Weirs Beach

Lake Winni...Winnipe..What?

It's a mouthful of a name, but a pretty well known body of water if you're somewhat familiar with the Northeast or the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in the state, at approximately 21 miles long and anywhere from 1 to 9 miles across. That makes the shoreline about 288 miles long. It has at least 258 islands and takes over an hour to drive around the entire basin. 

        My family stays at Weirs Beach in Laconia on Lake Winnipesaukee. The Weirs has the largest public beach and a long board walk full of arcades and cheap places to get pizza. When I was younger, this was the best place in the world. My favorite thing to do was walk down from our apartment after dinner with my father and get a Hart's slush (like an italian ice) and then walk down the boardwalk to sit by the water. At dusk, there's no better place to be than on the water. Taking day trips to Gilford for the 3 mile hike up Gunstock Mountain is one of my favorite things to do. Right next to Laconia is Meredith, home to the Mills Falls Marketplace, my favorite little collection of boutiques for shopping. The MS Mount Washington is the flagship vessel of the lake and offers scenic cruises around the beautiful lake. 

Gunstock Mountain

       So why is Lake Winniwhatever my sacred place? I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee every August for the last 19 years. Even before I was born my family (which then consisted of just my parents and my older sister) began this summer vacation tradition. I really began to appreciate how special the area is to me roughly when I was in middle school. The significance my favorite place falls directly into the first and most familiar kind of sacred lands discussed in God is Red. Its a place "to which we attribute sanctity because the location is a site where, within our own history, something of great importance has taken place." (p.275) Lake Winnepesaukee is sacred because its part of my history. So many of my most significant childhood memories have taken place in there in New Hampshire. I look forward to going to the Lake every single August. I love the drive there, the clear Lakes Region air, the pleasantness of retreating from my own town to somewhere else. I have grown up to love this area and everything it has to offer exorbitantly. 

As years go on I notice more and more changing about the area I grew up loving. A few years ago, there was a terrible storm that wiped out half the boardwalk at the Weirs and the railway that ran next to it. It was rebuilt, but isn't the same worn, tired wood that I remember walking on with sand covered bare feet. A lot of the same arcades and restaurants are there but many have been replaced over the years. While the area has changed a great deal, it still possesses the same charm that made me fall in love with it as a child.