Because of a busy schedule I didn’t get to upstate Vermont or New Hampshire for peak foliage. Peak foliage in Southern New Hampshire was this past weekend and I missed that too. I do like taking foliage pictures by driving the back roads of New England so I headed out early morning deciding to stay in Southern New Hampshire and head west.
After a night of rain and warm temperatures there was fog in the morning. It turned into a beautiful day once the fog burned off.
As I drove I came upon this barn and decided to stop. The sun was trying to break through and I was looking straight east at this barn. I returned a second time when the sun was in a better position. I took a picture and the owner came out. It was a beautiful barn he was slowly restoring. He told me about some of the work he was doing on his barn.
The barn had an old “fire mark” on it. In the olden days you received a fire mark to display on your barn when you buy fire fund insurance. If you have a fire and you paid into the fund they fight the fire. If not, you’re on your own. This one had UF on it. I did some searching and found it is a fire mark from “United Fireman’s Insurance Co. – Philadelphia. It also said it would weigh 3 – 4 pounds and have one hole on each side which this one did.
I continued my foliage run and came upon the Frye’s Measure Mill in Wilton, NH. I spent almost 2 hours looking around and taking pictures. It is a working mill with lots of history making colonial and shaker boxes, etc. Lots of nice things in their gift shop. www.fryesmeasuremill.com They give tours in the summer and fall. The water reflection of the mill was so clear it almost makes the pictures look fake. Pam and I will do the tour next week. 
Oak Leaves Studio is at the mill also. http://da1.redshift.com/~oakleaves/ William Schnute does high relief life size wood carving. It was amazing. I saw a piece he was working on. The detail and size of the piece was unbelievable. I looked through his book and some of his architectural pieces were 9 feet by 7 feet by 8 inches wide. This eagle in flight and fox chasing a rabbit was on the wall. I put them in one of my sky pictures.
From there I continued my search and found this very nice barn. I spoke with the owners. It is one of the original dairy farms in the area. As I walked to the top of the hill I saw this gazebo. They have a spectacular 360 degree view. This view has Mt. Monadnock in the background. A beautiful house and barn on 400+ acres, woods, hay fields, etc. near perfect with the exception of my name not being on the mail box. hehe HEY!!! A guy can dream you know ... 
I headed for home but stopped to do a two mile hike at Monson Village. Once home Pam wanted to walk so I took her to Beaver Brook for another 2 mile loop. We cut out of the woods and walked the dirt road back to the truck when the sun set and it got hard to see. With a couple steep sections on the trail I wouldn’t want Pam to get hurt and have to carry her out of the woods. God forbid I get hurt so she would have to try to carry me out of the woods !!
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