One of the favorite recreational opportunities residents and visitors to the Upper Valley enjoy in the fall is hiking the many area trails. Hiking allows an intimate relationship with nature and, in some cases, a birds-eye view of the spectacular fall color. Residents and visitors are particularly blessed with many local trails from which to choose.

One of the best sources for information on area trails in our area is the Upper Valley Trails Alliance located in Norwich. UVTA executive director, Russ Hirschler, says hikers should be able to thoroughly enjoy the area’s trails this fall, while keeping in mind that the trails get some of their heaviest use this time of year.… Read More

Meeting Norwich’s Katie Kitchel is a bit like catching hold of a rocketship. She gives the impression of fast movement even when she’s sitting down. But she focuses her attention on what she’s doing or saying – this is not a woman who indulges fog.

She obviously loves children, smiling and admiring new babies that friends bring into a cafe, and she is keenly aware of how long her own children, a sophomore, a 6th grader, and a 3rd grader, can benefit by supervising themselves and when some adult contact would be a good idea.

Katie has found jobs she loves that intersect with her interests and talents: children and performing arts.… Read More

Every spring, Leadership Upper Valley, a program of Vital Communities, hosts its annual Heroes & Leaders Celebration to recognize individuals who make extraordinary contributions to the Upper Valley. This year’s 25th-anniversary event on May 30 honored 12 leaders who add immeasurably to the vitality of the region, including several inspiring neighbors from right here in Norwich.

Penny McConnel and Liza Bernard

Adapted from remarks by Allan Reetz of the Hanover Co-op Food Stores

If there were a book about The Norwich Bookstore and its founders and co-owners, Liza Bernard and Penny McConnel, it would impart lasting lessons of business and community.… Read More

An inconspicuous and little-known migratory songbird drew me to Cuba three winters ago. The island’s people and landscape captured me, and have kept me coming back.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Cuba’s birds – both resident and migrant – and the places they live are a huge draw for me. They’ve led me to the island’s highest peak at 6,476 feet elevation, and taken me to remote cloud forests where humans had probably never tread. But, my most enduring memories invariably involve my local colleagues, now my friends.

We’ve shared the thrill of discoveries; the humor needed for a fifth consecutive dinner of instant mashed Until recently, VCE’s efforts centered on Hispaniola – especially the Dominican Republic – where 80-90% of the planet’s approximately 100,000 Bicknell’s Thrushes overwinter.… Read More

Michael McCarthy in his book Moth Snowstorm remembers evening drives when moths filled the headlights like snowflakes in a blizzard. Memories of summer always include sounds of insect life, children happily chasing butterflies and catching lightening bugs.

Insects have undergone a severe, largely unnoticed decline over at least three decades. Scientists have now documented the decline and studied its causes. A 2017 study in Germany, revealed a shocking 76% decline in insect biomass in nature preserves. Fewer insects are present, and their ranges are restricted. A review study published this month in Biological Conservation reports that 40% of insect species worldwide are threatened with extinction.… Read More

Much has been written about Alden Partridge, who established Norwich University (first known as the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy) on the town green in 1819. He was a great leader and an innovative educator. But what was life like for the teenage scholars attending the University who left their homes hundreds of miles away and sought an education in rural Vermont? Where did they live? What did they study? What did they think of Norwich?

Fortunately, many of the early school catalogs, student letters, and diaries have survived to this day, and from them, it’s not difficult to sketch out the daily life of the students while they studied in Norwich nearly 200 years ago.… Read More

Jill Kearney Niles and Doug Robinson Named Stewards of Norwich

If you live in Norwich, you’ve encountered Demo Sofronas. You might not know it — but face it, the man and his works are everywhere. Maybe you’ve watched him crossing kids to Marion Cross in the morning. Or stopped to ponder the new monument honoring Norwich residents who served in the armed forces post-Vietnam, which he helped create. Or you read his “About Norwich” blog on DailyUV, which knits townspeople together. Or you’ve seen him at the Norwich Fair, sat on one of the benches he helped put together behind the library, or come across some other Norwich Lions Club service project he’s been involved in.… Read More

Editor’s Note: What makes a person a real hero is when they are the hero yet they sing the praises of others. Frank Orlowski is that kind of hero. I honestly could not get the Quechee, Lebanon and Norwich Times out to each community without his help. Not only does he persevere with kindness and patience while selling advertising space to our local businesses, he pitches in and writes many of the articles (often with little notice). And, when the paper is delivered to my office, Frank arrives in his pickup and slowly but surely loads the boxes of extras onto the truck to deliver them around town.… Read More

The four words we use to describe this experience to our friends are Shock, Awe, Gratitude, and Joy.” Kristin Brown and her husband, Stuart Close, have had ample opportunity to recount their once-in-a-lifetime adventure as unexpected VIP attendees at this year’s Superbowl game in Atlanta. Sitting in their living room in Norwich thinking back on their trip yet again, they both keep breaking into huge smiles. “We were just pinching ourselves that whole weekend and couldn’t  believe that it was actually happening. So far outside our normal life.”

No mere ballgame, the Superbowl has been described as “a celebration of our shared American condition,” and, “a combination of Thanksgiving-like feasting, Fourth of July-like Americanism, and Christmas-like commercialism into a spectacle that draws the largest audience for any event in modern national life.”… Read More

It was just one more challenge that the January night of the awards ceremony threatened a dismayingly snowy drive. But—as the award bears witness—overcoming challenges is a specialty of Opera North, the Upper Valley’s esteemed homegrown opera company. Three intrepid representatives of the company set forth for Concord, NH, to receive the New Hampshire Theatre Alliance’s Matty Gregg Award for Vision and Tenacity.

“I think of it as New Hampshire’s equivalent of the Tony awards,” says Opera North’s Director of Development (and former Norwich resident), Maria Laskaris. ON was being honored for its collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS) which resulted in last summer’s “Singers and Swingers,” a surprising blend of opera music and circus performance at the NPS site, Blow-Me-Down Farm.… Read More