Pots and Kettles, etc.

New Hampshire's economy in the southeastern part of the state is pretty diverse and more or less like just about anywhere else in the country: lots of small- to medium-sized businesses, more service-oriented from financial services to other typical suburban service businesses, and with a good dose of tourism-related businesses like rustic B&Bs or the ski lodges. However, this fairly modern American macramé of economic components does not extend very well to the western and even less so to the northern parts of the state. These latter parts of New Hampshire are often able to capture some of those tourist $$$s through the fall leaf and ski seasons, but tourists are notoriously seasonal (whereas hunger and mortgage payments are not). Particularly for the northern part of the state -- which is easily the most scenic part -- towns tend to be very heavily dependent on a single large (or medium-sized) employer. It is all too common these days to read the news that some paper mill is closing in the north, with devastating results to that town's economy as most locals work at the closing plant.

This phenomenon of the economically-lagging western and northern parts of the state -- as opposed to the southeastern part which is effectively becoming a suburb of Boston and as such increasingly integrating into the Boston-area economy -- has given rise to a strange New Hampshire prejudice: "millrats". I heard this expression a few times before finally asking just what a "millrat" is. Here goes:

In the days before steam and later, oil, propelled our machines, the first major energy source of the industrial revolution was water. With its mountains and subsequent mountain streams, New Hampshire was just made for water power, and the first settlers here immediately set up mills with water wheels next to streams all over the place to do everything from grind grains to cut lumber. Great stuff. Indeed, some of these mills are still standing (some are even still working!) and serve as tourist attractions. However, for all the scenery and quaintness, the reality is that most of these preserved mills are in the lesser developed western and northern parts of the state. As strange as this is going to sound, calling someone a millrat is the southeastern New Hampshire equivalent of calling them a hick from a one-horse town. Some even take this moniker seriously, looking upon "millrats" the same one someone from Manhattan might look at someone from West Virginia. This is pretty funny if you consider that among the top ten largest cities in New Hampshire, the lower end of that list barely break the 20,000 population mark....