This week on New Hampshire Crossroads, Fritz Wetherbee reflects on a bridge.

The engineers came in.

They look the bridge over and they said, no, don't repair the bridge.

Tear it down, replace it with a brand new concrete span.

Larry Wegman clowns around.

Do you want to find out how I got to look this way?

You'll have to join us.

Yeah.

And Chip Neal stalks the historical marker.

Hi, I'm Eloise Daniels, and this is New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Local presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads on Channel 11 is made possible in part by Shaw's Supermarkets.

Keep New Hampshire beautiful, recycle your aluminum cans at Shaw's where you are someone special.

Weeks Dairy Foods Incorporated, makers and distributors of fresh dairy products and premium ice creams for your family.

First NH Banks serving the financial needs of individuals, corporations, and local governments throughout New Hampshire.

And by a grant from a Union Leader Corporation, publisher of New Hampshire's statewide newspapers.

We're right for New Hampshire.

Our first story tonight is about a bridge.

Normally we think of bridges joining things together.

We speak about a bridge between cultures, a bridge in faith, bridging the gap.

But Fritz Wetherbee has found a bridge that did just the opposite.

He entitles his essay, The Bridge That Divided Two Towns.

I don't have to tell you things just aren't that simple anymore.

Case in point: this is the North Bennington Bridge, built in 1893, almost 100 years ago, built back in a time when very few people had automobiles.

Horse and buggy bridge is what it is.

It's made out of steel and cast iron with wood planking deck Real simple bridge, bridge to get you from here to there.

This bridge was put up by the East Berlin Ironworks.

Used to be a couple of plaques on the bridge.

One on each end.

Plaques said the company name and the date.

But somebody has taken the plaques.

They've got antique value, you know.

Now this bridge goes across the Contoocook River.

It links the settlement of North Bennington with the town of Antrim.

Now Antrim is the closest town to here.

It has a bank, a supermarket and a hardware store.

Without this bridge, the people who live in North Bennington have to travel an extra five miles up or downstream in order to get across.

Now, this story about the North Bennington Bridge begins in the summer of 1974.

It seems that in August of that year, a car was traveling down this road and got about halfway across the bridge when one of the tires went through the planking on the bridge, made a hole about a foot or so.

Wasn't a big accident, and the car was able to continue on.

Nobody was hurt, but it scared the heck out of the driver and the passengers.

Of course, they got the maintenance people down here to replace the planking, and at the same time they looked the bridge over and saw that it needed some major repair.

They hired some engineers.

The engineers came in, they looked the bridge over and they said, no, don't repair the bridge.

Tear it down, replace it with a brand new concrete span, something that would cost probably $500,000.

Well, now half a million dollars is an awful lot of money for a little country bridge, and bridges like this that serve two towns come under the jurisdiction of the counties, in this case Hillsborough County.

And the Hillsborough County commissioners didn't want to come up with half a million bucks, and the towns of Antrim and Bennington couldn't agree on who would pay what amount of money.

You see, the bridge serves the town of Bennington, but Antrim has twice as many people as Bennington, so Bennington thought that Antrim ought to pay a lot more of the cost.

The upshot of all of this is that the town of Antrim, in its town meeting in 1978, voted to close this road, and they closed it the standard way, which is to say they dumped this pile of sand here to keep the cars from coming over.

But the citizens who lived over in North Bennington, most of them own four wheel drive vehicles.

And this was a piece of cake for them.

They just drove across the bridge and put it in four wheel drive, came right up over this piece of sand and went into town.

So the town of Antrim took further steps.

And this is what they did.

They tore up all the planking from the bridge and they welded these I-beams here.

And of course, that did the trick.

The citizens of North Bennington took the county commissioners to court over the matter, and one year later, the judge ruled in favor of the county commissioners.

The bridge would remain closed.

And so for eight years it's just been sitting here, rusting away.

But like I say, things just aren't that simple.

You know, if this were 50 years ago, they never would have called in the engineers.

50 years ago, they would have gotten some local guy to come down here and weld on some new steel, or bolt on some new steel, replace some of those I-beams in the middle of the bridge, scrape the superstructure down and repaint it, and put down some new planking.

And, you know, with some care and some upkeep, this bridge probably would be good for another 100 years.

Hey, just look at these wonderful old granite abutments.

Think of the floods they've held back.

But of course, it isn't 50 years ago.

And failing bridges are big news nowadays, what with that bridge that caved in during the flood last April on the New York State Thruway, the one that killed the two people from Manchester.

Of course that bridge did meet all the new specifications and all the new rules and all the new regulations, but we're not talking a big fancy thruway bridge here.

We're talking this little tiny country bridge.

And if you're going to apply the new rules, the new regulations, the new specifications to this little bridge, of course it's going to fail.

So tear it down.

If you're ever over this way, you ought to drive down, take a look at this bridge.

Anybody in Antrim can tell you how to get here.

The fishing is wonderful, and the spot is just beautiful.

And this bridge isn't going to be here much longer.

It's going to rust away and fall into the river or the scrap man is going to tear it down.

One thing for certain: they're never going to fix it because things just aren't that simple anymore.

And I don't know about you, but I think it's a damn shame.

Sail on silver girl Sail on by your time has come to shine.

All your dreams are on their way See how they shine Oh, if you need a friend (river sounds) A bridge is also the name we give these introductions I do to the different stories on New Hampshire Crossroads.

So the bridge I have to do now spans all the way from Fritz's Bennington Bridge to the circus, which is where our next story takes place.

With its big top, wild animal acts, and daredevil high wire artists, the circus has been a magnet that's attracted millions of kids and adults.

And our own resident kid, producer Larry Wegman, is no exception.

Let's join Larry as he runs off to the circus to become a clown with the famous Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus.

Have you ever had one of those days at work that made you think you wanted to run off and join the circus?

Well, my day here at Channel 11 hasn't been quite that bad, but I am still going to run off and join the circus.

I'm going to visit the folks at the Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus, to find out what life is like under the big top as I become a clown.

To the 103rd edition of the Clyde Beatty and Cole Brothers Combined Circus, entertaining generations of American families since 1894.

The circus, an American tradition that seems to come right from the pages of Norman Rockwell and Mark Twain.

Animal acts and acrobats thrill the crowd, while the clowns, well, they keep us laughing.

But I found there's more to being a clown than just makeup and a costume.

Watch it, he's armed!

Bang, bang!

Okay.

We're, we're back here in Clown Alley now, and we're here with Elmo the Clown, who is in the process of making me into a clown.

Or bank robber, I'm not sure exactly which.

The beard is going to be a tough one.

Yeah, it's going to be a tough one.

We'll have to work around it here.

Let's see.

First step is white goop!

White goop.

Yeah.

Is that a technical term?

Is that a clown technical term?

You got clown white goop for official - Okay.

Close your eyes here.

Not too tight!

Contact lenses.

Oh you have contact lenses.

But they're soft, they're tough.

They're tough.

The tough ones, huh?

Yeah.

(inaudible) Little white on the eyelids over there.

Sorry.

I think you pushed that one up into my brain.

Oh, you don't have a brain.

Don't worry about it.

Well, I can't see as well, but I can think more clearly.

Just as good.

There, then put this around here like that.

Elmo, how - Don’t worry about this stuff.

It comes off real easy.

It's just made with monkey boogers, comes off.

There we go.

Elmo, how long have you been a clown?

About 384,000 miles.

Works out pretty good because I change my oil every 3000 miles.

I change my socks every 30 days.

Whether you need it or not.

Right.

Yeah, that's critical, isn’t it?

Yes.

Very critical.

If I don't change my socks every month, the audience drops dead.

Woo!

You know?

Doesn't make them happy.

No, but it doesn't really matter because I, see problem is I glue my socks on, you know?

That's why it's hard to change them all the time.

So when they get dirty, I just wear them right in the shower with me.

But I hate doing that because I get so dizzy going around the dryer, you know?

That’s a problem.

There you go.

Okay, I have a feeling I'm not going to get a serious answer, but I'm going to keep plugging along in here, folks.

Okay.

Why did you become a clown?

Well, you see, when I was born I was so ugly, my daddy had to pay the gypsies to take me away.

And the gypsies put me in this little musical number, but one day I lost the little tin cup.

And the guy with the barrel organ got real mad at me.

He took away my fuzzy monkey suit and traded me off to the circus for a live monkey, you know?

And the folks here at the big Clyde Beatty Cole Circus wanted me to be an acrobat up on the trampoline.

So they used to take me and bounce me up and down on my head all day long.

What it did was it shook my brains loose and they said, well, we have two choices.

Either put him in TV news or make him a clown.

So which one did you pick?

I decided to become a clown instead.

How, how we looking here, Elmo?

Let me see.

Let's have a look here.

Looks pretty good to me.

Okay, here we go.

Now let's see.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

Ask a stupid answer, get a dumb, dumber question or something like that.

How many, how many clowns are in the Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus?

Well, does that count the office staff?

Or just the actual circus clown?

You know, the actual circus clown.

Well, we have 11 here.

In fact, this is the world's largest Clown Alley in an little fashion traveling tented circus.

How long has the Clyde Beatty Brothers Circus been in operation?

This is year number 103.

This is the oldest, actually the oldest continuous circus operating in the United States.

(inaudible) Long time.

Where do you - is it - I'm not going to get an answer to this one, but I'll ask you.

You’re full of questions, aren't you?

Well, yeah, I know, I mean, I'm an inquisitive kind of guy, you know?

Where do all these guys come from?

What sort of backgrounds do you have?

Oh, we can't photograph that.

Back, backgrounds.

Oh, backgrounds.

Oh, I see.

Well, they come from all walks of life.

Except some of them drove.

You ever feel like you're dying?

Ever just feel like you're dying?

Take a deep breath and hold it.

(singing) Much better.

Okay.

(humming) Okay.

Now I put the big nose on him.

Big nose time!

Can I talk?

Yeah, you can talk now.

That all you got to say?

Felt like kissing an old sock full of powder.

Well, I washed it once.

Course I wore it again after that so it doesn’t make a difference.

I’ll take this off.

Whoo!

Now I have hat head.

How embarrassing.

Yeah.

You're embarrassing anyway, what do you want?

Okay, Larry, here we go.

Oh, that's, that's real, that's real comfortable there, Elmo.

Yeah.

Nice fit on that.

Well, you're gonna have to just hit yourself.

Yes, sir.

I used to work at a Tom McCann’s.

I think I bought some shoes from you once.

Let’s see.

It's a little tight on there.

You got a big head around.

That's the problem.

Yeah, big head.

TV guys, we all have big heads.

Looks just like my baseball cap.

That's even better.

Yeah.

Still say its better to put your hat backwards, like mine.

It looks stupider this way?

This isn't a dignified outfit?

Music I could tell during the opening parade that being a clown was going to be tougher than it looked.

Getting used to the grease paint on my face was the easy part.

But despite the anonymity my makeup and costume provided, I still found it hard to muster the courage to go out in front of that big crowd and well, act like a fool.

Hi Mom!

But despite my nervousness, I was looking forward to taking part in the skits.

Elmo and the rest of the clowns coached me through the act, one in which we were pirates trying to find and then open a treasure chest.

Make my gestures big, he told me.

Do what everyone else does, and if you trip and fall down, so what?

You're a clown.

Music One thing I did learn that surprised me, though, was that being a clown was easier than getting to know a clown.

Ask Elmo or one of the other clowns where they're from, and you'll get the name of the last city or town the circus played.

Seeing through the greasepaint and the costumes and distinguishing the clown character from the real character was tough.

But then maybe that's what makes these folks become clowns in the first place.

(shot fired) Music Oof.

Well, I tell you, being a circus clown sure is a lot of fun.

But it's a lot of, ouch, hard work too.

My nose was killing my ears, if that makes any sense at all.

I tell you, all the clowns and all the folks here at the Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus have a lot of fun at what they do, but it's a lot of hard work.

When tonight's show closes, the tent comes down.

They pack it all up.

Tomorrow, it's another town, another audience, and they do it all over again.

A lot of work, but a lot of fun.

Eloise, let's go back to you.

The Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus was named for Clyde Beatty, who created and performed one of the most amazing wild animal acts in circus history.

Armed just with a whip and a chair, Beatty would enter a cage filled with 40 lions and tigers and then proceed to thrill audiences by narrowly avoiding death at the jaws of those huge jungle cats.

Our last story this week features Chip Neal, armed only with his New Hampshire historical markers guide and an unexplainable mission to decipher each and every one of the historical markers in the Granite State.

So here's Chip with another of his off the cuff historical marker tours.

Music Hello folks.

Happy 4th of July!

This historical marker tour starts out right here in Bedford today, right across the street from the Bedford Mall.

From here we're going to go to Amherst, Merrimack, and then we're going to end up down in Milford.

So hang on to your historical hats as we take our whistle stop tour of five of the most exciting historical markers down here in southern New Hampshire.

We're going to start with this one, the John Goffe historical marker It seems that, in this area, was considered to be the site of Squire John Goffe's log homestead on Bowman's Brook.

Okay.

So Squire John built his homestead along Bowman's Brook.

Finding Bowman's Brook is another matter.

You see, Bowman's Brook actually goes underneath the highway we were standing next to.

And then it comes out over here and goes underneath the motel complex.

The next problem is to find John Goffe's Mill, which I assume is along the brook somewhere.

John Goffe's Mill, now part of the motel complex across the road, was built in 1744 by his grandson, Major John, It was rebuilt again in 1845 by his great grandson Theodore following a fire, and again in 1939 by another descendant, Doctor George Woodbury.

Okay, this is where the Bowman's Brook comes out the other side.

And this is also where Squire John used to hang around about 300 years ago, taking care of business around the homestead.

We also found something else for you.

We found it.

John Goffe's Mill, built in 1744 by Squire John's grandson.

Prominent in Bedford history, the family name was given to neighboring Goffstown and Goff's Falls.

Four generations of Goffes with their wives rests side by side in Bedford's Old Burying Ground.

Other descendants rest in the Bedford Center Cemetery.

Here we have four generations of Goffes, with their wives, resting side by side here at Bedford's Old Burying Ground.

Tell me, why did we have to come to Bedford to find out how Goffstown got its name?

I don't know, but I think we've done enough resting.

It's time to head for Amherst.

Next up is Horace Greeley.

That's right, folks, Horace Greeley was born right here in New Hampshire.

Let's see if we can read this marker.

It's located right alongside busy route 101, but I'll see if I can read it.

Even though this bush is a bit overgrown.

About five miles north of Amherst is the birthplace of Horace Greeley.

He was born in 1811 and died in 1872.

Let's see, he was the founder of the New York Tribune, a member of Congress, and candidate for president in 1872.

Actually, his birthplace isn't right here.

It's up this road a couple of miles.

Okay, you're looking at it.

The birthplace of Horace Greeley.

Just a few miles up the road here, up Horace Greeley Road.

You know, there were a few things that weren't mentioned on the historical marker down the road that I wanted to let you know about.

Yes.

Horace Greeley was the founder of the New York Tribune.

Yes.

He was a member of Congress, but he also was a leader of the anti-slavery movement up to the Civil War.

And he helped Lincoln get nominated, not to mention the fact that he started an agricultural community out in Colorado.

The name of the town is now Greeley, Colorado.

And of course, in his spare time, he did run for president against Grant.

He lost, though, and he died about a month later, but not before he had a chance to write a whole bunch of books.

One of them was called Recollections of a Busy Life.

Horace Greeley was also well known for this phrase: Go West, young man.

He didn't actually make it up, but he did make it popular in his newspaper as advice for the unemployed of New York City.

Not bad advice, considering going east would have landed them all in the Atlantic Ocean.

Now take another look at this picture.

Doesn't he look like a nice guy?

My advice to you now?

Go south, viewers, about five miles.

I'll meet you in Milford.

Music Well, here we are on Federal Hill Road in Milford, right across the street from the open gravel pit.

And over here we got a little bit of construction work going on.

All of this for the benefit of one little historical marker, you know?

I guess that's progress in progress.

Well, anyway, we're here to pay our respects to Captain Josiah Crosby, 1732 to 1793, and Lieutenant Thompson Maxwell, 1742 to 1832.

Crosby and Maxwell.

Sounds like an ad agency, doesn't it?

Well, anyway, these two revolutionary soldiers were settlers near here in the town of Munson, afterward known as Amherst, now known as Milford.

So let's see, that means Milford used to be Amherst.

So I wonder what Amherst used to be.

Well, anyway, let's get back to the story.

Captain Crosby served with distinction at Bunker Hill and marched in defense of Ticonderoga in 1777 and of Rhode Island in 1778.

He also served Amherst as moderator, selectman, and representative to the General Court.

Lieutenant Maxwell had the unusual record for a New Hampshire resident of participating in the Boston Tea Party, Battle of Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

He returned to Massachusetts and later took the advice of Horace Greeley and migrated west and served in the War of 1812.

Now that means that our friend Lieutenant Thompson Maxwell, just up and took off to go fight in the War of 1812 at the age of 70, and he didn't die until he was 90 years old.

Whereas our other friend, Captain Josiah Crosby, he settled down in the town of Amherst or Milford or whatever it was called then, and died at the age of 63.

Now what does that tell us?

I forgot.

Okay.

We have traveled ten miles east in direct conflict with Horace Greeley's advice.

Where did we end up?

Well, here we are in Merrimack at the Merrimack Toll Plaza on the southbound lanes of the Everett Highway.

Why are we here?

Because this is old Dunstable, and it tells us all about old Dunstable right here.

Old Dunstable was the original town chartered by Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1673, which embraced parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, The New Hampshire portion of this area, following determination of the province boundary in 1741, was subsequently divided into Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Merrimack, and Nashua.

So if you're ever traveling down the southbound lanes of the Everett Highway and you're looking for the exit for old Dunstable, you're about 250 years late.

Our final marker on this exciting tour of southern New Hampshire is this one.

It's also located in Merrimack, in the village of Thorntons Ferr appropriately enough, named after Matthew Thornton.

Who was Matthew Thornton?

Well, it says here that he was a physician, a soldier, a patriot.

He agitated against the Stamp Act of 1765.

He presided over the Provincial Congress in 1775, served in the state Senate and as an associate justice of the Superior Court.

It also says that the nearby monument over here honors his memory.

Well, look here, somebody left some plastic flowers for Matthew Thornton.

This is the monument that the town of Merrimack erected in memory of Matthew Thornton.

And right over here is a little cemetery where Matthew Thornton was buried.

(no dialogue) So here we are, the grave of Matthew Thornton.

Right here in Thorntons Ferry.

Directly across the street stands his homestead.

You know, there was one other thing that Matthew Thornton did that we haven't mentioned yet.

He was one of three New Hampshire men to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Let's hear it for Matthew Thornton.

What a guy.

Matthew Thornton.

Let's hear it for Matthew Thornton!

Hip, hip, hooray!

211 years of independence.

Music Wow.

Fireworks.

I really love them.

That's it for the historical marker tour.

Back to you, Eloise.

That's okay, Chip, a lot of us like fireworks.

I like fireworks, especially grand finales.

And speaking of grand finales, that was ours.

I hope you enjoyed the show, and I hope you join us again next week, when we’ll attend the annual performance of The Old Homestead.

That's a play written and set in Swansea and performed every year by the residents there, and we’ll motor tour just up the road with Fritz Wetherbee to the Ossipee area.

We'd like to close now with more of Larry Wegman’s circus fantasy, as he rides two and a half ton Sue in the Pachyderm Preakness in Portsmouth.

For New Hampshire Crossroads.

I'm Eloise Daniels.

Ride of the Valkyries This is obviously to improve their aerodynamics.

Ride of the Valkyries Well, goodness!

Here we go!

Just keep thinking Secretariat A little bit of Secretariat in this baby.

We're doing fine.

And what do you think about all of this?

See, I haven’t found the steering wheel yet.

Ride of the Valkyries Here we go.

(inaudible) C’mon, Sue!

C’mon, Sue!

Yeah.

Hold on before you get off.

It was a good idea.

It was a good idea.

We gave it all we had.

Line up.

Whoa!

All right.

Right.

Yeah.

I got cut off at the pass.

We had him.

We had him.

Seattle Slew, she's not.

What can I tell you?

Local presentation of New Hampshire Crossroads on Channel 11 is made possible in part by Shaw's Supermarkets, keep New Hampshire beautiful.

Recycle your aluminum cans at Shaw's where you’re someone special.

Weeks Dairy Foods Incorporated, makers and distributors of fresh dairy products and premium ice creams for your family.

First NH Banks, serving the financial needs of individuals, corporations and local governments throughout New Hampshire.

And by a grant from the Union Leader Corporation, publisher of New Hampshire's statewide newspapers.

We're right for New Hampshire.

Theme Music