"No one goes to that restaurant anymore; it's too crowded." - Yogi Berra
As with most "Yogi-isms," there's more than a bit of truth behind his clouded logic.
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Here's what you see standing on Weirs Beach these days:
The view across Meredith Bay is clear under purple-grey skies and the trees on the opposite shore are shining Spring green.
The water is a dark, navy blue – calm, but with a hint of white rippling from the soft wind.
The Mount Washington is cuddled familiarly to the dock.
And the sand under your feet is clean but mucky, the result of recent rainy weather.
But no one is around.
No footsteps echo off the wooden boardwalk.
No children's voices call from the water to adults lying on a beach towel.
No country music blasts from a motorcycle driving by.
It is, in short, quite beautiful.
Meredith Bay from Weirs Beach, May 2012
Sometimes, in the midst of the summer bustle, it's easy to forget what Weirs Beach means to the Lakes Region. Full of noisy arcades, fried dough & pizza stands, and Harleys chugging down Lakeside Avenue during Motorcycle Week, it's easy to trivialize it.
And it’s popular for some to speculate about why it can’t be just like other towns alongside Winnipesaukee – for instance, Wolfeboro and Meredith – that have prospered into somewhat elegant communities. In the words of a Boston Globe article several years ago, Weirs Beach remains somewhat "honky-tonk."
But that view is not fair.
Weirs Beach was once the epitome of Lake Region Summer Living.
Around the end of the nineteenth century, a combination of Christian vacationers looking for revival, Civil War veterans looking for camaraderie, and other folks anxious to simply escape the city heat made it one of the most popular holiday destinations in New England.
Now it’s impossible to imagine how Weirs Beach could become another Wolfeboro – because its old "bones" are still alive.
The Methodist Campmeeting property off Lakeside Avenue is not what it once was but you can still get a sense of what this once-tranquil community by the bay was like.
The old hotels that dotted Lakeside Avenue are now gone but some of the Victorian buildings built by the Grand Army of the Republic (the most prominent post-Civil War veterans group) are still here.
And some of the railroad lines that once brought thousands of people to the Lakes Region now give folks an old-fashioned tourists' view via the Winnipesaukee Railroad.
Calvary Headquarters is one of the old G.A.R. buildings.
So maybe, in some ways, Weirs Beach has been the victim of its own success.
Maybe, like Yogi said, it’s “too crowded” for some seasonal or year-round residents to consider visiting regularly.
But the growth and the development of The Weirs – its cool water, its wonderful beach, even the parade of boats through the Weirs Channel – are still here, drawing people from all over the country, even the world.
And they helped start the rich regional culture that now prospers all around us.
That’s worth remembering the next time you drive by that crazy lit-up "arrow" sign.
One of Daryl Carlslon's great photo images from
"The Lakes Region of New Hampshire: Four Seasons,
Countless Memories," available at local bookstores
as well at lakesregionnhbook.com and Amazon.com
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