For Norwich resident Deborah McLane Carter, the mission and ensuing work of one of the oldest family- serving non-profits in New Hampshire actually began over a 100 years ago with her grandfather, John McLane, who was instrumental in founding the NH Children’s Aid Society that later merged into the Child and Family Services of NH, now rebranded as Waypoint.

“I’m involved in Waypoint because of family history,” said Carter who is one of its nine board members. “There has always been a McLane on the board, and, when it became my turn, I gladly joined. My beliefs and values – as a part of our enthusiastic, cohesive, hard-working board – echo those of the founders, serving with the ‘shared vision of guarding children’s rights, serving children’s needs, and strengthening the life of the family.’”… Read More

If this keeps up, the world will know Norwich as much for the creative young entrepreneurs that it grows (or should we say entrepreneurial young creatives?) as for the Olympic athletes it cultivates. Most visibly these days, 22-year-old Jake Laser is building a big following on YouTube for his videos of the inventions he’s been churning out since early adolescence. “I always had the passion for building stuff,” says the 2015 graduate of Hanover High School. “This is what it’s manifested into so far. I don’t think this is the final step.”

Under the guidance of budding music producer and fellow college undergraduate Phin Choukas, Hans Williams is taking the first tentative steps toward a career in music, already reaching thousands of listeners on platforms like Spotify for the songs he’s writing and singing and recording.… Read More

You say you want a Revels solution for Christmas? In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic? This season, thanks to some creative scrambling on the part of the leaders and the rank-and-file performers of Revels North – many of them from Norwich – you’ll find it online or on your TV screen.

In place of what would have been the Upper Valley’s 45th consecutive live yuletide pageant celebrating the Winter Solstice in song and dance, Revels North last spring commissioned All Shall Be Well Again – a 17-minute animated film that Norwich resident and Revels executive director Brian Cook describes as “just lovely to behold … very, very true to the Revels spirit, with a respect for the traditional style.”… Read More

As the new school year begins, it’s probably a good idea for all of us, not just students, to brush up on our math skills. Let’s try a few questions. Here’s the first one: How many seconds in eleven years? Is everyone reaching for a calculator? The answer is 346,896,000. Next try this: What sum multiplied by itself will produce 998,001? Answer: 999. How did you do? Well, now consider this: in 1810, a six-year-old Vermont boy answered both of these questions in 8 seconds. His name was Zerah Colburn

Born in 1804 in Cabot, VT to Abia and Betsy Colburn, Zerah was the sixth in a family of eight children.… Read More

Norwich Volunteers Take Active Role in Orchard Work

Some dozen volunteers from the town’s Willing Hands will once again be offering their time and labor this year at the Whitman Brook Orchard in Quechee. The Norwich-based non-profit serves people in need of all ages throughout the Upper Valley, having developed an efficient system for food recovery and distribution.

“We arrange for regular pick-ups with over 40 food donors and deliver to at least 58 organizations every week, all year long,” said Executive Director Gabe Zoerheide. “Together we provide one small but effective solution to a very big challenge.”

Many families and individuals in the Upper Valley struggle to make ends meet.… Read More

The wave of Black Lives Matter protests sweeping across and beyond the US has forced white Americans to open their eyes to racial abuse and injustices that are centuries old. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and more recently the shooting of Jacob Blake, have sparked a series of protests, demonstrations, and campaigns across all sectors of society. The music industry shut down for #blackoutfriday. Books about Blackness, Whiteness, and antiracism have shot to the top of bestseller lists as non-Black people strive to learn more about an issue that we have had the privilege to ignore for too long.… Read More

Global pandemics are nothing new. From prehistoric times to today, man has faced devastating diseases that have changed the course of history or, worse, ended civilizations altogether. What is novel, however, as local resident and historian Sarah Rooker discovered recently, is the telltale stories that accompany them. “Hanover High School rising senior Lauren Pidgeon and I had been researching the 1918 influenza epidemic in Norwich and realized there was very little information,” said Rooker, director of the Norwich Historical Society (NHS). “All we really had were newspaper clippings. Diaries and letters from the time casually mentioned it, but there weren’t enough to really gain insights into the community’s experiences.”… Read More

Nine years ago, one of the most damaging storms in Vermont’s history came roaring in, bringing the state to its knees, as some said, with more than 500 miles of state roads destroyed, 60,000 homes and businesses without power, and 200 bridges damaged or ripped off foundations.

One of those was the Norwich’s Kids Bridge over Blood Brook connecting Beaver Meadow Road and neighboring families to Huntley Meadow. Kids used the bridge to cross the brook on foot and bike to use the fields, playground, and continue on their way to school and town.

The wooden bridge, built by Eagle Scouts, was never replaced, despite an approved bridge design, necessary state and town permits, and approved site.… Read More

Publisher’ Note: I don’t typically publish profiles of people after they’ve passed for a number of reasons: that we’re only quarterly; that I like to ‘introduce’ people to the community in hopes of facilitating real-time connections; that we try to capture a person’s heart and soul in the moment.

I am making an exception for Ruth.

Ruth Sylvester, herself, was exceptional in every way. I can safely say that the Norwich Times would not be the time-honored publication it continues to be were it not for the articles she wrote for just about every issue since the very first one in September 1997.… Read More

Willing Hands’ new headquarters is on Church Street in Norwich. However, its impact reaches far and wide as it picks up nutritious food otherwise thrown away, and donates it to organizations and people in need across the Upper Valley.

Willing Hand’s history starts in 2004 with founder Peter Phippen. Phippen worked in the produce department of the Hanover Co-op and noticed that there was an inordinate amount of nutritious food going to waste. He resigned from his job and founded Willing Hands in order to be able to redistribute quality food into the community which would have otherwise gone into the landfill.… Read More