N.H for Kids: Clark's Trading Post
Family Fun with Bears, Train Rides, Circus Shows and Ice Cream
One of the oldest summer businesses in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Clark’s Trading Post has been operating since 1928. Ed and Murray Clark started training black bears in 1949 and they have been entertainting and educating the public about bears every since. Several times a day during the summer the bears appear in center stage, rolling balls, swinging, and performing tricks, all for a reward of ice cream. The bears are clearly having as much fun as the delighted kids in the audience.
But preceding the bears Clarks presents an amazing circus act, the Seyranyan Family Circus in a captivating show of hand balancing and acrobatics. Counted among the finest acrobats in the world, the family has appeared on TV and has won prizes worldwide for their performances of supple and graceful acrobatics.
Enter through the doorway and you are in a late 1900s train station, usually with a steam-belching locomotive there, waiting to take you for an open car train ride through the woods. Along the way, don’t be at all surprised to suddenly meet a gun-toting madman riding a wacky car and threatening all who would jump his claim. Kids love it, adults love watching the kids.
Along the Victorian Main Street are museums, a fun house, low-key shops and an ice cream parlor. One of the museums houses a fine collection of 19th-century artifacts, including a steam powered water pump for fighting fires, made at the Amoskeag Mills in Manchester.
Another favorite is Avery’s Garage, a faithful replica of an early gas station and car repair shop. It is true to the last detail, with a restored 1931 LaSalle touring car and period motorcycles, including the famed Indian Motorcycle. Look too for the collection of nickelodeons, the earliest ancestor of today’s MP3s, as well as primitive appliances, advertising and other ephemera.
On a hot day kids will gravitate to the Old Mill Pond. The wate- blaster boats corralled there can provide lots of family fun, like bumper cars but wet. In Tuttle’s Rustic House, said to be home to a crazy inventor, visitors fasten their seatbelts for a realistic tour of “inventions” that defy the laws of gravity and physics. At Merlin’s Mansion the world of magic mystifies (with the help of some ingenious local people).
Clark’s makes a great family outing -- safe, spotless and lots of fun, no high pressure and slow paced enough for even small children to enjoy a full day there. The stores have interesting things to look at and buy and they are set up so that the small tempting things kids invariably want are not at their eye level. Another plus is that once you have paid the entrance fee all rides and attractions are included – there are no add on fees. Clark’s Trading Post is a steal: ages 3-5 $6, age 6 and up $15, seniors $14). It’s open mid-May to mid-October 9:30-6 (10-5 after Labor Day), Saturday nights July-mid-Aug until 9pm. 110 US Route 3, North Lincoln NH, (603) 745-8913.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
