Eighteen months and 300 photographs later, Bow residents can now have a look at 2009. The Bow Heritage Commission recently completed its 2009 “Barns of Bow” calendar with the help of Bow Selectman Eric Anderson, who photographed the various barns in town.

“I love capturing the present and preservng it for the future,” Anderson said. “It was appealing because I left Bow for a period of almost 30 years for college and serving the country. When I returned, much of what I remembered was missing. I’ve had it in the back of my mind that we should start capturing the barns through photographs.”

Sue Wheeler, chairman of the Bow Heritage Commission, said the process took close to two years between getting advertisers to sponsor the project and collecting Anderson’s photographs.

Wheeler said her favorite part was seeing the variety of buildings in Bow.

“A barn that you have today might have been built in the 1900s, but it’s still significant because not everyone is building barns today,” she said. “They were built for farming and livestock when that was your livelihood. It’s interesting to see the different eras and how different the barns looked in keeping up with the times.”

Anderson took more than 300 photographs that he had to narrow down to 14. Whether it was during the brisk winter or blistering summer, he was outside with his camera, snapping away.

“I was out in snowstorms, out in the heat, out in the buggy seasons,” said Anderson, who also said the barns are representative of the state. “I think if you look at the state, they’ve had a great effort in providing abatements for barns. It’s part of our landscape in New Hampshire, and here in Bow. It’s something we should be paying attention to and preserving.”

The calendar will give residents a glimpse of how many barns are in their hometown.

“It opens the eyes to a lot of Bow residents who don’t realize how many barns there really are in town,” said Wheeler. “You may not go down that certain road, but maybe if you knew there were more around, you may ride around and take a look.”

Anderson also said community awareness of the barns is important.

“I think it’s an effort in progress. We need to continue documenting what’s going on in our community,” he said. “It’s an ongoing effort, and this calendar was one opportunity to do that.”

In the calendar, the pictures tell the story, as each photo only has a small amount of information accompanying it.

“It gives you an idea. It can’t tell the whole story, but can give you an idea what went on and how it effected the town,” said Wheeler. “We have given a little information on the barns, but we didn’t want to give too much away. We want people to inquire when they see it. We want peopel to dig for some info.”

The calendar costs $15 each, and can be purchased at Baker Free Library, Ordways Market in Concord, and Champney’s Fireworks in Bow. All proceeds will benefit the Bow Heritage Commission.