Bittersweet Fall
New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore
Passing the Torch . . . and the Camp
John Harrigan passes the torch to a new owner
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There is something sacred about a fishing/hunting camp: off the grid, on leased land, deep in the woods. The last quarter mile of what is almost always a hike into the camp is a near-religious experience in any season. The anticipation as one nears the camp can make the heart flutter for the average camp owner.
For John Harrigan, legendary newsman and editor, New Hampshire's premier outdoor columnist and Northcountry icon, the story behind his camp is woven so thoroughly into his life that it is almost impossible to separate. Like a beautiful strand of Bittersweet whose tendrils, flowers and seeds weave through the joys and sorrows of his life.
But time waits for no man or woman. Inevitably, the time comes when the trek into camp challenges the years and reluctantly the man or woman must yield to the exigencies of the moment.
John is sanguine about this, yet he also recognizes the momentous import of this transition within the context of both his own history and that of the camp itself.
In this podcast John recalls the serendipity of securing the land, tearing down the old camp - injudiciously placed in a swampy area too close to the water and falling down after years of deferred maintenance. Then the joyous - and bittersweet - process of planning and executing the building of a new camp.
It seems almost poetic that John has opted to pass the camp along to another renowned Journalist, Gary Ghioto, who wrote for The Courier, Foster's Daily Democrat, The Boston Globe, and NH Public Radio among others and at NHPR played a central role in the reporting of the Colebrook shootings that played such a central role in John's life.
John mentions, on more than one occasion Vickie Bunnell who was murdered in a mass shooting in Colebrook in 1997. John told the story of this in an earlier podcast interview, linked below.
Harrigan inducted into the Newspaper Hall of Fame: A look back on a career that has spanned 52 years.
There is something sacred about a fishing/hunting camp: off the grid, on leased land, deep in the woods. The last quarter mile of what is almost always a hike into the camp is a near-religious experience in any season. The anticipation as one nears the camp can make the heart flutter for the average camp owner.
For John Harrigan, legendary newsman and editor, New Hampshire's premier outdoor columnist and Northcountry icon, the story behind his camp is woven so thoroughly into his life that it is almost impossible to separate. Like a beautiful strand of Bittersweet whose tendrils, flowers and seeds weave through the joys and sorrows of his life.
But time waits for no man or woman. Inevitably, the time comes when the trek into camp challenges the years and reluctantly the man or woman must yield to the exigencies of the moment.
John is sanguine about this, yet he also recognizes the momentous import of this transition within the context of both his own history and that of the camp itself.
In this podcast John recalls the serendipity of securing the land, tearing down the old camp - injudiciously placed in a swampy area too close to the water and falling down after years of deferred maintenance. Then the joyous - and bittersweet - process of planning and executing the building of a new camp.
It seems almost poetic that John has opted to pass the camp along to another renowned Journalist, Gary Ghioto, who wrote for The Courier, Foster's Daily Democrat, The Boston Globe, and NH Public Radio among others and at NHPR played a central role in the reporting of the Colebrook shootings that played such a central role in John's life.
John mentions, on more than one occasion Vickie Bunnell who was murdered in a mass shooting in Colebrook in 1997. John told the story of this in an earlier podcast interview, linked below.
Harrigan inducted into the Newspaper Hall of Fame: A look back on a career that has spanned 52 years.
