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This Veteran's Day weekend, November 9th, 10th and 11th.

The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen has announced they will open the doors to the studios of over 60 of their juried members, sponsored by margaritas, Restaurants and the New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism.

This event offers the public an opportunity for a learning and shopping experience from 10 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

daily tour maps are available at any retail gallery.

The New Hampshire Welcome Center and her NH Crafts Dawg.

Welcome to New Hampshire Public Television's uncorked.

Join us as we showcase the program from our archives as it originally aired.

Because here in northern New England, sharing our past will enrich the future for all of us.

Hi, I'm John Clayton, and this is New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Tonight, we’re at Van Otis Chocolates in Manchester, one of the oldest candy stores in all of New Hampshire.

But don't let the name fool you.

Van Otis is not of Dutch origin.

The name was derived from that of the founder, Evangeline Hasiotis.

Evangeline is no longer with us, but Van Otis continues as a family-run candy business, and we'll find out more about that in tonight's program.

We're also going over to Deerfield, where we're going to meet a man who makes shoes the old fashioned way.

What I'm doing here is removing the loose material, called the flesh of the sole, so that I have a uniform channel over there.

I'll show you.

Then we'll meet some students from the University of New Hampshire who have a project that's out of this world.

I think one of the other sort of benefits that the students at the University of New Hampshire are getting is the fact that they are not only, you know, making something new, but they're also, in some respects, explorers.

All aboard!

(Train whistle) And then we'll go to Intervale for some model training.

It’s now 40 years, you can say, that I am collecting trains and toys.

I have, in the museum on display, 2000 engines and about 5000 cars and coaches.

But first, let's meet the candy man.

Dave Quinn is one of the owners of Van Otis Chocolates and Dave, I guess for a lot of long-term customers, we should probably say the new Van Otis Chocolates.

There were a lot of changes.

There have been a lot of changes in the last year, John.

When we acquired the business, we found that there were some limitations, both from a, a physical plant standpoint and production capacity, standpoint to, in order to grow the business and to spread the gospel, if you will, about Van Otis Chocolates.

But you've taken great pains to keep a lot of the hands- on techniques that have been used down through the years.

As you'll see, that there is still very much a, a hand operation here.

Now, how long will this sit before you can start to portion it out?

We usually leave it on the table a couple of hours just so that it dries well, and then after that, they come in and pick it up and pack it, and then it's ready for sale.

Jeff Quinn is another of the candy makers in this family-run operation.

Jeff, what were those chunks of white stuff you were putting into this orange material?

Fondant.

Fondant?

Yeah.

And what does that do?

It gives the cream body.

It actually is the base for the cream.

So when you're done, you will have the orange cream filling for when you bite into that dark chocolate.

That's it.

That's what I'll find inside?

This is it, right here.

But the way that Jeff gets the orange cream filling inside the chocolate, that's something I want to take a look at in the next stage here at Van Otis Chocolates.

And we should probably let people know that what you do is you actually fill the trays with cornstarch, and then you actually go through and make impressions with these small - Depending on the shape that they want for their - models This is what, an oval, or what would you call this?

An oval?

And you're going to make orange cream oval fillings.

Go to work.

I want to watch.

Music We're now in the enrobing stage of Van Otis Chocolates where they're getting a bottom coating of chocolate as they’re fed onto the conveyor belt.

They move down the process.

They're actually coated in chocolate here - enrobing the key word.

And Heather McQuade is performing a little known service here at the end.

What are you doing, Heather?

I do a process called stringing, helps us and the customers to identify the chocolates with a mark, these being raspberries so they get an R. And it helps out because a lot of the chocolates look the same.

Tell me about the tendency to want to lick your finger.

Oh, every day, to scoop my hand in the bucket and let loose.

Its why I had to join a gym.

So there you go.

Give a good plug to them.

After Heather puts the chocolates back on the conveyor belt, they come down to this end, the receiving end, where Kim Trudeau is on the other end of the line.

How's Heather's penmanship, Kim?

It's great.

People think there are deadline pressures in their jobs.

Your work never stops, does it?

No, being quality control, I have to make sure that all the chocolates are pretty much perfect.

We have second hand chocolates right here that we put in that are shaped different, holes.

So you really are quality control?

Yes.

So I have to make sure that all the chocolate that is, is fed down through here to me, is pretty much perfect for our boxes.

So what I'm doing, is this quality control too?

Yeah.

Go ahead and enjoy.

Valentine's Day is obviously a big chocolate day, but it's not the biggest day of the year for Van Otis, is it?

No it's not.

Our largest season is Thanksgiving, Christmas, followed by Easter, and Thanks- Valentine's Day ends up being our third biggest holiday.

Music (inaudible) Martin is one of the customers here at Van Otis we decided to corral here for a testimonial.

(inaudible) Have you been coming to Van Otis for a while?

Well, of course, this one, but the one on Chestnut, for years and years since they been open when Van had it.

Evangeline Hasiotis, which pointed out was the founder of the store.

All right.

Even the new owners now, I still patronize them.

You do?

But.

Why do you come here?

What do you like about the place?

Because their product is just excellent.

I've tried other kinds of chocolates.

It's more expensive.

And I find these better than those.

So you like chocolate a lot, do you?

No, I buy it for other people.

Or you do.

But, I sample it once in a while.

Music While Heather continues to put her signature on these chocolates, we're going over to Deerfield, New Hampshire, to the Cordwainer Shoe Shop.

That's where Paul Mathews has been creating his signature style of shoes for two generations.

Music It's nice to be able to get up every morning and look forward to your work.

From the time I was 12 years old, I was involved in the business, and I was designing and pattern- making before I was out of high school.

Music That's that piece right there, the heel piece.

B is, is a medium width pattern in our measurement.

So that's a pattern for Sandy Oshinsky.

Okay.

These thongs have to be cut nly one place on the leather that will give the strength and the fiber that that makes these suitable for hand lacing.

And that's off the butt of the skin.

That completes the cutting of the upper outer part.

Everything except the lining.

This, this is known in the trade as a rolled edge.

And it's done by thinning the edge of the leather with a skiving machine.

This is something you couldn't do by hand.

So we don't do everything by hand unless we can do it better.

That's the rule.

What I'm doing here is removing the loose material called the flesh of the sole, so that I have a uniform channel over there.

I'll show you.

This would be called the bottom channel.

That's where the stitching is recessed into the sole so it doesn't touch the ground.

(machine noises) When the upper is done, it's going to match up the hole, the same number of holes on the upper are going to match the holes on the sole.

And it's laced together.

We use our own waxed cotton thread and our own specially designed needles and what's good about this is when the soles wear down on our shoes rather than throwing them out, you can just send them back to us.

We restore them.

The last has to be the right size, the right shape, the right dimensions on every, you know, three dimensions.

And, that's why we have an addition to our standard line of lasts.

We have a line of custom lasts made for individuals.

So clip lasting is done after the shoe is assembled.

That's essentially all there is to it.

We put them in the dryer over there, usually leave them for overnight or 24 hours, as the case may be, and that shrinks the leather to the last.

So it gives a good shape and sort of permanent.

Here's a fully lasted shoe, by contrast.

You can see how nicely shaped it is.

By cutting (inaudible).

The cement is dry to the point where it can stick.

This is a pressure sensitive adhesive that you just have to press it down.

Stay there til kingdom come.

The temperature of the iron is crucial.

Its a relatively simple operation, but it takes a lot of skill to get it on smooth without overrunning or smearing something.

A Cordwainer was widely used in the colonies to apply to the itinerant shoemakers that went around from farm to farm.

Music People once wear these shoes, they don't want to go back to ordinary shoes.

Music We're back at Van Otis Chocolates.

Van Otis Chocolates is renowned for a lot of different products, but none so much as this one here.

David, tell us what we're looking at here.

This is the, we like to think of it as the incomparable Van Otis Swiss fudge.

And as they break these up, obviously they’re looking for squares that are very symmetrical, right, to, for packaging purposes?

We try.

It's it's a hand cutting process, so it's not exact.

And, one of the things that we've been trying to find is a way to end up with those more equal sized pieces.

And any pieces that don't fit that mold, they go into the box for the host.

Oh yeah.

Music As you can see, there's still a real low tech element to the way Tina is creating these chocolate covered raisins.

But for our next story, we're going to Durham for a real high tech look at a University of New Hampshire program called the CATSAT.

Music In 1952, this was the top of our world.

Here, at the summit of Mount Washington, Professor Jack Lockwood began making measurements of cosmic rays.

And the UNH space program was born.

And now our students are ready to take their biggest step ever.

It's called CATSAT This cat’s on a hot tin roof, this cat’s gonna shake it loose, this cat don’t get the blues Cause this cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof CATSAT Well first of all what does it stand for?

It stands for the Cooperative Astrophysical Technology Satellite.

And we like to think of it as it's the $64 satellite going after the $64 million question.

Can’t stop now cause I got no brakes This cat’s on a hot tin roof When we saw the research announcement that announced this competition, we felt to ourselves, what could we do?

We had a brainstorming session with our students, and one student said to me, why are satellites so expensive?

And I said, well, part of the reason is that they have to be very precisely pointed, like the Hubble Space Telescope.

Then the student said, naturally, is there a good scientific question that we don't have to point so precisely, when we don't have a target?

And then another student said, yeah, we can make bug eyes on top and it could just look out.

And I said, yes, gamma ray burst.

We don't know where they're going to go off.

All we need do is look up.

These are extraordinary sources of energy, cosmic radiation.

They turn on for just a moment, and then they go away, and they come at us with an energy of thousands of suns.

Now, what is that?

So we're going to try to find out.

Five, four, three, two, one.

CATSAT represents a new era from the Space Science Center.

We have always built instruments that have flown on satellites.

We've been involved in dozens of those.

But this is the first time where the university has been involved and responsible for a complete mission that includes the scientific instruments as well as what we call the bus, the the part of the satellite that most people see when they see a picture.

And following its launch in July 2001, within eight hours after the launch, the satellite will show up over the University of New Hampshire.

And that's when our interesting work will really begin, because we are receiving the data from the top of the roof here at Morse Hall.

And we will, in fact, understand how well it's operating, send commands to the satellite, and basically collect the data.

450 pin connectors.

So this is a real life project, the mission, the whole activity will fail if in fact, any part of it fails.

And so this really differentiates it from a lot of student projects because of it’s real life aspects.

Hey Hound Dog, get out of my way Cause of this cat is on the prowl.

This cat And I tell people that I work on a satellite for NASA.

Their first response is they just start laughing, not believing me.

Oh, I guess knowing that the satellite is going up in space, it makes me feel really cool because I've had my hands on it.

It's going up there.

We've designed parts on there from, you know, my own brain.

I've always been a Star Trek fan, so if for nothing else, is to compare something to that.

And the Horizon's - Working for CATSAT is so exciting for me because it gives me an opportunity that I never thought I would ever have.

I mean, I never really thought about going to space fields.

I always thought that was for really smart people, you know?

This really gave me a good opportunity to to discover what I want to do with myself.

I’m getting experience handling extremely complicated and expensive systems which, in the real world, I wouldn't be allowed to touch.

We're going to shake it loose.

This cat don’t get the blues, cause this cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof I'm in charge of the software on CATSAT.

There are two computers.

There is this payload computer and the spacecraft computer.

It’s, it's difficult.

It's a different mindset.

You have to think, okay, you have to assume something's going to break because you can't just go and press the reset button if it does go down.

And then just the limited power.

We're running on a chip that powers your microwave or that runs your washing machine.

So it's, we have to do real science on a chip that you can buy for a dollar off the street.

To minimize the magnetic - The experience of CATSAT, it's it's really hard to put into words the amount of value that it has.

You do not get any kind of experience like this in your undergraduate classes.

It gives us an incredible leg up, because we don't have to be trained how to work in teams, or how to take charge, or how to how to do even some project management, because we get all of that experience here at CATSAT.

The vast loneliness that's up here on the moon is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.

I think one of the other sort of benefits that the students at the University of New Hampshire are are getting is the fact that they are not only, you know, making something new, but they are also, in some respects, explorers.

They're going into maybe an unknown.

I think the CATSAT satellite is really going to look at gamma rays, maybe finding something that has not been found before.

So in that respect, not only is it a project of of learning, but it's a project of excitement and adventure that these students are participating in and so I think that, this is very, very important.

They are pioneers right along with the astronauts, right along with the flight controllers at NASA.

Cause this cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof This cat is on Music While Jim finishes up with the cashew clusters, we're going up to Intervale, New Hampshire.

That's where a gentleman named Roger Hartman runs a model railroad museum.

Music This is called the catenary system, and they are used to pick up the electric power from the overhead.

This was the company's building where I worked, the state fire insurance.

That's why we put her on fire.

All aboard!

(train whistle) We are leaving.

On our outdoor train, we do run as long as we can and as long as it is dry.

We are just passing Leech Junction station.

Bye bye.

(inaudible) Well, what originally happened was that both my grandpas were working on the Swiss railroads, and they had O gauge trains themselves, Märklin, which I enjoyed very much.

But until I was about eight years old, I wasn't allowed to use them.

But because of grandpa running a little steam engine in a private yard, every time I was off school and I didn't have much homework, I immediately run over to the yard and hopped onto the engine, helping grandpa to run the engine.

Which, once a kid gets really to like trains, you can't get it off again.

It will be something which follows you all your life.

Music (children talking) If you are carefully watching the window, there are painted, hand painted, they are, it's a train church.

That's why we have train windows.

It's now 40 years, you can say, that I am collecting trains and toys.

I have, in the museum on display, 2000 engines and about 5000 cars and coaches.

There is 14 operating layouts with a total of 40 trains going around.

Music We are now approaching the little covered bridge which was an addition of this year.

We are trying to bring in a few more things.

I now have the bridge, the (inadible) going up the hill And you can see we are picking up a little bit of speed.

Music 1865, 1870 the trains started taking off.

It was 10, 15 years later that somebody thought, well, why, if we built the big ones, why not make a small one?

Today, you can get trains from $1.50 up to $5,000.

And also, we are passing by the town hall, one of the buildings which we created during this year.

The G gauge is 22 times smaller than the real thing you see outside.

You're looking at O gauge, which which is 45 times smaller.

You're looking at HO which is normally 87, but you can say 90.

Again, it's half of what you have in all.

If you are looking at N gauge, which is the next one smaller, you're looking at 160 and you're looking at Z scale, which is the smallest produced.

They are 220 times.

That means ten times smaller than G or 220 times smaller than the real thing outside.

Music On the right hand side, you see that the retail building Straight ahead, we have our museum building.

Music This is North Conway.

There's the station of the Conway Scenic Railroad.

And if you use your imagination across the road is North Conway Village.

You see, there's the fire station.

Down here is interesting, it's where they play their mud football game in the fall.

Now we're heading for Crawford Notch.

Shortly, we will be going over the Frankenstein Trestle that does exist up there.

It is quite a treat to ride over it.

There's about 500ft long and height in the middle is 90ft.

And we shall very soon have completed our run.

All aboard!

(train whistle) Here we go!

All aboard!

All aboard!

Music We hope you enjoyed this look behind the scenes of a candy store.

And we want to thank you for watching the New Hampshire Crossroads.

Thank you for visiting Van Otis Chocolates!

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