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

Monuments honoring veterans dot the landscape throughout towns in New England and the nation. From the likenesses of Civil War soldiers standing guard over the town square, to the solemn and emotionally inspiring Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, honoring those who served the nation in the armed forces is a national tradition.

Norwich is no different. For many years, two stone monuments dedicated to veterans stood in town in front of Tracy Hall. One honors those from Norwich who served from the time of the Revolution through the war in Korea. The second honors the Vietnam-era vets. A few years back, the members of American Legion Lyman F.… Read More

Community members who attended the Root District Schoolhouse Gathering on October 22, 2018, recalled fond memories of potluck suppers, movie nights, birthday parties, and dance classes spanning 50 years at the one-room schoolhouse on Union Village Road at Goodrich Four Corners.

This lively event was held at the Norwich Historical Society to envision the future of the building. The Root District Game Club Board elicited ideas and posted sticky notes on bright pink schoolhouse posters. Suggestions ranged from using the building as a venue for yoga and art classes to poetry readings and a winter tracking event.

The participants voiced a desire for the building to remain largely the same with its classic lines and its four large windows.… Read More

On a cold, snowy late November night, a small crowd gathered in the Congregational Church on the Norwich Green. Representing four Upper Valley congregations, they had come to attend an interfaith Thanksgiving service to express their “thanks for the blessings we share.” Bidding them welcome, Pastor Mary Brownlow remarked that the universal theme of gratitude “calls for deep thoughts and sentiments, and draws us out of our narrow concerns into a larger, spiritual realm.” Setting the theme for the service, she said, “We’re mindful of family, friends, and strangers who surround us with neighborly love. May the companionship we share satisfy each hunger for community.”… Read More

The New York Times has been given credit for using the following motto: “All the news that’s fit to print.” That definitive statement served as a source of pride for that publication in its masthead since the 1800s.

Today, the quotation has come into question as mainstream media often appears to have changed its mission and now reports and emphasizes sensationalist or ‘bad’ news, both in print and over the airwaves. Just what is fit to print these days? A lot of heated rhetoric surrounds this question.

I know how to find the answer to this question. Take a few minutes out of your day and sit down with longtime publisher, Jen MacMillen, and have a chat.… Read More

They call them “Kindness Rocks.” Small (usually), smooth (for ease of painting), brightly colored (mostly) painted rocks people make and leave for others to find. Painters create an image or upbeat message hoping to cheer the person who finds the rock. Locally, a big fan of the project is Christine Tullgren, the owner and operator of Little Feet Children’s Center in Thetford.

The project started with Megan Murphy, a Cape Cod resident who wanted to increase kindness and inspiration in the world by putting encouraging messages on beach stones. Now there are Facebook groups where people post messages or photos of placing rocks somewhere.… Read More