It was curiosity and the prospect of hidden treasure that fueled our snow covered journey this past winter to the edge of Lake Kezar in North Sutton and to the rebirth of a proud literary tradition – The New Hampshire Troubadour.

Entering the cozy lakeside cottage of Pat Lomans we were rewarded with a simple plastic pencil box. Inside were 43 carefully preserved issues of the original NH Troubadour, a unique, pocket-sized, monthly digest published by the state from 1931-51 to spotlight the beauty of NH to residents and attract new visitors. Once this box was opened, it released enough magic dust to spark our imaginations and, ultimately, the magazine you hold in your hands today.

We have designed the new NH Troubadour to be as much a reverent nod to the past as it is an energized eye to the future. True to the original publication we will present you authentic photography, poetry and reader-generated prose. You will also find new features including a center spread highlighting a Granite State town and a section that allows us to champion – or trumpet – a unique individual or group making a positive difference in their community.

Appropriate, we thought, to first ‘trumpet’, the ‘NH Troubadours.’ Credit Susan Cancio-Bello for founding this fundraising, volunteer choral group and for helping restore this publication by graciously allowing us the use of the Troubadour name. We also found it fitting to profile the town of North Sutton – a hamlet blessed with simple charm and magically untouched by time.

Throughout, we have created this magazine to reflect and celebrate you, the reader, and the countless gems our state has to offer. Each month, The NH Troubadour will be mailed to nearly 50,000 households and distributed to all town offices and public libraries statewide. It will also be offered to all 4th grade students and teachers in our public schools, to serve as a one-of-a-kind NH history resource.

This will be delivered free of ads and free of charge, but full of memorable essays, profiles, pictures and more—just as it was presented more than a half century ago. Something for free these days? That, as Pat Lomans might say “is rarer than hen’s teeth.”  We only hope that you’re as glad to receive this gift as we are to offer it.