"Ask the locals!"

Here is a place to ask questions. Do you need to know a great bookstore in the Portland, Maine area? How about a good seafood restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire? Best out-of-the-way spot to leaf-peep in Western Massachusetts? Was there really a molasses flood? What is the proper way to cook baked beans?

Did somebody say molasses flood? I'm currently reading Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo. I hadn't realized before that the company that owned the molasses tank tried to blame the failure of the tank on anarchists.

That came to mind because my sister in Delaware was reading the book Joshua's Song (which is about the great molasses flood) to her 3rd/4th grade class and she had just emailed asking if I had my mother's soft molasses cookie recipe!

I don't know about Portland, but I did stumble across a great travel bookstore in Portsmouth, NH: Gulliver's Travel Books Maps.

And, then a real good bookstore in Camden, Maine.

Both from a trip last September.

While going to school at UNH too many years ago, we'd head on over to Hampton to eat at the Galley Hatch. Prices were good, as was the food.

(When in Portsmouth, we'd eat at the Gas Light, but that was usually pizza.)

My parents would cook baked beans in a big beanpot on the wood stove. Mmmmm.

OH!, I'll be flying back home to NE, in mid June. I need a good used bookstore near Shelburne Falls, MA. Anyone know of anything?

You have no idea how excited I am to be getting back up there. I miss it.

#6

I vaguely remember a used book store in Shelburne Falls and a New Age one also. (7 years ago?)

Isn't that where there is a Bridge of flowers, and old single track trolley line, that isn't wide enough to turn into a road, but instead a floral carpet?

Also, a historic trolley ride a half mile away.

http://www.montaguebookmill.com/

might be worth a drive out to Montague from Shelburne Falls...

Yes, the Bridge of Flowers really is on a bridge, and it's well worth a visit. The first time I went there, in 2002, there was a used bookstore at the other end of the bridge - the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The second time I went, a few years later, I was sure I knew exactly where that used bookstore was, but I couldn't find it, so either it was gone, or else my memory was faulty. But how could I have forgotten the location of a bookstore?

I googled, and there is Boswell's Books at 10 Bridge St in Shelburne Falls - not really a secondhand store:
http://www.boswellsbooks.com/

The New Age shop is Wings of Light at 20 Bridge St. http://www.clearangel.freelife.com/ (temporarily down until March 3)

The used bookstore is Nancy L. Dole Books & Ephemera, 32 Bridge St -- 2nd floor (no website).

What does it mean to leaf-peep?

leaf-peeping is to travel around New England in the fall specifically to look at the foliage in all its glorious color. Although most often used when referring to tourists and others from 'away', locals do it also:-)

Hi!
I'll be in Portsmouth, NH, in July for a meeting and need lodging for two nights. Can anyone suggest clean, reasonably priced accommodations in Portsmouth? Hotel, motel, B & B, whatever?
Thanks!
Kat

#9&10 You didn't forget the location of the bookstore: Boswell's Books relocated. And Boswell's deals in both new and used. (At least, it used to; I haven't been there in ages.)

#6&7&11 The new-age store could also be Wandering Moon at 59 Bridge Street (no website).

Yes Books near Congress Square was probably my favorite bookstore in Portland, Maine. It's kind of like walking into a little maze of books.

Of course this aspect was a bit more appealing when they were at their larger location on Dansforth...

Ooh, well, I just posted this in the New Hampshire thread - but since you ask here... any good bookstores around the lakes region of NH? or, heck any worth the drive elsewhere in the state?

I don't know the Lakes Region very well, but elsewhere in the state...

The Book Warehouse in North Conway is a good place for remainders. They're in the big factory outlet center on Route 16. There used to be another one of the same chain in Tilton, but I think that one shut down.

There are supposed to be two good used book stores 10-15 mi. west of Concord: one in Henniker and another in neighboring Bradford. But when I went looking for them last year, I couldn't find them. Anybody know exactly where they are or if they still exist?

There's a pretty decent new and used book store in Nashua called the Book Cellar. They have a much larger inventory of used books than they have room for in their present retail location. It pays to search their online catalog and arrange to have the books that interest you delivered to the bricks-and-mortar site before you go: http://www.bookcellaronline.com/

I used to frequent a nice mid-sized used-book shop called Baldface Books on Central Ave. in Dover but I haven't been for several years.

There's a pretty big used-book place in Northwood on Route 4, just east of the Epsom town line. Good selection, but rather pricey.

RE: Shelburne Falls...I just got back. Wow, that place was pretty. Boswell's was still there. Boswell the cat was in the window and everything, but it is for sale. Anyone wanna buy a bookstore? ;) my friend was married in Trinity church and then they took pictures on the Bridge of Flowers. I wish I could have seen more of the town, but there just wasn't enough time.

Too funny, I just posted about old no#6 book depot in Henniker on a new thread before I read these. Very worth the drive from anywhere in the state. If you are coming from the Lakes Region, I would recommend a day trip to the bookstore in Bradford (Books by the Lake, go down to Concord, take Route 9 west, then Route 114 north) then head back south on 114 crossing route 9 down into Henniker for the two bookshops there. A good lunch can be had in Henniker.

Lakes Region:
Wolfeboro. Eyes of the Owl on Glendon Street.
Gilford: Availing Books, 1934 Lakeshore Drive. says it's a multi-dealer bookshop within Bertha Mae's Emporium (junction of Route 11 and 11B)

If you need more information, leave a note on my profile. I have the NH Antiquarian Booksellers Assoc brochure (picked it up today to send to some LT friends) and can give you phone #s or what have you.

Does anyone remember the name of the book-related nonprofit somewhere in the Lawrence-Haverill area of Massachusetts who will come pick up book donations? It was such an obvious name...hmmm....

Is it http://www.gotbooks.com ?
I think I tried to see if they had spread to Long Island, and they haven't.

Thanks, Bob! That's it! My husband is cleaning out his storage units and culling his books (20+ boxes). Not probably stuff the local library would be interested in. They seem to only go for the newest stuff. This will definitely be a carfull by the time we are done.

>8 avaland: We just had our Christmas party for work at the restaurant there. Great food!! My husband wouldn't let me in the bookstore though.

I love their bumper stickers:

"Books You Don't Need In a Place You Can't Find"

>> Avaland- You and your husband could always post the books on Bookmooch. I am sure there are people out there who would love them. (Of course, if you have that many of them, maybe you can just sort out ones that would be very desirable...) And if you have any first editions or weird or interesting old books (even old college text books) you could even make money by selling them on E-bay. :)

Macophile, we have been doing that (member since 2007!) or at least posting selected copies. We do have some interesting copies, but I'm not sure if we are up to the task of selling them. I will leave that in dukedom_enough's hands.

btw, I did discover that GotBooks is a cleverly marketed for-profit institution, not a non-profit as I thought.