Over half a century ago, three idealistic musicians joined forces in New York, and proceeded to lend their time and talent to the civil rights movement, protests against the Vietnam war, and countless campaigns for human rights over the following decades. Peter, Paul & Mary became icons – “the gateway drug to the folk revival of the ’60s” in the words of one critic – with their renditions of songs like If I Had a Hammer and Blowin’ in the Wind.

A generation later, from her home in Wilder, the daughter of Paul Stookey carries on her father’s legacy of using music as a tool for social change.… Read More

To see Norwich Bookstore owners Liza Bernard and Penny McConnel in action, you would think they are fraternal twin sisters. The pair move and speak in harmony; finish each other’s sentences, encourage, laugh, compliment, and prod – the way only the best of friends can do.

One would never guess McConnel and Bernard’s ages of 82 and 67, respectively. Perhaps bookselling is a tonic that keeps people young, witty, and vibrant. But every story has an eventual ending, and thoughts of retiring have crossed their minds, especially in the past three years.

And so, through the bookseller’s industry listserv, they sought new owners.… Read More

A side effect of the world being upside down for a year is the unexpected beauty and wit that the universe continues to throw at us. My oldest son, 10, has blossomed into an avid collector of ski trail maps, the origami squares you kept jammed in your parka to look at on the lift before smartphones changed our world. Occasionally, I look up a resort and see if it is easy to contact customer service or the ticket window. Most times, corporate America thwarts my efforts. (Calling Vail and hoping for a quick answer instead of getting trapped in an endless labyrinth of “press 1” options is a little like standing in front of the White House thinking Joe is going to come out and say hello just to you.)… Read More

This spring issue of the Norwich Times happens to coincide with the time of greatest change in the Upper Valley.  We go from cold nights and snow covered ground in early March, to the warm (sometimes hot) days, spring rains, and long hours of light of late May.  In between there are ice events, spring flooding, mud, and the long awaited greening of trees and lawns…oh, and the flowers – who can forget the flowers.

Is there a greater boost to morale after many months of icy roads, snow covered driveways, and dirty snow piles than the seeing the colorful spring blooms of the hyacinths, crocuses and daffodils? … Read More

While the digital revolution, well, evolved, Norwich resident Nora Jacobson still preferred to show her movies to – and to attend other filmmakers’ works with – a bunch of other people in a theater.

Shoulder to shoulder.

Knee to knee.

Face to face.

“People don’t watch as carefully, I think, if they’re watching on a device, by themselves, especially at home,” Jacobson says. “They’re distracted by the phone or texts. You don’t get that same sense of people zeroing in on your film, especially if you make films that are complex, like I do.”

Jacobson’s complicated fictional tales range from 1998’s My Mother’s Early Lovers and 2004’s Nothing Like Dreaming to 2016’s The Hanji Box (look up these titles on www.imdb.com),… Read More

Long before white settlers came to live in the Upper Valley in the mid-1700s, the Native American Chief Mascommah hunted and fished all along the Connecticut River Valley eventually settling in Northfield, Massachusetts. The name ‘Mascoma’ appears in many places throughout the Upper Valley, so it must have been a logical choice for the founders when Mascoma Bank was established 122 years ago in 1899 as a mutually-owned bank.

How has this Upper Valley institution maintained its community and local-first banking principals amidst so many technology, economic, and social changes over more than 100 years? According to current President and CEO (and former Norwich resident) Clay Adams, Mascoma Bank was intentionally designed to be locally owned and to support community philanthropy, and the bank has simply stayed true to its original mission.… Read More

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