Romney ad reopens N.H. identity debate

By Shira Schoenberg

July 21, 2011

3 minutes to read

In a web video released today, Mitt Romney drives through the wooded roads leading to Berlin, N.H., extolling the beauty of New Hampshire’s North Country – and unwittingly stepping into old disputes about Granite State geography.

“We’re headed to Berlin today in the North Country,’’ Romney says as he drives. “We used to come here early on with our boys. Played in the streams, and went through the woods, climbed through the crevasses. Franconia Notch, you get to climb through the rocks and get quite a sense of nature up here.’’

The ad depicts him driving himself down rural highways, without his usual coterie of drivers and campaign aides.’’

Wait a second, says Russell Otis, a Berlin city councilor born and raised in the city. And he’s not talking about Romney driving himself.

Residents of Berlin aren’t ready to share the North Country designation with their neighbors 50 miles to the south in Franconia Notch.

“We feel it’s more part of the Lakes Region or the White Mountain National Forest,’’ Otis said. “The North Country is considered north of the notches.’’ Franconia Notch, Crawford Notch, and Pinkham Notch are all in the White Mountain National Forest.

It might not be as important as taxes and the debt, but it’s the kind of argument that gets hashed out in general stores and diners around the northern part of the state.

Justin Eldred, manager of the North Country Chamber of Commerce agrees with Otis. Eldred said the North Country is defined by the boundaries of Coos County, the state’s northernmost county. Franconia Notch is in neighboring Grafton County.

But Eldred doesn’t know too much about the notch. “I usually don’t get calls that far south,’’ he said.

Don’t tell that to Dottie Kurtz, an administrator for the selectmen in Erroll – which is unquestionably north. Kurtz said Franconia Notch is definitely in the North Country.

“The mentality south of the notch is one thing, north of the notch is another,’’ Kurtz said. “You leave your tension south of the notch. You don’t bring it north with you.’’

Lawrence “Gomer’’ Powell, a 65-year-old Lancaster native and past president of that northern town’s historical society, agreed that Franconia Notch is in the North Country for a different reason.

“Once you go through the notch you’re right into the big mountains, where it all starts,’’ he said. “All our mountains are snow capped in the winter…If you get south of that your mountains are smaller.’’

Barbara Ashley, executive director of the Franconia Notch Chamber of Commerce says Kurtz and Powell are right.

“Of course it’s in the North County,’’ Ashley said. “Franconia Notch State Park is in the White Mountains and the White Mountains are part of the North Country.’’

If anyone should know the answer, it’s Michael King, executive director of the North Country Council, the area’s regional planning commission.

King said he believes the notch is part of the North Country, but he knows many North Country residents disagree. Specific areas that comprise the North Country – such as the Great North Woods or the Mount Washington Valley – are well north of the notch.

“It seems like it should be an easy answer but it’s not,’’ King said.

Even if Romney’s placement of Franconia Notch may irk some Berlin residents, he has one advantage when he visits the city.

Unlike many non-natives, Romney knows to emphasize the first syllable in Berlin, as in “BURR-lynn.’’