Support for this episode of Our Hometown was provided by Maybe you've been looking for a spot where you can hike, bike, ski, boat or just float.

A place where you can eat great food, see amazing performances and oh by the way, you want to go to school too.

This is a college town.

It has been since the 1860s.

As the school grew from a small teachers college to a full fledged university, so did the town.

In the spring, students famously float down the Pemigewasset It's tradition.

We're outside the town's historical society museum.

It was once a library, and before that, a courthouse, where in 1806, young Daniel Webster argued his first criminal case.

Hello, I'm Rebecca Rule.

Welcome to Our Hometown, Plymouth.

Home to Plymouth State University and the bridge between the Lakes region and the White Mountains.

We learned that when there's a need in this community, people step up and help.

And when there's a need halfway around the world.

Same thing we're working on, helping kids in Ukraine right now.

So, Alex, Ray and I are good friends, and we're both Rotarians here in Plymouth.

We saw the news, of the invasion of Ukraine.

And I'm looking at it from the point of view of as a history buff and thinking, we can't let this happen.

This this is this is not.

This is this is ridiculous.

We I mean, we've learned this lesson.

We we learned this lesson.

We got to do something about it.

But what can we do?

And Alex said, well, he says, I don't know, but we're going to have to be something big.

He said, I tell you what I'm going to put in, I'm going to put up $1 million as a match.

If we can raise another million dollars and we'll have something to work with.

And, I started thinking about it and I said, well, you know, we can since we are Rotarians, we can probably work through the Polish Rotarians and the Ukrainian Rotarians.

So Alex said, well, since we don't know what we're going to do, let's go there and find out.

So we called the district governor in, in Poland and said, we want to come and find out what you need, and we're going to be there in three days.

There was a furious amount of googling going on, I think, on their end.

Find out who are these people and what and could it possibly be true that these people are going to bring $2 million to and, and I guess they must have satisfied themselves because they said, you know, they put us up and we went to, we talked to Rotarians to find out what they were doing, what their aspirations were, where we could help them, and we came away with funding a few things.

And we also went into Ukraine to see.

We felt and we still feel that there's a lot of people who want to help, but they don't really know how.

So we wanted to make sure that people understood that we were actually not only going to collect the money, but we were going to go and supervise it too.

So we've been to, Poland and Ukraine nine times now in the last two years, when we connect with the people that are doing that job for us, they're they're they're purchasing, warehousing and shipping, all using volunteer labor, products directly to, to safe houses and orphanages in Ukraine.

And once we got that pretty settled, we discovered, oh my gosh, these kids are traumatized.

They are, you know, they lost their house, they lost their dads.

They lost their they lost their community, their their and so we started this program.

So we bring them into the mountains of, southern Poland, beautiful alpine place.

We put them up in, in a lodge Could be a ski lodge.

And we bring with them, counselors and medical people and psychologists who are prepared to, help these kids to cope with their trauma.

So now they know they're not alone.

They have they they know 30 other kids that all are in the same place, that they connect with each other and maintain those connections.

These are the kids that will rebuild that country.

New Hampshire is the second most forested state in the country.

Our neighbor, Maine is first.

But every so often our precious forests come under attack.

Recently, it's been the ash trees.

More than 50 years ago, another kind of tree, once common, was almost wiped out.

Almost.

But it's making a comeback with a little help from some friends.

Plymouth had hundreds of elms, including every elm on the town.

Common.

Every street had elms on them.

Old timers will remember it.

But by the 1960s, they were basically all gone.

The blight that was imported accidentally from Asia in the 1930s spread like wildfire and had pretty much decimated, estimated that 100 million elms died by the 1990s.

100 million elms but the elms were easily transplantable, so they were transplanted onto Main Street, and one of the problems?

They were planted so commonly that once disease hit, it was able to jump from tree to tree, even go through the roots.

So they were tall, beautiful shade trees that would offset the town hall and Plymouth and the church right here.

And the town common.

It was, it would be open underneath, but you would have shade above.

They were fast growing trees, basically all the, disease resistant, American elms came from like 3 or 4 huge surviving elms in different parts of New England.

And so all these plantings are clones from those 4 or 5 trees.

It's a little bit of a of a personal effort here where, where I have offered to pay for and have planted, and a blight resistant elm on any common, town, town or university property that's willing to have them.

And so we've now planted about about 40 trees between, Plymouth Common and the hospital right here on the library grounds are two really quite nice ones.

Across the street at our office, there's a nice elm coming along.

The common has two.

The town hall has one.

They're gorgeous.

There's no tree that looks like them.

You see a big, mature elm with the upside down V shape and the tall canopy.

They're just towering, beautiful trees.

And that's.

Yeah, that's why you should plant them.

They grow fast.

The town selectmen and Plymouth have allowed us to start cutting down the Norway maples and replanting them with elms.

And so we have two Princeton elms planted on the common.

And hopefully we'll keep planting them until they're back to what it used to be.

All elms.

This next story answers to questions.

What I do on my summer vacation if I were a professional trombonist and where can I find a world class orchestra north of Boston?

The festival started as a piano festival with Juilliard students, and then it became a chamber orchestra on Melody Island on Lake Winnipesaukee, and at some point moved to, an inn in Center Harbor, and then came here to Plymouth in 1974, in residence at Plymouth State, and prior to, when Tom Nee, conductor, was hired, it had been students.

It was Juilliard students, then top students from music schools in the country.

And Tom said, no.

He wanted it to be a professional orchestra.

So I was called in 1985 and I was told, there's this job we call them gigs.

So there's a gig in New Hampshire and there's four rehearsals and three concerts a week, and you live in a college dorm and there's very little money, but it's summertime and there were no gigs in the summer in those days for trombone players.

So I said sure.

And I had low expectations given the money and the work and, you know, all that stuff.

And then I got up here and I remember going into the first rehearsal, and then as soon as the first chord gets played, in the very first minute of rehearsal, anyone who really understands levels of musicianship went, whoa.

It was just not what I expected at all.

It became one of the best in New England, you know, maybe the Boston Pops and Ballet or better, but otherwise this orchestra is is pretty good.

Plymouth is a great location because of the mountains and the lakes.

And so a lot of players come here, really top players from around the country, but they're hikers or they're swimmers or they're athletes.

Are they bike bikers or bicyclists, not motorbikes.

And so they come back year after year.

And we're putting up with living in the dormitory.

And, because it was it was just so much fun.

And so the level of the musicianship was, was very good.

And, we could put up, with living in the dorm.

And so we started making connections with the audience and Plymouth people and many other towns around here also would invite musicians to their homes.

They would bring supper.

Some of them would have a party for the whole orchestra, you know, at their place they would invite everybody out.

And so there was this connection to the community here that was also highly unusual.

We came to love our audience, and our audience came to love us.

It is an incredibly supportive, community and audience for this.

Plymouth is a town that takes care of its own.

Bridge House is in the business of rebuilding lives by ending homelessness.

One family at a time, through all kinds of needed programs and services.

Here at Ladders, they found a way to sustain that noble effort.

And I, retired, and I absolutely hated it.

Couldn't stand it.

I volunteered at a place called Ladders for a day, and I talked to the executive director, Cathy Bentwood, that night and told her all the ideas I had for Ladders.

And, the next day, somehow, I was the manager, and, I have been ever since I've been there over nine years, and, Our cause at Ladders and Step Ladders is the homeless shelter here in town called Bridge House.

And Bridge House has been in the town of Plymouth forever.

And it used to be down by the bridge.

And Bridge House is very all encompassing.

They they really emphasize veterans, especially home challenged veterans.

And they go throughout the state to try to address the needs of both veterans and community who may be on the edge of losing their homes.

And, we also offer, housing to veterans who have pets.

A lot of veterans have therapy dogs of their own or, or, emotional support, if you will.

Dogs.

And we guarantee they can keep their pet with them, which is very unusual for for anything.

But we guarantee housing for vets.

So if a vet comes in and we're full, they'll put them up somewhere else, whether it's a hotel or something like that, until we can find them.

A temporary, placement.

A lot of those vets that are placed in Bridge House or are being assisted by Bridge House also work in our retail stores.

So we currently have the three I run Ladders and Step Ladders on Main Street in Plymouth.

And we have a third store which is called Flip'n Furniture, which is up on Tenney Mountain Highway.

The whole purpose of ladders is Bridge House, and the reason that we exist is so that Bridge House can continu to exist, keeping all those social workers going and housing everybody and feeding everybody.

And so it's a vital part connection of the town.

And, you know, on average, we probably do 130 transactions a day at each store.

Most people go to both stores when they come.

I mean, it's a destination.

The store is full of people volunteering.

You know, hanging clothes, cleaning clothes, everything that's on our shelves has been inspected at least four times before.

Before it hits the shelves.

It's $1 million business now a year, and that's phenomenal.

When you think about it.

It's all donated goods and it's totally supporting the most amazing organization in the world, this Bridge House homeless shelter that is figuring out ways to, to to help so many people in so many different ways.

The connection is all I can think.

The number of people that volunteer, the number of people that shop, then the amazing number of people that donate is what brings it all together.

And it's just wonderful.

This building has a lot of stories to tell.

Once a railroad station, a hotel, and now the Plymouth Senior Center.

But it's not the bricks and mortar that make this such an amazing place.

It's the people.

The original railroad station, I believe, burnt it.

I also had a hotel.

The Pemigewasset Hotel.

And so that burnt.

They built another the second Pemigewasset Hotel.

I believe that might have either burnt or been torn down.

The senior center, besides being a railroad station, was a bowling alley.

It was a lamp factory.

And the adjacent building was a sheltered workshop.

So it's it's had a couple of lives before it was the Plymouth Regional Senior Center.

We have folks there who, volunteer in many different ways.

And in my role as the activity and volunteer coordinator, it's wonderful to support individuals from all walks of life, whether they are newly retired, whether they've been retired for many, many years, or they experience some kind of a disability to participate at the center, I deliver Meals on Wheels for the Plymouth Senior Center here in Plymouth, and I've been doing it for 17, 18 years now, and I've gotten, found a lot of people that I've really enjoyed seeing.

And that's one of the major things that we do is because we have to sort of make sure they're okay, and sometimes we're the only person that they see.

During that day, I delivered to this woman in her 90s.

She was as sharp as a tack, but she had a cat whose name was Max.

And every time I walked into that house, there was a little octagon table next to the door, and Max would jump from wherever he was, come running and sit on that table because I gave him cat treats.

So not only delivered a meal for her, I delivered Max, his cat treats.

I volunteer at the senior center.

It's like a thrift shop gift shop, and we have a man that comes in quite often looking for yarn for his wife because his wife is unable to come out and she has reciprocated with, making baby blankets.

We have a couple of beautiful and she does beautiful work.

You know, you see a lot of things happening when you're in there.

People that join together, people that help each other out and and you see people that come in that need to have that kind of help.

They need to go someplace and have lunch.

They need to be around people.

It's seniors helping seniors, retired.

And at first it was lovely, you know, not run by the clock.

And it was delightful.

And then the days got longer and it was like it, you know.

So what are we going to do with our time?

Well, we decided to try the senior center once just to see how it was.

And it was lovely.

And, meals are delicious.

So from there I started doing activities and, and then I started to lead meditation and do Reiki and started, sign language class down there.

So so it keeps us in go the line dancing.

Oh.

Oh yeah.

And go to line dancing.

It's, it's a great community and it's a nice family atmosphere.

You know, they become your family down there.

It's delightful.

You make lots of friends and not only that But the food is good, and it's.

It's a price that old person can afford.

When I was little, my mom would work late during the summer.

So my mom.

So my grandma went to the senior center so she would watch us there.

I like it because all the people there are always nice, and there's a bunch of activities to do.

There's Mahjong and the Walking Club.

I think it's Scrabble too, and there's pool.

There's, the book club, & Tai Chi, so there's definitely a lot to do.

Lunch time.

I'll hand out the plates and stuff.

And a lot of times, like, the seniors will ask me to, help them with something.

It'll help them.

I do Meals on Wheels, and I have been doing that for a little over 22 years.

It's very rewarding for me.

I enjoy it very much.

I get attached to my people and I have.

I always try to see them and talk to them and speak with them and and I think they enjoy the back and forth.

Sometimes you wonder if we're the only ones they see that day, but I'm always grateful.

I got lots of hugs.

They're easy to give and great to get back.

So you know what the heck?

Nothing to it.

Yeah, they're amazing people, every one of them.

The environment is so warm and welcoming that, anybody who comes in just, you know, wants to stay.

It started as a modest cattle show in the 1850s, but the Plymouth Fair grew and in its heyday attracted more than 50,000 visitors.

And while the fair is no more, a lot of great memories remain, and maybe even some lessons learned as a boy.

My grandfather, Charles Henry Ellison, had property abutting the fairgrounds and he would, let me help him park cars at the fair.

And, it was an interesting experience.

I made my first money, $0.25 a car, but that was pocket money for me.

He said, yeah, okay, now you can go and use the $0.25 and and have some fun at the fair.

As a teenager there, as we grew up, you know, we went from just having fun at the fair with our exhibits of our bunches of carrots and making a few bucks for that.

As we grew up, we, we tended to notice other things going on that we maybe didn't as a younger generation.

And, one of the things that, all of us kids, teenagers, probably 15 or so at the time, was very curious about interested in, was this, tent called the Hoochie Coochie Tent.

Kind of a strange name.

Never did know that the origin was of the term, but basically it's a girlie show And so as a young man, we were always saying, well, I'd just like to know what's going on in there, you know?

And, finally got the nerve when one evening to, say, I'm going to try see if I can't get in.

You know, it's a it's an adult show.

And I'm, you know, 15 years old.

How am I gonna work this out?

So I got a baseball cap on, and I. I decided I watch the show, folks entering their all crowded together at the last minute to go into the show.

They'll they'll let me in I'll bet.

So I go up to, the crowd I wander through, and sure enough, I give my, to $2.

It was a $2 fee, which was a lot of money, to the guy collecting tickets and, next thing I know, I'm inside.

You know, he lets me, and I'm thinking, wow, this this is great.

You know, finally, I get to figure out what's going on with this girlie show, and I tell you, what a huge disappointment.

I get in and and, the, the there was a few scantily clad women.

I vaguely remember that, but the main thing I remember was the fact that I looked at my wallet and I hadn't given him two $1 bills.

I'd given him a one and a ten.

It cost me 11 bucks to get in.

And I was hugely disappointed because it wasn't worth the $10 for sure.

But as a kid, you know, this is the kind of thing that, you learn, I guess, from experience, as it were.

We heard wonderful stories about this town's past.

But folks here are also thinking about its future, and they have a lot of bright ideas.

And our claim to fame is the solar energy raisers that we started back in, 2004.

And our Local Foods Plymouth online farmer's market that according to the National Public Radio, who said we were the first online farmer's market.

So we oversee what we consider a sustainability effort here in Plymouth.

And and we're quite, quite proud of it.

We thought, okay, what's the easiest thing that we can do to reduce the use of oil?

And we decided putting up solar on our homes.

Now back in 2004, there were 1 or 2 businesses installing solar in New Hampshire.

So in 2004, we opened an office, recruited a board of directors, recruited volunteers, and began our organization with two main things bringing people together.

In a what we called an energy exchange.

It was kind of a Rotary Club sort of thing that we brought folks that cared about the environment, and cared about renewable energy, cared about moving the mark or making a mark on New Hampshire when it comes to solar, because no one had it on their home back then.

Like nobody, including all of us.

And that's what motivated us.

We're like, okay, one house at a time, one family at a time.

Let's start getting solar on our homes.

Well, back then, solar PV photovoltaics was very expensive.

So the most inexpensive way for us to get into solar was to install solar water heating systems.

And we decided to put together this, process where we would, recruit homeowners to have it installed on their homes.

But in order to do that, they had to help out at a couple of other, projects.

We dubbed it energy raisers.

You hear that word used now?

Pretty commonly.

We're pretty sure we were some of the first that stole that from barn raising.

But that was the same concept.

Neighbors helping neighbor, neighbors, neighbors coming together to to figure out how to do it and install it on, roofs and on the ground.

So when the the shift from solar water heating moved to solar photovoltaic, we developed a local professional crew with a local electrician.

We do a lot of solar education with our members, and, and we install probably about 12, PV systems a year.

We're partnering with a local electrician.

For our organization the motive is more helping the environment, you know, tackling something on the climate action list and supporting like minded efforts in town.

And that's what seems to motivate people to to get involved with us.

Filled with students from September to May, filled with music in the summer and entertainment Year-Round rich in innovative ideas and compassion for those close by and far away.

Mountains to the north, lakes to the south.

Plymouth embodies a Granite State motto stay, work, play.

I'd add learn.

Even in a hoochie coochie tent, there's a lesson.

Thanks to the Plymouth community for welcoming us so warmly, and to all those who stepped up and told us about their strong, vibrant and historic community.

Only a few of the stories could fit into this program, but all the stories will be online at nhpbs.org/hometown I love a good New Hampshire story, don't you?

I'm Rebecca Rule.

See you around town.

There's something special about Plymouth, and Main Street is incredible.

I know who owns who owns these businesses, and they're people who are involved heavily in the community.

The Silver Center and the Flying Monkey in close proximity bring a really nice mix.

It's gorgeous.

Here we are, the place where people come to vacation.

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