Freedom, NH

Freedom, NH fell into my lap with grace and charm.

I had been traveling north on 153 and as I approached the bridge over the Sago River, there was a state road crew installing a new blacktop surface on the bridge over the river. They would not let me stop on the bridge to take a picture, but I came back later to capture the image below. And the caption would read:

"They are paving the Road to Freedom"

After riding through town a couple of times in the daylight, I could see what I missed the night before when I was searching for a campground. I finally found a campground twenty-five miles away at 1:05AM. OK, back to the daylight ride.

 Taking pictures of town buildings, streams and road signs, which lead me to the Freedom Village Store.

Walking into the original door of the space took me back to a simpler time, a friendlier environment than I have been in since my childhood. It was like Edna Ray’s store in my home town. More like a scene out of a 1954 movie, filmed on location in a community most of us would have loved to have grown up in. Pleasantville? Grady, South Carolina in Doc Hollywood? Mayberry, RFD…

I was greeted without the recognition that I was from outside the town limits. I became a local for the day in the presence of the citizens of this historic town which broke away from Effingham, NH long before any of us were born. North Effingham once existed on this same spot on the maps, but the forefathers had a desire to create a community with different values and laws of the time. Freedom was born out through hard work, dedication and leadership of those earlier settlers of the earth just north of the banks of Sago.

Freedom, NH, Where Community Thrives.

(Currently editing video interview of Ted Acton)