Soule: A Look Back at Old Loudon

Who doesn’t love to time travel? How is that possible? It’s easy; just read a book about the Civil War or watch a Star Trek movie. Of course, the future is fiction, but the past welcomes us via well-researched nonfiction books. Time travel just got easier with a book by Melissa Moore called “Land of Low Hills.”

It’s the history of Loudon, spanning 250 years from incorporation in 1773 to 2023. Loudon formerly was part of Canterbury and, since 1971, has been my home. Melissa, a good friend, is the wife of Larry Moore, a seventh-generation Loudon farmer, and their sons and grandchildren are eighth and ninth generations. The Moores helped shape Loudon.

My first and only home in Loudon is on Whitehouse Road, named after a former owner of our house, Sarah Whitehouse. The house is less than a mile from Shaker Village. I’d been told that Sarah ran a boarding house for visitors to the village. Melissa’s book lends some support to that legend.

In Chapter 4, “Travel and Tourism,” Melissa writes that after the Civil War, farming in Loudon declined as crops from the West flooded Eastern markets, and farming “looked bleak compared to a regular paycheck from a factory job.

Melissa is a talented writer who helped me visualize the dirt roads and turnpikes of 250 years ago. You can meet Melissa in Concord at Gibson’s Bookstore on Thursday, Aug. 17, at 6:30 p.m. when she gives readings from her book, “Land of Low Hills, Loudon, New Hampshire; The first 250 Years, 1773-2023.”

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Carole is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm at Loudon, N.H., where she raises beef and shares the joys of her Farm with kids and adults. She can be reached at carole@soulecoaching.com.