skiing, kayaking, cycling and small lakes for swimming, sailing, fishing and ice-skating. It is a popular bird-watching area, one of two sites of the NH Audubon autumn migratory raptor count. Education The public schools are part of Contoocook Valley school district (SAU 1) which has a total of 11 schools and one applied technology center. Contoocook Valley Regional High School, built in 1970, serves approximately 700 students. South Meadow School, founded in 1989, serves approximately 400 students. The school began as Peterborough Middle School. Peterborough Elementary School, locally known as PES, serves approximately 250 students. While the area has many private kindergartens, pre-schools and elementaries, The Well School, founded in 1967, is the only Pre-8 school within the town. The Well is a day school that serves approximately 160 students on an extensive rural campus. Clay Mathematics Institute, a foundation supporting mathematics research. Media The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript is published twice-weekly. Infrastructure The town wants to achieve 100 percent reliance on sustainable energy, and built the largest solar facility in New Hampshire, next to its wastewater treatment plant. Notable people Abiel Abbot (1765–1859), minister, educator and founder of the first free library Charles Bass (born 1952), US congressman Perkins Bass (1912–2011), US congressman Robert P. Bass (1873–1960), farmer, forestry expert, 53rd Governor of New Hampshire Jotham Blanchard (1800–1839), lawyer, newspaper editor, Canadian politician Ingrid Chavez (born 1965), actress, musician Moses Cheney (1793–1875), abolitionist, legislator, and founder of Bates College Person Colby Cheney (1828–1901), manufacturer, abolitionist, US senator, 35th Governor of New Hampshire Francis Joseph Christian (born 1942), retired auxiliary bishop, Diocese of Manchester Frank Gay Clarke (1850–1901), US congressman Landon T. Clay (1926–2017), businessman, philanthropist, art collector, founder of Clay Mathematics Institute Matt Deis (born 1983), musician Jeanne Dietsch (born 1952), state senator Richard Despard Estes (born 1928), author Wayne Green (1922–2013), publisher Joanne Head (1930–2021), member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Sam Huntington (born 1982), actor Beth Krommes (born 1956), illustrator, winner of 2009 Caldecott Medal Edward MacDowell (1860–1908), composer Marian MacDowell (1857–1956), founder of the MacDowell Colony Bob "Mr. Mac" McQuillen (1923–2014), teacher, musician, prolific composer of contra dance tunes; recognized as a National Heritage Fellow James Miller (1776–1851), US congressman, general Luke Miller (1815-1881), physician, businessman, and Minnesota state senator Elting E. Morison (1909–1995), US historian, professor emeritus at MIT, founder of the MIT's Program in Science, Technology and Society (known as STS), lived and died