BY RYAN O’CONNOR

It took nearly a year to put together and several months to publish, but “Bow,” the new book by the Bow Heritage Commission, is finally available for purchase.

Sue Wheeler, chairman of the Heritage Commission, said many hours and resources went into the book’s creation, but the end result makes all the time and effort worth it.

“The final outcome was great. It looks absolutely wonderful,” said Wheeler. “We had other books to go from, from other towns, so we had a good idea of what the finished product would look like. But, obviously, this has a more personal feel and I think it’s just dynamite.”

The book is produced by Arcadia Publishing, which has created thousands of similar books from other towns throughout the country, especially New England.

Though Arcadia handled the final details and printing, it was members of the Heritage Commission, both past and present, who did the work behind the book.

“We had to make sure we had everything covered, from having the right picture to getting the right information to categorizing and making chapters. We had to make it interesting and it was a process,” said Wheeler.  “It took time and took a lot of dedication from the commissioners,
but we put our heads together and just pushed through it.

“We were just very fortunate to have a great collection of photos that former commissioners had already put together, so we didn’t have to go and beg people to give up their pictures.”

The book, which has a limited amount of contemporary photos, is intended to provide readers with a look into the past without much reading.

“100 Acres More or Less,” by David Bundy, was published in 1975 and had served as Bow’s only true history book before now.

“That is more of an informational book where this is a picture book, which tends to catch people’s attention more so than one with a lot of reference,” said Wheeler. “We made some captions a little corny and funny to keep it creative.”