Something Fishy

That's because our destination at the end of July was the New England Aquarium located on the waterfront in Boston, MA, it's one of the city's most popular attractions.

It's less than an hour from Nashua, NH, yet we'd never ben there in our 12 years of living in New England. Last month we visited as many local attractions as possible and the Aquarium was on our bucket list.

Entrance to the New England Aquarium, Boston, MA

Boston has been home to several aquariums since the 1880s, the most recent before this one was the South Boston Aquarium at Marine Park, which closed its doors in the 1950s. After that, Boston officials sought to spearhead a massive urban renewal effort that would replace earlier local aquariums with a world-class educational facility, reconnect a decaying industrial waterfront to the life of the city and also celebrate Boston’s maritime history.. 

Opened in June 1969, the New England Aquarium was built as one of the world's first modern, immersive aquariums and set a global standard for modern aquarium design. It spearheaded the development of Boston's once-neglected waterfront. Designed by the Massachusetts firm CambridgeSeven, old-style small glass boxes were replaced with a massive, four-story central core tank. A circular walkway lets visitors spiral downward while watching marine life up close. The design focused on a darker interior space to focus attention entirely on underwater life. 

Visitors walk a winding ramp inside the Aquarium

While the Aquarium may not seem like the most attractive building from the outside, the interior attractions and educational experiences are what received the majority of focus when it was being built. 

The concrete exterior building with its cavernous interior welcomed over 12,000 visitors on opening day and over 450,000 visitors during its first year. While the Aquarium doesn't provide an exact daily visitor count, it currently averages over 1.3 million annual visitors for an average of 3,500 to 4,000 visitors daily. Of course, these numbers change based on the season, weekends and school vacations. The day we visited, the Aquarium was crowded with summer camp groups and families.

The Aquarium features 70 individual exhibits and is home to nearly 10,000 marine animals across four main levels. Exhibited species include harbor and northern fur seals, California sea lions, African and southern rockhopper penguins, giant Pacific octopuses, loggerhead and green sea turtles, and thousands of saltwater and freshwater fishes. 

Giant Ocean Tank, top view 

The Giant Ocean Tank, a 200,000-gallon cylindrical exhibit with a large Caribbean coral reef inside was built first and the rest of the aquarium was constructed around it. The tank features over 100 varieties of fish including stingrays and eels. In 2013, the tank underwent a massive renovation to upgrade its coral reef habitat and viewing spirals. Its permanent residents include a giant green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtles, and hundreds of colorful tropical fish, reef-dwelling sharks, stingrays, and moray eels. Open and accessible for viewing at the top, the concrete tank is surrounded by a spiral walkway with 67 windows that allows visitors to see into the exhibit from every angle.

Myrtle, a giant sea turtle, is the star of the Ocean Tank

Myrtle, a large green sea turtle, is not only the star of the Giant Ocean Tank, but one of the aquarium’s largest residents at four and a half feet long and over 500 pounds. She took up residence in 1970 as a donation after the Provincetown Marine Aquarium closed. Myrtle is estimated to be 95 years old which puts her beyond the upper boundaries of the species’ longevity. Myrtle draws a crowd at her twice daily feedings of vegetables like romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts and cucumbers, along with some fish and squid. 

The Indo-Reef Coral Exhibit is very colorful

The most colorful exhibit is the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef exhibit in the Tropical Gallery. It highlights vibrant warm-water marine ecosystems featuring colorful fish like tomato clownfish, longnose butterflyfish, and yellow garden eel. The floor-to-ceiling exhibit accentuates the biological richness of a coral reef, which can support thousands of fish species, sea turtles, sharks. Unfortunately, coral reefs are disappearing worldwide due to climate change and other factors.

Shark and Ray Touch Tank had many visitors

In 2011, the 25,000-gallon Shark and Ray Touch Tank became a permanent exhibit in the Aquarium's West Wing. Here, visitors can interact with multiple species of stingray and shark, including leopard whip rays and brown-banded bamboo sharks, in a naturalistic habitat. Both children and adults crowded around on the day of our visit, which is most likely a daily occurrence.

Sea jellies or jellyfish are beautiful

One of my favorite displays was the sea jellies, which aren't technically fish, and more commonly known as jellyfish. These are ancient marine animals consist of 95% water. They have no brain, heart, bones or eyes, and belong to the phylum Cnidaria. Sea jellies drift in every ocean and use pulsing bells and stinging tentacles to catch food. They group together in swarms called smacks. Their average lifespan is about a year.

Cnidaria is a major phylum of over 11,000 species of mostly aquatic, marine animals characterized by radial symmetry, a gelatinous body, and specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes to capture prey. Examples include jellyfish, corals, sea anemones, and hydras.

Electric eel

The electric eel (Electrophorus) is a South American freshwater fish known for generating powerful electric shocks of over 800 volts. It uses this electricity to hunt, navigate, and defend itself.

African penguins entertained visitors

The Aquarium is home to 50 African penguins and southern rockhopper penguins. Ironic as it sounds, the African Penguin lives in Africa. It is the only penguin species that breeds on the African continent. They can be viewed on several artificial rock islands and can be seen from the spiral walkway around the Giant Ocean Tank. Each penguin has a unique bracelet on one of its wings to identify them; females on their right wing, males on their left.

Napping sea lion

The New England Aquarium is open seven days a week year-round with some holiday closures. Our visit was at a reduced cost thanks to museum discounts funded by the Friends group of the Nashua Public Library of which we are supporters. 

Friday Funnies

The Nashua River which is directly behind the our mill apartment residence often has kayakers and occasionally those fishing from a boat.

Recently, this couple was seen on the river. The female boater seemed interested in fishing, unlike than her male companion.

Seems some folks can't get away from their cell phones no matter the location.

It just goes to show that you never know what sights can be seen on the river.

Enjoy Your Weekend Everyone

Stay 🆒 another heat advisory 🥵 in NH until early next week

Steaming on Moosehead Lake

That would have been a nice trip, but one that's no longer possible now as the steamboats that once operated on the largest lake in Maine are gone. Only one remains and is now diesel-powered. So, of course, we went on a road trip.

Cruising on a vessel that's the last-of-its kind and still cruising on the largest lake in Maine was a good reason to drive to Greenville, Maine, home of the Katahdin II. And, it also meant cruising on another largest state lake in New England. Recently, we toured the Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest lake in NH on a mailboat cruise.

Weather was overcast for most of our tour, thankfully no downpours

Moosehead Lake is very big — not only is it the largest in the Maine, but the largest completely within New England, it's the second-largest in New England after Lake Champlain and the largest mountain lake in the eastern U.S.

Vintage Steamboat advertisement

Years ago, before roads provided easy access and transport, Moosehead Lake relied on numerous steamboats to travel its very wide expanse. Speed wasn't a factor years ago.

Vintage steamboat loading  (Moosehead Historical Society)

Steamboat travel on Moosehead Lake dates to 1836 when as many as 50 boats worked on the lake carrying passengers, livestock, mail, supplies, equipment and even vehicles. These steamboats were the only means of transportation to large resorts, like the Mt Kineo hotel and to hunting camps and villages around the lake. 

Katahdin I steamboat (Moosehead Historical Society)

The first Katahdin was an 111-foot wooden-hulled steamboat built in 1896 for the Coburn Steamboat Company/ The vessel caught fire while towing a boom of logs, ran aground and burned in 1913. It was replaced by the steel-hulled Katahdin II (referred to as the "Kate") built in 1914 at Bath Iron Works in Maine and shipped in pieces by rail to Greenville, where it was reassembled. Both vessels were named after Mount Katahdin, the state's highest mountain derived from the Penobscot Indian word for The Greatest Mountain.

Katahdin II at dock in Greenville, ME

Katahdin II was converted to diesel power in the 1940s as diesel engines offered higher fuel efficiency, required smaller crews, and freed up cargo space. For the next 30 or so years, the ship hauled large timber booms (rafts) across the lake for paper companies. In 1975, it participated in the nation's last major log drive, afterwards it was in danger of being scrapped..  

Moosehead Marine Museum, Greenville, ME

And, it might well have met that fate, if not for a local citizens group who founded the non-profit Moosehead Marine Museum in 1977. Not only was the Katahdin spared but in 1978 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (Being on the National Register of Historic Places means a building, site, structure, district, or object is officially recognized by the U.S. government as worthy of preservation for its historical, architectural, or archaeological significance.) 

Exhibits in Moosehead Marine Museum

The building that houses the Moosehead Marine Museum was built in 1904 and functioned as a Universalist Chapel before becoming a museum. It's open seven days a week late June to mid-October and houses maritime exhibits. It's also the ticket office for Katahdin cruises. The museum raised funds from federal grants and donations to keep up with the boat's maintenance and repairs.

The proginal plan was to use Katahdin II as a floating museum. However, after a marine inspection proved that, with repairs, the ship could be made seaworthy, extensive restorations were undertaken in the 1990s. As the last surviving steamer on Moosehead Lake, the Kate provides scenic tours and dining cruises during summer months for up to 225 passengers from its Greenville, ME base.

How did the lake get its unusual name? No one person gets that credit. The name evolved from early European settlers who used the descriptive term since, on a map, the lake's shape resembled the head and antlers of a moose. It seems appropriate that the state's largest lake was named after the second-largest land animal in North America. Not only that but Maine has the largest moose population in the lower 48 U.S. states. There's plenty of roadway signs cautioning motorists to watch for moose. Yet, as carefully as we've watched, we've never seen a moose.

Mount Kineo, Moosehead Lake, on a very overcast day

Moosehead Lake has over 80 islands in the lake, the largest are Sugar Island and Deer Island. The lake's most prominent geological feature is Mount Kineo located on a 1,150-acre peninsula that extends from the easterly shore of the lake, famous for being the largest mass of rhyolite volcanic rock in North America. With 700-foot cliffs that rise straight up from the water, it's the central feature of Mount Kineo State Park, a protected area of 800 acres managed by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. 

Fellow passengers on Katahdin cruise

Unfortunately, we were only able to glimpse this mountain through overcast skies. It must bea very impressive sight on a clear day. While the weather was not perfect on the day of our Moosehead Lake cruise, it was still an enjoyable experience.

Soon, we’re considering a visit to another of New England's largest lakes — Lake Champlain in Vermont. Thabkfully, this road trip would be half the distance (3 hours) compared to the nearly 6 hour trip to Moosehead Lake..

Friday Funnies

Today is not only the last day of this month, it's also the last Friday for a funny. 

Here's something unusual, a canoe in a garage area. But, it's not just parked in any garage.

It's inside the garage at Clocktower Place, Nashua, NH, ironically in what was once a water canal for the former Nashua Manufacturing Company, a textile mill.

In 1825, a 3-mile-long Nashua River Power Canal was built for the mill to divert water from the Nashua River. The waterway channeled water through a gatehouse to drive turbines and power the looms.

In the late 1980s, the former water canal was paved over and converted into an underground parking garage. This was done as part of a major historic preservation project that converted the former mill into Clocktower Place residential apartments, our current home.

This vintage postcard shows the original water canal at the Nashua Manufacturing Company.

In answer to comment queries: Yes, the canoe was put in the parking space by a resident as parking spaces are assigned with a monthly fee for garage parking. Garage access is by a fob keyed to the resident's account. As to whether the canoe owner knew the history, most people likely do not unless they are curious and historically-minded. Thankfully, we have not had any flooding in recent years.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

We’re going to the Lowell National Historic Park, MA

Delivering the Mail

Most post offices don't float.

But if you're a summer resident or attend summer camp on an island on New Hampshire's largest lake, Lake Winnipesaukee, it's the only way to get or send mail.

The tradition of delivering mail by boat to Winnipesaukee’s summer residents and remote islands dates to 1892 when mail was delivered to Camp Idlewood, a summer camp. Mail is still delivered to boys and girls camps by boat. 

M/V Sophie C., the oldest floating U.S. mailboat

Today, it's done by the Sophie C., the oldest floating post office in the U.S. and the only U.S. mailboat on an inland waterway. It also takes up to 120 paying passengers on a 2-hour cruise while mail is being delivered. Last week we went along on one.

Early brochure for mail boat service

The Sophie C. was built in 1945 by the Boston Ship and Engine Works as a supply ship for the U.S. Navy in WW II. It was later converted for use as a mail boat and named for the mother (Sophie Caroline) of the former company owner. 

In 1916, by an Act of Congress, the mailboat was granted the right to cancel mail on Lake Winnipesaukee making it a full post office. It sells stamps and has its own cancellation stamp. Sophie C. became an official U.S. Mailboat in 1969 when the words U.S. Mailboat were added to her prow. 

A post mistress is onboard the Sophie C.

The mailboat seasonally delivers some 25,000 pieces of mail and packages (down from 35,000 years ago) to island homes and summer camps. It also sells postal supplies and stamps and postcards which passengers can fill out and postmark on board for a unique cancellation. 

Top deck seating on the mailboat

Sophie C. delivers mail to the lake's summer residents, Monday through Saturday with two separate, 2 hour cruises each day. As it heads to the islands, the captain points out areas of interest along the way. There are stops at four islands during the morning run and stops at five others in the afternoon. 

When docking isn't possible, inbound and outbound mail is exchanged via a hand-off to someone on the dock as the mail boat continues a slow 15 mph movement.

Island residents waiting for mailboat to dock

At many stops, the mailboat's visit is the social event of the day as island residents wait at the dock for deliveries or just to say hello. The mail deliverer knows most summer residents by name.

We also enjoyed ice cream onboard the Sophie C.

Children look forward to the boat’s daily arrival as a chance to buy one of the ice cream treats or other snacks for sale onboard. The frozen treats have become a summer tradition for adults as well.

At some stops, swimmers climb dock posts then jump into the lake as the mailboat leaves and blows its horn. There was a lone jumper on the day of our cruise.

Traveling on the mail boat was definitely a unique experience. And, while NH may boast the oldest mailboat, it isn't the only state to have one. Mail boats still serve isolated island and lakeside communities in other U.S. states: Alabama, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Wisconsin. The difference is that these boats only deliver mailbags and freight. They don't have an onboard postal clerk and can't sell stamps or post stamp mail onboard, unlike the Sophie C.

And now you know — the rest of the story.

A Fair Stroll

The post title is a play on words combining two events we attended this past weekend. Both were in New Hampshire; only one required a road trip.

Our first weekend event was the 68th Annual Canterbury Fair in Canterbury, NH, an hour's highway drive from Nashua. In the afternoon, we walked downtown for the 2026 Nashua Summer Stroll. Both of these family-friendly community events were free to attend.

Canterbury Town Center: United Community Church, post office and general store

The Town of Canterbury, named for William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, is located in the central part of New Hampshire bordering the State Capitol of Concord. The town is primarily rural with an active agricultural and farming community. The population, as of 2016, was under 2,500 residents. There's a small commercial area with direct access to Interstate 93, which is how we traveled there.

Town Center set up for annual fair

The Canterbury Fair is always held on the last Saturday in July. It includes a 5K run, artisan demonstrations and music performances. It's completely volunteer run and a great example of small town community involvement. Proceeds from the fair and food sales benefit the Canterbury Fund and community service programs of the Canterbury United Community Church including scholarships and use for family emergencies. 

Vintage Canterbury Fair poster & folks lined up for shuttle bus to town center

The fair previously received recognition as part of a National Geographic Society listing of outstanding attractions nationwide.

The What-Not Sale is always a very popular fair event

This was our first time attendance. We soon saw that a couple of events were long-time favorites. The most popular was the large What-Not tag sale featuring a lot of everything from antiques to household goods, toys and holiday decorations donated by town residents and others. Items were laid out end-to-end on large tables in the historic town hall. It was packed with shoppers as seen in the above photos.

The book and video sale was the second most popular event

The used book and video sale also attracted many book browsers and buyers. The sale was housed in a large old barn. Books were displayed by subject matter. I avoided the temptation to buy books after recently donating a bagful. That said, a DVD copy of Titanic made it home. We enjoyed re-watching it this weekend, having forgotten that it's a very long movie and less costly than when first seen in a movie theater.

Canterbury, NH, one-room schoolhouse was a primary school until 1956

Stepping back in time, we toured the interior of the town's one-room schoolhouse. Built in 1844, it served as a primary school until 1956. The restored red brick building operates as a living history exhibit that's managed by the Canterbury Historical Society. The society runs an immersive One-Room Schoolhouse program which lets students from Canterbury Elementary and surrounding towns experience a full school day circa 1887. 

Prescott piano in Canterbury one-room schoolhouse

Many early schools contained a piano for music and singing lessons. This one was built in New England by the Prescott Piano Company originally established as the Prescott Organ Company in Concord, NH, in the 1830s, Prescott built a line of American upright and grand pianos in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company originally catered to local schools, churches and parlors, manufacturing instruments specifically designed to withstand New England's seasonal humidity and temperature shifts.

Antique vehicles at Canterbury Fair

A notice of the fair included information on an antique auto display, unfortunately, there were only a handful of cars and tractors on display this year.

Main Street Nashua, NH (photo by Seth Dewey) before & during summer stroll

Later, Saturday afternoon on a perfect weather day, the 2026 Nashua Summer Stroll turned downtown Nashua's Main Street into a pedestrian-only event of art, live music, food, crafts and activities. 

The event include musical performances, boxing demos and ghoulish folks

The downtown stroll was sponsored by the Downtown Nashua Association and ran from 4 to 8 pm attracting hundreds of residents and visitors. There was a lineup of local musicians with musical performances on the corner of Main and East Pearl Streets throughout the afternoon and evening. 

Synthetic roller skating rink, chalk car painting and wall painting

Interactive attractions included a synthetic roller skating rink and wall painting. A local nonprofit group, Positive Street Art, hosted many of the art events and brought back last year's popular chalk car which members of all ages decorated.

Sunday Farmers Market in Renaissance Park, Nashua, NH

Downtown Nashua will be hosting a series of upcoming events before the end of the year, which seems to be coming up fast. Halloween decos have already been seen in local stores — way too soon! We're looking forward to these events: Coloring Main Street in September, the Main Street Monster Mash in October followed later by the Festival of Trees, Main Street Unwrapped, Plaid Friday and the annual Winter Stroll. The best part is that all of these are within walking distance of our home.

Hope that whatever you did this past weekend, it was good for you.