Club History
The Southern New Hampshire Snow Slickers was formed in 1968 and incorporated in June of 1969, as a non-profit organization, with Roland Ethier serving as the first president of the organization. Soon thereafter, we voted to become a charter member of the newly formed New Hampshire Snowmobile Association (NHSA). In the early days, meetings were held at various locations. The club was very active with dances, race rallies, summer cookouts, and yes, even a snowmobile blessing pictured below. 
The club actually formed a search and rescue team for emergency purposes. The club was instrumental in starting the Easter Seals Ride-In, by giving snowmobile rides on Lake Massebesic for the benefit of Easter Seals. The total sum of $154.81 was donated the first year. On January 24, 1973 the Southern New Hampshire Snow Slickers purchased 20 acres of land in the Tower Hill area of Candia, and soon miles of trails were created. The club also had barbecues, picnics, camp outs, and of course snowmobile rides on their land. It also has been a starting point for many a Easter Seal Ride. We purchased the land with a vision of developing a trail system which would eventually connect with Bear Brook State Park and also to provide our members a p In December of 1978, we purchased a Bombadier Ski-Dozer 252 G in conjunction with the New Hampshire Off Highway Vehicles Grant in Aid Program. We also obtained a contract from the state to groom Bear Brook State Park, and to this day we still groom it. In September of 1981 we began clearing the land for the construction of our club house. In June of 1982 we began construction of our meeting and storage facility, and the basic building was completed in October of 1982. Shown below are pictures of our Club House in the different construction stages.
Over the years many improvements have been made to the building including cabinetry work, the painting of the inside walls, new electrical wiring and a new heating system which was installed in 1998. Also newly installed outside lights really brighten up the parking lot. In the early 1980's we got permission to use Water Works property around Lake Massebesic which includes the railroad bed. At first the railroad bed had tracks, and a few feet of snow was needed in order to groom, but once the Rockingham Recreational Trail Association was formed the tracks were lifted and we now groom down to the town of Raymond. In the early 1990's with our groomer showing its age we sold it and purchased a Trac Truck with the help of Grant in Aid. The trac truck was more maneuverable and much easier to drive. Fund raising for years was done by having a 200 club, but in the nineties it was time for something different, and raffling off a snowmobile proved to be a big success, with half the proceeds going to Easter Seals and half to multi use trails. In 1996 we purchased a second piece of equipment a Piston Bully 270, to help groom the 100 miles of our trails. Also two bridges were built to accommodate this new equipment. Again Grant in Aid helped but we needed a bigger money maker and thus the Snow Show was created.
The 1998-1999 season saw a change in communications of the Club as we opened up a Web-site, and plans are to expand on this site in the upcoming year with many new feature pages. We have decided to add an extra storage area on the side of the Club House to store all of our grooming equipment and also to have more room to work on this equipment. The SNHSS continue to strive to make snowmobiling better and safer, and to provide a fun, family-oriented atmosphere. We will continue to strive and make it a better club. More future plans call for more trails being opened at Bear Brook State Park, and also to connect to Pawtuckaway State Park via a trail loop. We are also in the process of updating all of our signs making it easier to find your way around. Also new culverts are planned for water stricken areas, and paneling our walls inside the club house for a homier look. New administrations means new ideas and this club is going strong into the next millennium. Hopefully this next year will bring lots of snow to the southern part of the state. Since the start of the new millennium we have had many new additions to our club. First of all we now have a Bombardier BR 180 along with a nine foot Mogul Master drag. We now have a new source of heat for our clubhouse. It's a forced hot air heating system with oil and it works beautifully and comes in handy when its cold outside and also during work parties. In 2003 we did a lot of trail work on the railroad bed including installing culverts to alleviate water problems in the trail by Lake Massebesic as well as in the Hooksett Road tunnel area. We also did major work on the Tower Hill Pond trail taking out roots that were in the trail and put in new gravel. In 2004 we just completed two big projects. One was the Clark Pond Trail and we no longer have to go on top of that big rock as we removed it. Also Hall Mountain Trail will finally reopen this winter as much work to rebuild the trail adding culverts, putting new gravel and adding new signs really improved that trail. Next was the enlarging of the parking lot to double of its original size. New lights have been installed for more brightness, and we really notice a big improvement. Come join this great club and stay tuned for more improvements in the whole sport of snowmobiling.
Here is a video of Arthur Charland discussing the History of our club. This video was recorded by Dave Batzdorf at the General membership meeting held 2/17/2014. YouTube Video