Miniature Marvels

The first impression upon descending into the valley location of the Cascade Campground in
Loudon, New Hampshire, is that you have stumbled into a modern-day Brigadoon. On a hillside
where you would normally expect to find only green grass, a diminutive village of
hand-carved, brightly painted, multi-story buildings comes into view. John Muise, the
creator of “Muise’s Village in the Foothills of New Hampshire,” is a retired punch-press
setup man. He and his wife, Jean, are proud of the fact that all of his lilliputian
structures are carved using hand tools only, and built from recycled materials. His first
building was put together with surplus wood scraps left over from when his son built a new
home. Since then, Muise’s village has grown to include a dozen buildings, a series of roads
and an airfield — and it’s not finished yet. The inspiration for the various structures
comes from real-life buildings John and his wife encounter during their travels throughout
the United States. Neighbors at the Cascade Campground keep bringing in suggestions, and
John and Jean keep collecting building materials, even when the snow falls in New Hampshire
and the couple moves south to Florida for the winter. It is a year-round hobby, with some
of the projects requiring a year or more to create. The 150-acre Cascade Campground is
tucked away in a deeply forested valley on the banks of the Soucook River, just off State
Route 106. Cascade Campground, (603) 224-3212, cascadecampground.com.