Since 1983, Hartford-Norwich Holiday Basket Helpers has served vulnerable residents in the Upper Valley. What started as a group of friends getting together to support some families who were unable to celebrate the holidays has since evolved into a robust organization. According to Sue Pitiger of Norwich – one of the current organizers – it was Pat Stark, working for the Town of Hartford, who connected the Hartford community with the Norwich community and created a local yearly event. When Pat retired, Pitiger and others such as Sophia Crawford and Carol Loveland, continued the program.

Matt Pickell, Food Program associate at the Upper Valley Haven, succinctly sums up the work that the Haven does in five words: “Good deeds happen here daily.”

Completing its 40th year in service, the Haven has long been providing shelter, education, food and other support to those in need and continues to do so every day. “The work here is very tangible,” Pickell said, “People come here, they need groceries and they leave with groceries.”

The Haven began its work in 1980, founded officially in 1982 by a group of five Upper Valley citizens in an old farm building on Hartford Avenue, formerly known as Taft Avenue.… Read More

Norwich’s Treasured Holiday Tradition and Its History

The winter of 1961 marks an important time in Norwich holiday history as the first year of a beloved community tradition – the Norwich Christmas Pageant. Before the pageant, Norwich children would often gather at the Grange to visit Santa and sit around a Christmas tree while enjoying some hot chocolate and candy. Betty Booth and several Norwich organizations and churches came up with a new idea to help celebrate such a significant holiday, and thus the Norwich Christmas Pageant was born. Now, the pageant has channeled the holiday spirit into something truly special – both a celebration of Christmas and a testament to community.… Read More

In 1770, only eight years after Norwich was founded, the infant twin Slafter boys, Asahel and Asaph, died and were buried in the Waterman Hill Cemetery. These were the first documented burials in Norwich, and this is the oldest cemetery in town. Lying north of the village just before the Pompanoosuc River and west up on Hemlock Road, the Waterman Hill Cemetery was a final resting place for many of Norwich’s early settlers, and a stroll over the grounds and an examination of the gravestones offer historical sketches into the challenges faced by the first residents. Diseases that are rarely mentioned today were fatal, infant deaths were common, and few lived to a golden age.… Read More

The Norwich Times covers for the partial years of 1997 and 2022 can be found on the cover of this current issue, and the 96 issues in between are highlighted here.

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

You didn’t ask for it, but you’re getting it anyway: a resident’s top 25 reasons Norwich is a good spot to be in 2022.

1. Quick: when’s the last time you locked your house?

2. Fifty-degree temperature swings in 24 hours. Better to love it than hate it!

3. The publicly funded portion of the library’s budget passed with more than 90% of the vote last March. What a nice way to answer the question, “Are we for or against reading?” 

4. Admit it: during the Norwich Fair, you kind of feel like you, personally, are part of hosting a party in your town.… Read More

I’m not going to say it because it’s just too cliché. However, it does feel like yesterday when Wendy McMillan Kenyon and I were working on the Quechee Times together – she was my graphic designer at the time – and we began toying with the idea of starting a Norwich publication modeled after the Quechee Times. Her daughter, Maddy, was just three years old and my older daughter, Dewey, was just 18 months and we both worked with and around our daughters by our sides many a day or night!

Upper Valley residents in search of a physical challenge paired with a meaningful cause have, for years, relied on The Prouty to fulfill both. As we approach another Prouty event, the 41st annual, area roads are busy hosting cyclists training for Prouty weekend. Norwich is always well represented with Prouty participants cycling, walking, golfing, rowing to raise money for cancer research.

Norwich resident Stuart Richards is one example of a longtime Prouty veteran who has logged many tough miles on his bike raising money for the annual event.

“My participation goes back to 1986 when I rode my first Prouty Century Ride (the 100-mile course). … Read More

About five months ago, Paul Foster of Norwich received a shocking text. Marcel Jean, director and manager of the Tysea Orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti, was reaching out to Foster to let him know the funding the orphanage relied on to operate, was suddenly about to disappear. Their main benefactor was pulling out and the orphanage would have to close.

Foster had met Jean five years prior and gotten involved in Tysea by helping with educational costs; now Jean was reaching out to see if Foster might be able to assist him raise the funds to save the orphanage. Foster was immediately ready to help prevent the closing of the orphanage: “I couldn’t let that happen, I wouldn’t let that happen,” he said. … Read More

Psyanky, or egg-writing, was the last lesson Shannon Wallis of Norwich taught as an elementary school teacher some 23 years ago, though she did not know it at the time. Teaching art to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Hanover Street School and Seminary Hill in 1999, Wallis was ordered on bed rest while pregnant: “I took a leave of absence and then didn’t go back to teaching art, so that was the last unit I taught,” she said.

A coincidence that now feels fateful, Wallis is a full-time pysanky artist creating intricate designs on delicate eggs. Wallis first learned this Ukrainian artform while training to become an elementary school teacher about 30 years ago.… Read More