Map of Peterborough town center. 84 Main (A) is 1/8 of a mile up the hill from the center of town at the Peterborough Town Hall at 1 Grove Street. The Peterborough Town Library is across the Contoocook River at the junction of Main Street and Concord Street (Rte 202/123).
I graduated from Simmons College Graduate School of Library Science in Boston in the summer of 2001. At the same time, my youngest daughter Ciara graduated from high school and she was moving to begin college in New London, New Hampshire at Colby-Sawyer College. My eldest daughter Beth had finished her first year at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was time to move from our home in Boxborough, Massachusetts and I was a single woman with options galore!
I traveled often through Peterborough when visiting Beth at college in Hanover or Ciara in New London or on my way to central-western Vermont where I spent most weekends in 2000-2001. I thought Peterborough was an idyllic place to land and I even spent some time looking for homes there, making offers on several houses in Peterborough and Hancock. I planned to find a job in New Hampshire or northern Massachusetts. Imagine my utter surprise when that spring, before my last classes had ended, I learned that the library was looking for a replacement for the children's librarian who was retiring after 25 years. I got the job and needed to find a home.
My realtor insisted that I finally look at a house that he thought was perfect for me. It wasn't on the market yet but he knew the owner was thinking of selling. He told me that I would hate the kitchen but that I'd fall in love with the location. He was, of course, right and the owner, Lynn Goldman (who became a close friend) and I shook hands on the deal about an hour later.
Play the movie below to hear the falls. Only in the winter when they are frozen are they silent with the exception of the the occasional summer drought.
