View NHPBS's award-winning Our Hometown series

Focus on All Things New England! Having trouble viewing this email? [View this email on the web](. [NH PBS logo] NOVEMBER 14, 2022 NHPBS's award-winning Our Hometown series [Sponsored by NH PBS]( Photo Credit: NH PBS New England visitors and residents can agree: the assortment of towns throughout the six-state region are core to our unique identity. Central greens or plains, architecturally distinctive town halls and the town meeting – a staple of the democratic process – all recall town life in New England. As the basic unit of local government in the region, towns are sources of rich history and fascinating stories. New Hampshire PBS is the state’s public television broadcaster, devoted to producing trusted local and national programming on multiple platforms: on-air, online, via mobile, in classrooms and in communities. NHPBS chronicles life in New Hampshire towns through its ongoing series Our Hometown, available to watch on-air and online. New Hampshire contains 221 of the nearly 1400 towns throughout New England. Towns in the state can be found along the Atlantic coast (Hampton), nestled in mountains (Bartlett), adjacent to cities (Madbury, bordering Dover), lakeside (Meredith) or amid forested areas (Francestown). Some towns border other states (Charlestown is just across the Connecticut River from Vermont, Pelham borders Massachusetts and Effingham shares a border with Maine) or another country altogether (Pittsburg, in the far north, borders Canada). Peterborough, in the Monadnock region, was the first town featured in the series due to its connection to the classic Thornton Wilder novel Our Town. Since that initial episode in 2015, Our Hometown has visited Ashland, Colebrook, Conway, Littleton, Milford, Stratham and Wolfeboro. “We’re trying to create a quilt of stories that, together, reveal the character of a town,” said Our Hometown producer Schuyler Scribner. “The people who live these stories tell them best. Some of the people we speak to go back generations in these towns, and their stories may go back 300 years.” Each program is researched at length. A small, nimble team from NHPBS is responsible for production coordination, filming, sound, editing and post-production, while other staff handle show scheduling and marketing. The NHPBS team would typically interview 50 people in each featured community to understand its history, contemporary issues and character. Scribner and program host Rebecca Rule speak with librarians, town and school officials, historical societies and chambers of commerce to unearth history and stories. Scribner adds that many local storytellers also bring in family albums or pictures to illuminate their stories during interviews with NHPBS. Photo Credit: NH PBS “I’m always gratified by the welcome we receive wherever we go in the state,” said Rebecca Rule. “People are happy to connect us with their community members, allow us to use local facilities for filming or interviews or even drive us around to local spots. People are tickled that we are there, and they want to share the stories of their communities.” However, Scribner noted not everything is charming or idyllic, as New Hampshire towns wrestle with the same issues that impact small communities throughout the country. “Across the board, the biggest thing we’re finding is that change is hitting our rural communities hard,” said Scribner. “Property values are going up. People can’t afford their own properties, or, in places where growth is happening, people who work in the town can’t afford to live in the town.” But Scribner said he’s also seen and heard many creative solutions people are pursuing at the local level for issues like housing inequality, climate change concerns and rapid growth. “What makes us distinct is the desirability of living in the places where we live, and that is also our challenge – that a lot of people want to be here,” said Scribner. “Opportunities are based on the state being such a beautiful place to live, but even the smaller towns that are economically challenged wouldn’t change that for the world. They like where they are.” Whether dealing with heavier issues or quirky anecdotes, it’s the willingness to share with others that is the essence of the program. “It’s important to be open to all kinds of stories and to persuade people that little personal stories can say just as much as big stories about big events,” said Rule, herself a storyteller, novelist and playwright. “The color and the details resonate with people.” Beyond the thirty-minute television episodes produced each year; Our Hometown program producers have built a robust repository of related programming – dozens of short video clips and digital features from more than seven years of show production. Available online, the pieces typically run under five minutes and offer more story threads about each town – historical anecdotes, cultural curiosities and personal profiles of residents. “Every story gets edited and goes to the web. It’s designed to be a time capsule, really, of the stories that people want to tell in that moment in time,” said Scribner. Rebecca Rule feels a sense of responsibility and care with the stories entrusted to her. In the interview chair, she’s heard accounts ranging from the history of how a rural road came to be called Frying Pan Lane (stemming from an 1800s era long-handled iron skillet that neighborhood cooks would share among themselves) to how a goose that appeared frequently in one neighborhood was fondly called “Goose-ums” by neighbors who took the animal to heart. “Oral history is where all history begins,” she said. “To speak a story out loud – to put it in the air for another person (or lots of people) to hear – is to bring it to life, not just with words but with facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, tone, pace – the whole gamut of vocalizations. It’s personal. It’s immediate. It’s true. And it connects the speaker and the listeners through the shared experience of the story. You can’t beat it!” Yankee Magazine readers can view all the Our Hometown episodes and expanded digital content at [nhpbs.org/hometown](. Photo Credit: NH PBS Nottingham is the most recent community featured on the program and will premiere on November 17 on NHPBS and online at [nhpbs.org/hometown](. The next episode of OUR HOMETOWN, airing in spring 2023, will focus on Nashua. For more New Hampshire programming and stories, stream NHPBS LIVE on your computer or mobile device at [nhpbs.org](. SPONSORED [Unsubscribe]( [Forward to a Friend]( [Send Feedback]( [Facebook](   [Instagram](    [Pinterest](    [Twitter](   Help us be sure that this email newsletter gets to your inbox. Adding our return address [Today@NewEngland.com]( to your address book may "whitelist" us with your filter, helping future email newsletters get to your inbox. Did a friend send this to you? 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