Nosy in New Hampshire

Peterboro, N.H., in 1907, during the period in which Our Town is set.

“In our town, we like to know the facts about everybody.’’

— From Thornton Wilder’s (1897-1975) celebrated 1938 play Our Town, inspired by the time Wilder spent in Peterboro, N.H., where he had been a member of the MacDowell Colony, the residential retreat for artists.

The nine cities of Newport -- from 'beautiful' to 'nearly squalid'

The private Redwood Library and Athenaeum, in Newport

“I found— or thought I found — that Newport, Rhode Island, presented nine cities, some superimposed, some having very little relation with the others — variously beautiful, impressive, absurd, commonplace, and one very nearly squalid.’’

__ Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), American playwright and novelist, in his last novel, Theophilus North (1973), based on his time in “The City by the Sea’’ as a tutor in 1926