Suncook Village is the only home Jocelyn Carlucci has ever known.
She has spent all seven decades of her life living within a few blocks of Main Street, which runs across a bend in the Suncook River where Pembroke meets Allenstown.
A fourth-generation resident on her mother’s side and third-generation on her father’s side, Carlucci’s roots in the area run deep.
“Where you grow up is such a part of you,” said Carlucci, co-chair of Meet Me In Suncook, a nonprofit dedicated to historical preservation in the small village. “It means something. I don’t really know how to describe it. To me, it’s personal. When we walk along the main street, I look and I love to see advances, little things that are changing.”
The historic village, formerly a hub for three large industrial mills on either side of the river, retained a few long-term businesses that clung to life over the decades. In the past few years, however, the area’s reputation as a sleepy spot began to change.
Small businesses have popped up across the village, transforming the one-block downtown into a destination its residents hope will continue to thrive over time.
A few of the new additions include The Creative Duckling, Lily Flower Floral Designs, Little Vintage Venue, Pembroke City Limits, Shirley’s Kitchen, and BigHouse Barbershop. The Vintage Cup Coffee Company, which opened over the summer, is the latest addition to the area.
These new downtown storefronts take their place among veteran establishments like Jacques Pastry Shop, Famous Village Pizza and Mei’s Chinese Restaurant.
“All you need is people. You need people to come. When people come, it opens up a whole new world,” said Carlucci.
‘I’m seeing change’
Paula Despres, who owns and operates Jacques Pastry Shop alongside her husband, Jacques, has seen the village fluctuate in economic prosperity over the years. She recalls when, not that long ago, several of the storefronts downtown sat vacant.
“It was a bustling town back in the day when the mills were running, and I think once the mills closed down, it became something else,” said Despres, who has been in Suncook since she and her husband opened their pastry shop in 1973.
For a while, downtown consisted mostly of a couple of restaurants, a bank and the post office.
“It just never took off,” she said. “It just had a hard time launching itself into something bigger and better, and we always waited for the day.”
Decorated storefronts now populate the little downtown, which made the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Flower boxes hang in windows facing Main Street, and historical plaques adorn the brick buildings. The Suncook River rushes under the bridge connecting Pembroke to Allenstown, while the old mills, now largely repurposed into housing, stand tall on its banks.
On weekday mornings, it can be quiet, but neighbors greet each other as they pass on the sidewalk. In the evenings, especially on weekends, people from the area flock to Pembroke City Limits for live music or Oddball Brewing to end their day with a drink.
Despres views the newfound vitality as a good omen for Suncook.
“There’s a lot going on,” Despres said. “There’s still a lot to be done, but I’m seeing change, which is what I like.”
Pembroke City Limits on Main Street in Suncook. Credit: GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor
The history of an old mill town
Suncook means “rocky place” or “to the rocks” in Abenaki, with the village and the river beside it deriving their shared name from the Native Americans who first inhabited the land.
European settlers moved into the area in the 1700s, and by the end of the 1730s, the first mills were built by the water. The village eventually boasted three main sources of industry: Webster Mill, Pembroke Mill and China Mill.
Constructing the mills required brick and lumber. Trees from the area that later became Bear Brook State Park supplied the wood, with workers floating logs down the river to the mill sites, according to Carlucci. The bricks were produced using clay from along the Merrimack River. Building the mills necessitated labor, as did producing textiles once they were completed.
For a while, the area’s population swelled, especially with the railroad bringing French Canadian families into town for employment.
“You have little communities, and a mom-and-pop store would go ahead and start because people didn’t have cars, so they’re not going to drive, or they’re not going to walk three miles to the store,” Carlucci said. “So, lo and behold, in your neighborhood pops up a store, that’s what would happen. So because of the mills, there were a lot of people, so you need a lot of businesses.”
The recent transformation of the mills into residences has mimicked the same economic surge from a couple of centuries ago.
Today, both Emerson Mills and 25 Canal, large mill buildings converted into housing, have contributed to the current rise in businesses. Emerson Mills, at the site of the former Pembroke Mill, boasts 71 units, and 25 Canal, which began leasing in 2023 in the old China Mill, has 150 units.
The 25 Canal apartments are inside the old China Mill on the Allenstown side of the river. Credit: RACHEL WACHMAN / Monitor
The Emerson Mills apartments sit at the former site of the Pembroke Mill. Credit: RACHEL WACHMAN / Monitor
Rob Azevedo, who opened Pembroke City Limits last year, views the relationship between housing and businesses as mutually beneficial.
“It’s not just the village, not just the businesses revitalizing the village,” said Azevedo. “It’s the townspeople in the village that have taken it upon themselves to revitalize it by being present and engaged and very much a part of the business as much as I am.”
New businesses leading the charge
When Bonnie and Jae Shirley of Nashua were looking to open a restaurant two years ago, they stumbled upon an open space in Suncook and fell in love with the small downtown and the locals who frequent it.
“One of my favorite things is watching people in the community inside the restaurant,” Bonnie Shirley said. “Somebody walks in; they know somebody else, or people just meet each other sitting at the counter, and they find out each other’s stories and build camaraderie within the town. It makes me smile at the end of the day.”
Even in the time since they launched Shirley’s Kitchen, the pair has seen others turn their business dreams to reality, filling storefronts in the village one by one.
“Business brings in business,” said Jae Shirley. “So the more businesses there are, it’s going to bring more people to town. We only help each other.”
Bonnie and Jae Shirley talk to a customer inside Shirley’s Kitchen. Credit: GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor
Shirley’s Kitchen has become a popular breakfast spot in Suncook. Credit: GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor
On weekday mornings and weekends alike, their cozy diner-like interior fills with hungry customers, including Sherry Yeaton, who has become a regular since the restaurant opened.
Yeaton grew up in Epsom. Her father owned the building in which Shirley’s now resides. Back then, it was a hardware store. Yeaton used to work there as a teenager and now enjoys eating breakfast in the same spot.
The sense of conviviality in the village, in addition to the quality of the food, keeps her coming back.
“From the beginning, they knew my name,” Yeaton said, sitting at her usual table along the side wall of Shirley’s. “They remembered me. They remembered my preferences. They’re just really, really nice people.”
She has enjoyed seeing those around her take advantage of all the village has to offer.
“There’s a lot of history around here, and it felt when I was a teenager like it might be, not going downhill exactly, but they didn’t have a Main Street Concord mentality like it feels like they have now. They’re making it feel like a neighborhood,” she added.
Katie Booker, who grew up in Pembroke, has had a similar experience seeing Suncook blossom. As a child, she frequently made the one-mile walk into the village for pizza or Chinese food. Later, as an adult, she recognized an opportunity to bring her creative energy downtown.
Booker opened the upcycled craft and home decor store Little Vintage Venue eight years ago on Main Street. Then, this summer, she launched The Vintage Cup Coffee Company, bringing the first new addition of its kind to the village: a coffee shop.
Watching businesses open alongside hers, Booker sees the area becoming a true downtown for both Allenstown and Pembroke and the rest of the Suncook Valley.
“You could spend a Saturday down here,” she said. “You could come down, do some yoga, grab some breakfast, do a little shopping, get your hair cut, because there’s a salon and a barber down here, grab lunch, or come later on in the afternoon and grab a beer, or a bite to eat.”
The Suncook Post Office offers an essential service locally, as does the Pembroke Wellness Center, which provides medical care. With Sully’s just down the road in Allenstown for those looking to buy groceries, the village fulfills a multitude of needs.
The Pembroke Economic Development Committee, re-established earlier this year, has made the village an area of focus of its efforts.
Having visited many picturesque downtowns across the state, Azevedo envisions Suncook becoming the next Newmarket within half a decade.
“There was nothing going on there, and then they did what Pembroke did, renovated a couple mills, brought in some younger people, gave the people something back for their investment in their time and where they decided to live,” he said.
Soon Suncook will be swimming in third spaces. Azevedo will soon open a record and bookstore next to Pembroke City Limits, offering yet another place for residents and visitors alike to congregate.
Still, those who have been around for a while remember that this sense of community didn’t always feel as strong.
When Chris Glenn and Joe Friolet took over Oddball Brewing a few years ago, they couldn’t find the same camaraderie among fellow business owners that they have now.
“It was a little scary, because there wasn’t a lot going on. I think now, with other businesses coming in, it actually makes it more attractive for other places to look,” he said.
Glenn thinks that part of the beauty of the village is that Oddball — and businesses like it — are all independent and have no affiliation with larger companies.
“It is exponentially becoming a place that I think people want to go visit and see how the town has grown,” he said.
Just as a business needs its customers, so, too, does a downtown need its community. Meet Me In Suncook holds an Adopt A Spot campaign to decorate the area with flowers, and the Pembroke Women’s Club hosts Christmas in the Village each winter.
With people like Despres and Carlucci, who have spent decades of their lives there, and newer residents like Azevedo moving into the area, the village continues to take on new life while maintaining its timeless charm.
“That quaint New England village, that’s what I love about Suncook,” Carlucci said.
