookstores may have your next favorite read. And the best part is that you can visit them all in a single day trip to Henniker and Bradford!
Old Number Six Book Depot
Just past New England College and up a small hill lies Old Number Six Book Depot, its dark exterior contrasting with the bright and busy inside. Helen Morrison, who co-owns the bookstore with her husband, Ian, frequents a spot by the door.
The Morrisons were once teachers at New England College, with Helen specializing in child psychology and Ian in history. She called her husband a “runaway book nut” who has collected several hundred books over the years.
“We always tell people that they do breed on the shelf, but we just traveled widely and bought heavily with abandon for many, many years,” she said. “We bought a lot of stuff that you can’t quite get anymore, which is now sort of interesting.”
The pair opened the Henniker bookstore in 1976 and have amassed over 160,000 titles. Despite aching for shelf space, they always take a call to hear about donations or a unique find. At one point, the Morrisons had four bookshops total, with others located in Sunapee, Northwood and Quechee, Vermont. But as time wore on, they downsized to the single location in Henniker.
Helen said her favorite part about running the bookstore is the joy that comes from getting a new book and reading what’s inside.
“Every day there’s something different, something new, something surprising,” she said. “It’s constant learning.”
Henniker Book Farm
Lacey Brown wanted a change of pace from her career. The 45-year-old worked at a high-tech company in Concord for 22 years and was looking for something less stressful.
An Antrim resident, she had visited the Henniker Book Farm for years when Gary and Melinda McGrath owned it. The couple — the second owners of the shop, which opened in 1954 — ran the store for 15 years until Gary died in 2020.
Brown called Melinda, who moved to Maryland with her daughter after Gary’s passing, to ask if the bookstore was for sale.
“I’ve always loved reading. Even when I was a little kid, my mom would pick on me because I would pretend that I was a librarian, and I would have my brothers and sisters borrow books for me,” Brown recalled. “It was something that I’ve always really wanted to do.”
Brown has run the bookstore, which carries over 40,000 books across various genres, for three years. She also began featuring local products alongside the books, including soaps, candles, puzzles, hand-knit towels and seasonal items.
Since taking over the store, Brown started listing books online and has logged over 13,000 titles that anyone can find and buy remotely. It’s a process she originally wanted to complete before she opened the store, but plans changed and she rolled with it.
“After I was done working in Concord, I’d stop here on the way home, and I would clean,” Brown said. “I had people knocking on the door at 10 o’clock at night asking if we were open … it really drove me to be like, ‘I got to change my plan and let’s open.'”
Lakeside Bookshop
If you’re traveling north on Route 114 past the two other book stores, you’ll find Lakeside Bookshop in Bradford situated right across Lake Massasecum. Like Brown, current owners Mark and Catherine Meister inherited the spot in 2023 shortly after the previous owner, Carol Cullinan, passed away. Mark had been visiting the store since Cullinan opened the shop, then called Books by the Lake, in 1993.
The store already had over 100,000 books, but the Meisters brought their own 20,000-book collection with them as well. Most of those volumes still reside in two storage units and in the couple’s basement.
Mark, who works as a special education teacher full-time, has been collecting books since he was 15. At his school, colleagues always offer books for him to put in the store.
“I come home every day, and I have more books, so it’s just nice,” he said. “It’s fun to get to know people and learn a lot of history of New Hampshire that way.”
Along with children’s books, mystery novels, local history and political theory books, there is a section at the front of the store called “Meister Family Book Club.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, several family members gathered over Zoom to talk about the latest book they picked out.
“We were trying to find things that we could do and connect with people without being with them,” Catherine said. “We have had various people join off and on, but we have a good, solid group.”
Mark still seeks out new books at yard sales and flea markets. He said he likes having books all around him.
“I buy a lot of books that I want to read, and I put them on a shelf and hope nobody buys them until I’m able to get around to reading them first,” he said. “I’m not going to read them all, but I like to think that if I live long enough, I’ll have an opportunity to read all the ones I want to read.”