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The Exeter Mill - Ice out on the Squamscott River
The old postcard above is of the Exeter Mill, in Exeter, NH. It was built in the late industrial era as a textile mill and was famous for producing high-quality gaberdine fabric. In the early 1980's the old mill was converted into luxury apartments. I lived there from 1999 through 2003 and had a giant, sunny apartment overlooking the Squamscott river. I enjoyed looking out over the water and the ever changing scenery.
The panorama above was made by stitching together pictures taken on a cold February day when I went out for a walk. It's a longer vantage point than the postcard, but you see the Mill back on the right. In the foreground are ice-fishing huts of all sizes and colors. The fishermen work the tides no matter what the hour or weather as long as the alewifes (small fish) are running. Even in the dead of the coldest winter's night you can follow the lanterns of hearty ice-fishermen as they trek to and from their fishing huts.

The giant south facing windows the Mill apartments overlook the river.
These ice-fishing huts are also known as bob-houses. The Exeter Mill in the background is over 100 years old.
A well worn path runs down the river. It is the main street in this temporary village of ice-fishing huts.

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 In March of 2001 I made a series of time-lapse movies with a little lego-cam and an old laptop computer. I wanted to catch the ice as it broke up and went out of the river. It took many days before my patience finally paid off. On March 26th I came home after work to discover that my daily effort had perfectly captured the entire breakup of the ice. The quality of the movie isn't the best, but it captures a very unique event.

That entire day is compressed into a one minute movie. I love how the sun swings overhead and chunks of ice start to break away. All at once the ice goes out, the river clears, the sun sets and the street lights awake, as if choreographed from above.

In the movie you see things that aren't evident in real life. You would not notice the rotating motion of the smaller floes at normal speed.

Be patient, the last 30 seconds of this movie are much more interesting than the first half!