Photos and text by Rich Westhoff (unless otherwise noted)
Why do people explore rail trails? The reasons can be as varied as the people doing the walking, running or biking. For some it’s exercise, while others crave the restorative power of fresh air, the outdoors, the ocean, lakes, rivers, and mountains of our unique state with so much variety in a small area. For some it’s geology, “erratic behavior”, searching for the large boulders left behind by the melting glaciers at the end of the last ice age, or observing the effects of plate tectonics that give our mountains and valleys such a different look and feel from those of that state on the other side of the river to the west. For others it’s railroad history, exploring part of the densest network of abandoned railroad corridors in the country, remembering the folks who built, ran, rode and abandoned them. For some it’s engineering, seeing the marvelous cuts made through mountains without modern machinery or stone bridges built before cement was available locally. This reason cuts close to the purpose of this article: The stone bridges are some of the most beautiful engineering marvels of the rail trails, real works of art. But the purpose of this article is to introduce another reason: To search out and highlight the growing presence of art on or near rail trails in New Hampshire.
But enough motivational writing – Let’s go find some art: My wife and I first became aware of some art on rail trails during one of our cycling trips to Keene. Riding downtown on the Cheshire Rail Trail we saw the Mural of the Trinity Bicycle Company on the building at 6 Wilson Street shown in Figure 1. Because a bike company mural on a bicycle trail seemed too much a coincidence, we had to stop for a photo. On additional trips to Keene we found many other murals scattered near and far from the rail trails, a sample of which are shown in Figure 2. These were painted by the “Walldogs” in 2019, and are well documented, including a walking map in the link below: They are easily worth a day trip to see by themselves. One of my personal favorites is the Ashuelot River Mural, Figure 3, which is so large, that it’s location in an alley makes it difficult to fit in a photograph, so that I had to use a panorama shot capture it all.
https://www.walldogsinkeene.com/murals/
Figure 1. Trinity Bicycle Works mural at 5 Wilson St. Keene, NH
Figure 2. A collage of some of Keene’s WallDog murals, found around downtown.
Figure 3. Asheulot River mural at 37 Roxbury St. Keene, NH
When we rode the Peterborough Rail Trail, we viewed the wildlife-themed murals on the sides of the Toadstool Bookshop on Depot Street, one of which is shown in Figure 4. This requires a bit of cycling on road from the end of the northern part of the rail trail, but lots of shops and restaurants in this section of town, as well as easy parking at the Brenner Bridge Parking Lot makes this an easy stop by car as well.
Figure 4. Wildlife mural on the Toadstool Bookshop on Depot Street in Peterborough, NH
We found other murals near rail trails in the Monadnock region of the state, three on Rt. 202 near the Hillsborough Rail Trail between Bennington and Hillsboro: On three sides of the tower of the Antrim Town Hall at 66 Main Street, murals depict different seasons, one of which is shown in Figure 5. While it is possible to detour off the rail trail part way to Antrim, I’d suggest driving by this landmark on Rt. 202 on your way to tour the trail.
Figure 5. Summer water view mural on the Town Hall, 66 Main Street, Antrim, NH
The Derry Rail Trail has taken a unique approach to art on the trail, with paintings done on the trail surface, trail gates, large stones as well as beautiful wall murals. The “on-trail” art, based on the poem “The Road Less Traveled” includes a detailed painting on the trail surface, Figure 6. A collage of some of the on trail art is shown in Figure 7, but so much art has recently been created that there is not room on these pages to show it all. Two murals also decorate the side of the Derry Cask and Vine at 1 ½ East Broadway, one a historical look at Derry, painted by the Walldogs, and another by local artists, Figure 8.
At time of this writing, Derry did not yet have an official outdoor art webpage, but information about art in Derry is available at these two links:
https://derryrailtrail.org/news/
Figure 6. Art on the Derry Rail Trail sets the Robert Frost theme for other pieces, including gates decorated as birches; Photo Credit: Elizabeth Cloutier, New Hampshire Rail Trail Challenge
Figure 7. Collage of community art along the Derry Rail Trail; Photo credits: Elizabeth Cloutier, New Hampshire Rail Trail Challenge
Figure 8. Two murals on the Cask and Vine in Derry celebrate the history of the town. Photo Credit: Lee Hollenbeck, New Hampshire Rail Trail Challenge
Nashua has a large collection of public art including sculptures and murals, spread through its downtown, with a sample shown in Figure 9 and an online map shows the many locations: https://downtownnashua.org/enjoy-public-art/ Much of this art is located along the Nashua Heritage Trail, a rail trail built on the abandoned right of way of the Worcester to Rochester Line, which passed through Nashua. Other murals and sculptures are near the Nashua River downtown near the Riverwalk, some of which parallels the route of the planned Souhegan Valley Rail with Trail.
The Heritage Trail is only long enough for a good walk, but includes three connectors to Mine Falls Park at Everett Street, Seventh Street and Simon/Whipple Streets. The canal trails in Mine Falls parallel some of the few remaining canals in New Hampshire, and compose a very scenic 10+ mile round trip cycle route. At the start of the Nashua Heritage Trail, near City Hall and the Elm Street crossing you will encounter the Nashua Dodgers mural, Figure 10 which highlights the team as first in professional baseball to integrate African-American players. Jackie Robinson is known as the first black player in the Major Leagues (1947), but before that (1946) Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella were playing in Nashua. The short history of the Nashua Dodgers, which existed from 1945 – 1949, looks like the team was assembled for the primary purpose of testing out the racial integration process in a minor league. The Brooklyn Dodger management believed that because of the large French-Canadian population in Nashua that the people would be more accepting of black players.
Figure 9. A collage of several of the downtown murals in Nashua, NH celebrating the history of the town.
Figure 10 – The Newcombe – Campanella Mural portion of the Nashua Dodgers mural on the Heritage Rail Trail near City Hall in Nashua.
The Winnisquam, Opechee and Winnipesaukee (or WOW) Trail has a couple of creative pieces of art, including a mural on the side of a mill building near the crossing to the trail and Moulton Street at 852 Union Street, Laconia, with a WOW Scrabble game in progress, Figure 11.
Figure 11. Scrabble mural with tile images of nature and nautical themes on the WOW Trail.
The last mural in this article is also on the WOW Trail on Bartlett Beach, Figure 12, and though it is the last photo in this article, it is by no means the last piece of art on or near rail trails in New Hampshire. My colleagues on the NHRTC board who proofread this article for publication suggested other pieces of art on other New Hampshire rail trails, including sculptures on the Lilac City Greenway in Rochester, the Mascoma River Greenway in Lebanon, and the Piscataquog Rail Trail in Manchester. New murals are also being planned for blank spaces in Salem.
This is an idea that is catching on, making the rail trails an even more inviting community resource! Keep your eyes open while walking, biking, roller blading or whatever your favorite active transportation/recreation mode is and hopefully you’ll see even more!
Figure 12. Lakefront scene on a mural at Bartlett Beach in Laconia on the WOW Trail.
Acknowledgments:
I would not be telling the truth if I made you believe that I found all this art. Many have contributed, including some from a Facebook Group the New Hampshire Rail Trail Challenge. These people, who should really know better, but as a possible side-effect of the crazy pandemic situation, decided that it’s a good idea to challenge and support each other to ride all the rail trails in New Hampshire, some 380 miles of them. When I asked these folks where the art could be found near railtrails I received comments and photos, without which this would have been a shorter, less interesting article. Thanks go out to all of them! – Rich Westhoff