Many places in Norwich embody rich intersections of history. But in the 20th century, the neighborhood of Jones Circle, a small cul-de-sac located just off Elm Street, stands out. A respected doctor, savvy investors, an ambitious builder, and a housing company that believed homes should be affordable joined forces in the 1950s to develop this neighborhood on a street that, according to kids who lived there, was shaped like a lollipop.

Before the subdivision of the lots in the late 1950s, the land that was to become known as Jones Circle, primarily a hay field, belonged to several families. Prior to 1942, Lefavor and Eva Jones cobbled together those properties behind their Main Street home, probably as pasture for their horses. To understand how the land became known as Jones Circle, we must explore Dr. Jones’s life and his and his wife’s many contributions to the community.

In 1907, after graduating from the University of Vermont School of Medicine, Dr. Jones settled in Norwich. For the next 37 years, he tended to the needs of ill folks in Hanover, Norwich, Union Village, and beyond. For the first few years he visited his patients at their homes, by horse and buggy, and in the winter “he drove his team of roan pacers hitched to a high-back sleigh.” As the years passed he stabled his horses and drove to see his patients in a Model T Ford. So dedicated was Dr. Jones to his patients that on the way to his wedding in February of 1911, he stopped to treat a pneumonia patient who had a successful convalescence. “Pleasure could not be permitted to interfere with sickness and duty,” declared the Hanover Gazette in February of 1936. Eva had been a school teacher in 1911 when they met and married. Through the years, while her husband tended to his patients, Eva, a full-time mother, was a member of the Congregational Church, Norwich’s Women’s Club, and for 25 years the treasurer of the Norwich Library. In February of 1936, the Hanover Gazette reported that 160 Norwich friends crowded into the Grange Hall to celebrate Eva and Lafavor’s 25th anniversary and honor their entire family,“ who give character to a community and uphold a tradition of service to humanity.” A toast was also raised to Doctor Jones, who was “always at the beck and call of his clients, morning, noon and night, days without end he just keeps going.”

In 1942, the Joneses sold the property to the Berry family, who in 1949 sold the land to Richard and Viola Putman. The Putmans took the first steps to subdivide the land into building lots, calling it the Jones Field Development in honor of Dr.Jones and his family. By 1953, all eleven lots had been sold to Charles and Helen McKenna. One of Charles’s great interests was real estate development. In 1961, he built the now-razed brick post office that was adjacent to the current postoffice. Helen, who had a long career as postmaster in Norwich, was the postmaster there until her retirement in 1966. Along with Jones Circle, the McKennas also developed McKenna Road.

The development of Jones Circle intersected with the boom times for the National Homes Corporation, a company that began making prefabricated houses in 1940. The walls were built, primarily of plywood, on assembly lines, shipped to building sites, and assembled quickly. The sale of National Homes houses took off during World War II. Before the war, the company sold 816 homes. But in 1945 alone, the company constructed a whopping 2,665 homes that were used for military camps and war plant workers.

After the war, the company shifted gears and began making prefab homes for the thousands of returning GIs. National Homes Corporation created a straight-forward process for the public. Potential owners, introduced to National Homes by local builders, selected a floor plan from a company catalog, the home was ordered through the builder, and it was shipped to the building site where the house was assembled in a matter of months. Because the price of the house was set, banks were eager to finance the new homes.

Lebanon builder, Fred Brown, Jr., was probably the National Homes Corporation’s local representative. He started his own contracting business in 1950 at the age of 27. By 1955, the Valley News reported that he had a crew of approximately 15 carpenters and was building 12 to 15 houses a year. Between 1958 and 1961, Brown bought individual lots from the McKennas, built a house, and sold the property to the new owners. Brown’s outfit built 11 National Homes houses in Jones Circle. There were certain restrictions imposed by Brown and the Town of Norwich on each lot so that the neighborhood would appear as a unified and cohesive collection of dwellings. Each house had to be a single-family dwelling, built back 50 feet from the centerline of the street. At least $10,000 had to be spent on the home after the lot was purchased and the foundation was built. In addition, each home had a plaque installed, generally in the basement, that identified the house by a serial number and outlined suggestions for upkeep and painting.

The first homeowners on Jones Circle were employed around the Upper Valley in various professions. Some worked at Mary Hitchcock Hospital. Several army veterans worked at Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory or taught at Mascoma and Lebanon high schools. Others taught and did research at Dartmouth. The common theme for all of them is that their connection with Jones Circle did not last long. A majority of the homes were sold two years after they were purchased.

The turnover was quick for the first residents, but not for John and Cathy Girard. The Girards rented a Jones Circle house in October 1969 and then purchased the house in January 1971 for around $22,000. According to the National Homes catalog, the Girards’ new abode was a “California Contemporary” design, and like several other homes in Jones Circle, it rested on a concrete foundation, had a full basement, a carport, and a small garage. It was a peaceful neighborhood with woods behind the house where the Mascoma Bank and Norwich Inn parking lots are today.

After raising a family of four, Cathy worked for DesMeules, Olmstead & Ostler, a law firm in Norwich, as a secretary/office manager. John taught for 46 years full time at Marion Cross School. They each had the shortest walk to work for any couple in Norwich. According to Cathy, “John never said he was going to work – always to school.” Throughout its history, the Jones Circle neighborhood could have been a model for a Norman Rockwell painting or a Frank Capra movie. “One only had to go out the front door and children appeared to play,” said Cathy. “Many townspeople walked the Circle regularly and lots of folks brought their children here to learn how to ride their bikes! And the advantage of living in the Village was immeasurable!”

At Halloween, the Girards would have over 225 trick-or-treaters. For the 4th of July, neighbors grilled hot dogs and hamburgers in their driveways while kids dressed in costumes rode their bikes around the circle. For years John ran the summer Norwich Recreation program. Several kids attended “Mr. G’s” camp in the morning, went to Dan and Whit’s for a quick lunch, and then played pickup basketball games in the Girards’ driveway where there were no worries about traffic if a ball rolled into the street.

Today papers are being drawn up to nominate Jones Circle as a Historic District to the National Register thanks to a Certified Local Government Grant received from the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.* Not only is it important to Norwich history but it also may be one of the best concentrated collections of National Homes Corporation houses in Vermont. Are there restrictions on what a homeowner can do if a property is listed on the National Register as many in Norwich already are today?

According to Nancy Osgood, chair of the Norwich Historic Preservation Commission, the answer is no. “Being on the National Register does not have any strings attached, rather it is an honorary designation,” she said. “It does not impede what a homeowner can do . . . it adds interest to the property but does not impact its monetary value. It should give the homeowner . . . a sense of pride in knowing that the property is worthy of such a designation and should spark interest in its architecture and moment in history.”

Along with its historic value, it’s wise to remember that the homes on Jones Circle were built from kits, quickly and efficiently, and then reasonably priced. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the country could get behind a building boom as it did after World War II? Then companies like the National Homes Corporation could return to small towns across America, knock together much needed affordable homes, and create new neighborhoods like Norwich’s Jones Circle.

*This program receives federal funds from the National Park Service. Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination in federally assisted programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, age or handicap. Any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of federal assistance should write to: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240

Historical accounts from early New England settlers describe the art of maple sugaring by the Abenaki and Wabanaki Indians as early as the 1500s, according to research compiled by the Nulhegan Abenaki Historical and Cultural Preservation Department. But before this, legends and stories passed down from the Abenaki, Wabanaki, and other Native peoples suggest that boiling sap to make granulated sugar for seasoning meats and vegetables, as well as for medicinal purposes, was taking place for many generations before the Europeans came to the New World.

According to the Massachusetts Maple Sugar Producers Association, there are many Native American legends about how maple sugar was first discovered: “One Iroquois legend tells how Chief Woksis had thrown his tomahawk into a maple tree one late winter evening. After he removed it the following morning, the weather turned sunny and warm. Sap began to flow from the cut in the tree, and drip down into a container at the base of the tree. The sap was used to boil the meat for dinner. As the water in the sap boiled away, a sweet maple taste was left with the meat.”

From early sap buckets made of birch bark to traditional metal spouts and pans, and to today’s plastic sap lines and reverse osmosis technology (removing much of the water from the sap before boiling), maple sugaring has undergone a slow but steady transformation throughout its history. Yet many family farm producers still collect sap in traditional metal buckets and gather annually around the boiling pan inside the sugar house. Some maintain that sap from the honored sugar maple tree boiled down the old fashioned way over a wood fire yields a more flavorful result and inspires an enduring sense of community. One Norwich resident, Graham Webster, is a long-time maple sugar maker using traditional methods with his grandmother’s boiling pan, which was passed down from his uncle. “I prefer the old school method and smoky flavor of maple syrup made over a wood fire, but the syrup still tastes great either way,” says Graham, who produces about 50 gallons of syrup a year to give away.

Commercially, Vermont produces the most maple syrup in the United States by far, reporting two million gallons in 2023, which is roughly 50% of the total produced nationwide according to the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association. With the benefit of ideal climate conditions, thousands of acres of sugar maple trees, and a rich tradition of maple sugaring, Vermont’s maple syrup industry is a vital part of the state’s economy as well as a rich family and community tradition.

For Emily Myers and her family, producing maple syrup is now a fifth generation family activity. Emily learned to tap trees and boil sap from her parents, Deb & Jay Van Arman, on the family farm where she now resides in Norwich. Before that, Deb and Jay maintained the tradition begun by Deb’s grandparents, running their home sugaring operation for 18 years in the old sugar house near Union Village Road. “It’s been a family operation for five generations,” says Deb. “We’re so pleased that Emily and her family do everything together and that the kids are just as involved as their parents.”

Deb and Jay acknowledge that maple sugaring has changed quite a bit over the years. Deb recalls everything being done by hand – drilling the trees, installing metal taps, gathering the sap from the buckets into a metal tank. “I lived with my paternal grandfather, my parents, and my brother, and we had a sugarbush in the woods. We accessed it with our beloved draft horses, Babe and Queenie, pulling a sleigh with a big gathering tank, then we walked to the woods to gather the sap from the really old maples.” Back then, boiling was done outdoors in anarch (wood fired boiling structure), going well into the night. Deb notes that sugaring was important during the depression and World War II because of a sugar shortage, and with no farming to be had in the winter, boiling sap for a reliable source of sugar was common.

Eventually, Deb’s father built a sugar house on the 116 acre family farm and sugaring continued into the ’80s. “The camaraderie was out of this world,” recalls Jay. “The old sugarhouse didn’t have electricity, but we had a lantern and we loved to cook eggs in the boiling sap.” Deb favors using sap and syrup in a variety of ways. “Using sap is a great way to cook a ham because it really enhances the flavor, and maple syrup has a greater nutritive value than refined sugar.” Indeed, modern analysis shows that maple syrup contains several important minerals and a few vitamins, and new research is discovering that it may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Other traditional uses of maple syrup include flavoring coffee, sugar on snow, donuts dipped in syrup, and making maple candies, maple butter, and maple cream. Who knew something so delicious could be so good for you?

The family shifted to transporting the sap to Etna after state regulations required upgraded boiling pans, but eventually returned the boiling activities to Norwich. When their neighbors Dave Delucia and Lisa Gardner built a new sugarhouse with a wood fired stove, Jay introduced Dave and Lisa to the fun of maple sugaring, and they began boiling together. Even though Emily now carries on the family tradition with Dave, Deb and Jay still help out from time to time. “There’s a mystique about it,” says Deb. “You’re surrounded by steam, Dave serves up beans and franks around the arch, and it energizes you because you know that spring is coming.” For his part, Dave enjoys the social aspect.“ We get help from lots of friends and neighbors and people enjoy participating in the tradition. All together, we make about 50 gallons of syrup a year to give away to family and friends who help make it.”

Emily has many fond memories of maple sugaring from her childhood that inspired her to carry on the tradition with her own family, including her teenage son and daughter. “March was always maple sugaring season and family members from around the country came to Norwich to boil. I wanted our kids to learn the values of hard work, community, bringing people together, and seeing what nature has to offer.” Emily’s son and a friend handled the important step of tapping the trees recently. “It’s nice to know that they are mature enough to understand how everything works and to see the full cycle of tapping, boiling, and eating the syrup on pancakes. It’s definitely a proud parent moment to think about passing the torch to the next generation.”

From the Native American tradition of generations past to today’s modern families, maple sugaring continues to bring people together to celebrate community and the wonderful bounty of the sugar maple tree.

With the holidays just around the corner, many readers are likely making plans and preparing for the recurrence of long-held, or newly-minted, holiday traditions. One holiday tradition that needs no preparation, (and is a generations-old family tradition in this writer’s home), is the reading of A Visit From St. Nicholas (colloquially known as ’Twas the Night Before Christmas) by Clement Clark Moore on Christmas Eve. From copies of the book gifted to my sister and myself as children to my grandmother’s beautiful edition from the early 1930s (which features Santa Claus as a small chubby elf in a brown furry suit – a common Santa look before his red suit became ubiquitous), these books hold a special place in our hearts and holiday season.

Books not only play a special part in traditions but are a frequent and well-loved gift, often remembered fondly as a treasured holiday memory. We caught up with Emma Kaas of The Norwich Bookstore to chat about the connections between the holiday season and books.

Kaas says, “To me, a book is one of the best gifts you can give. They can be a balm, an escape, a comfort in difficult times. They can also be a window Curling up in front of a fire with a good book is a holiday highlight for many. While Kaas has special memories around A Child’s Christmas in Wales, her favorite books to read during the holidays aren’t entirely holiday-themed at all. Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons, the collected essays of Shirley Jackson about her life as a writer, mother, and wife living in Vermont in the 40s and 50s, are her go-to reads. “This is comfort reading for when my brain can’t focus on much else after a long day of recommending books. Jackson’s stories are a bit like my favorite lemon cake, sweet but with a bite. They are both light-hearted anecdotes of childhood antics and incisive examinations of life as a writer in a time when women were expected to put their husband and children above all else. Jackson is wry, insightful, and always a pleasure to re-read.” While the books appear not to be related to the holidays, Kaas notes that “Each book ends right around the holidays, so they deliver those cozy holiday vibes, too.” into another experience, one that can challenge you and expand your worldview. The best books manage to be both these things.”

Kaas has her own special memories around books during the holidays. One, she recalls, is the first time she spent Christmas with her partner Sam’s family, which was the first she spent away from home. “At my house, Christmas is a boisterous, chaotic affair, with small children, competitive games, and a lot of noise,” Kaas says, “Sam’s family is much more relaxed – there is wine, a puzzle, a fire, and quiet conversation. I felt welcomed but a little out of place. And then they introduced me to Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales which they often read aloud on Christmas Eve.” The story recalls Thomas’ Christmases as a young child; Kaas recommends that readers get to know the “slim gem of a book” and make reading it aloud a holiday tradition. “It is a delightful, nostalgic poem that makes me feel like I’m curled up under a blanket in front of the fire with a cup of cocoa.”

Receiving books as a gift is another common memory many of us share, from picture books as a young one (I myself remember a beloved copy of Tomie dePaolo’s Strega Nona being unearthed from under the tree) to a variety of genres as an adult. As a bookseller, Kaas notes that it is rare that anyone gives her a book. However, every Christmas Eve, she and Sam have a tradition of exchanging books, and one sticks out in her mind. “A few years ago, Sam gifted me The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner, a book I’d been anticipating but then completely forgot about. I read a lot of books, but the ones that completely sweep me away come few and far between. This was one of those books. It is an immersive experience, a winding, plotless novel about a medieval nunnery that I found utterly engrossing, irreverent, and amusing,” Kaas says, “It’s always so special to receive a book that winds up being exactly what I needed in the moment and one that sticks with me for years to come.”

Being the giver of a gift is just as pleasurable, if not more so, than being the recipient, and giving the gift of a book is no exception. Finding a book with a topic or story that just perfectly suits the person you have in mind is a thrill and once given, lets your giftee know how much you were thinking of them when selecting the title. A gift can say a lot to someone you care for and a book has all the words to help you say what you want to say. When Kaas’ best friend moved away, she gifted them a copy of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente, and copied the annotations from her own book into the gift book. “[The book] is a middle-grade book about a young girl who is spirited off to another land where she has to take down the reigning monarch. But, to me, it’s a book about going on a difficult journey, and it was so special to know that, as my friend moved across the country, as far away as we could be from each other, they’d be reading this book and noticing what had stuck out to me when I’d read it for the first time, what I’d bracketed and underlined, the few places where I dared write some words – like an asynchronous book club,” Kaas says.

“I still think that’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever given.”

Editor’s Note: In the spirit of giving, The Norwich Bookstore has partnered with various community organizations for many years to help provide books to kids in need throughout the Upper Valley during the holiday season. As this article shows, the thoughtful gift of a book can make the biggest, most meaningful difference in someone’s life, and can become a memory that will last a lifetime.

This season, the “Book Angels” program organized by the Norwich Bookstore gives community members a way to touch the lives of Upper Valley children with the gift of a book. Book requests are written on paper angels, and you can be a Book Angel by visiting the bookstore in-person and choosing a specific book wish to fulfill, or making a monetary donation in-person or online which the bookstore will use to fulfill all requests. To donate online, visit norwichbookstore.com/book-angel-gift-card. Give the gift of reading, be a Book Angel!

Imagine: You’re a kid, it’s a beautiful day, and you want to visit Huntley Meadow, but riding or walking from Beaver Meadow Road – which has no sidewalk or bike lane – is tricky. What if you had a bridge, just for walkers and bikers like you, crossing Blood Brook to the playground and sports fields? Would you take it?

The Kids Bridge Project is in the home stretch for assembling an aluminum pedestrian and biker bridge at Huntley Meadow for all who visit Norwich. The volunteer team of outdoor recreation professionals, trail
developers, civil engineers, and builders – led by Bridge McDowell – has been planning the Kids Bridge for months in its current configuration, a fifty-six-foot truss span designed to endure extreme weather events.

The necessary state and local permits have been issued, and the manufacturer – RollingBarge – will deliver the package to the site next to the children’s playground, which has been approved by the town.

Thanks to over seventy-five Norwich families who have donated to the project – some more than once – the funds to purchase the $27,539.00 bridge have been received and the bridge package is expected to be delivered shortly before or after Thanksgiving. Fundraising will continue until donations for the project reach 100% of the budget of $31,800. In addition to local donors, several Upper Valley foundations have shown interest in the project.

In past years, there wa s a suspension bridge over Blood Brook, built by Norwich resident Scott Miller as his Eagle Scout project. Then came extreme weather events, shaking the bridge from its tree moorings until the town removed it due to safety concerns.

Many Norwich folks have fond memories of crossing that bridge. The home of the old suspension bridge will be home to the new Kids Bridge, and when completed, the volunteers who’ve given their time and energy to the project will gift the bridge to the town.

Our short building season may delay the opening of the Kids Bridge until spring, but Norwich families can look forward to a quiet walk or a speedy bike ride via the Kids Bridge on their way to school, sports practice, playground, and social events at Huntley Meadow, which, for many of us, is the heart of Norwich.

Soon, thanks to all who helped to fund and build the Kids Bridge, the dream of a safe and convenient crossing over Blood Brook to Huntley Meadow will be a reality.

The positive impact of music couldn’t be clearer to 17-year-old Norwood Davis.

Davis, who moved to Norwich in 2013, started playing the classical piano when he was four years old. Since then, he’s kept playing, most recently in front of an unsuspecting audience.

Davis’ grandmother, Norma Butters, has been living at Wheelock Terrace Senior Living Center in Hanover since 2020. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about ten years ago.

“For a long time, I’ve watched her decline in what she can say and do,” Davis says. “Back [when I was] in 7th grade, she lived in this place in Cincinnati; we would go [visit] probably once a year, and when we would go I would play the piano there.”

Norma is among many seniors in assisted living centers who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and experience severe symptoms, such as memory loss, confusion, the inability to communicate, emotional outbursts and impulsive behavior, and lack of awareness. Victims of this unfortunate disease have difficulty performing and experiencing normal, everyday tasks. With that in mind, it’s not uncommon for Alzheimer’s patients to be unreceptive to visitors.

“They sit still for most of the day in front of the TV…there’s not a whole lot of stimulation [for them],” Davis says. “These people, they don’t get to see kids that are so young that often. Those who are like my mom’s Mom, they need this stimulation.”

After seeing how much joy music brought his grandmother, Davis decided to organize a Recital for Young Musicians to share the joy of music with other seniors in assisted living.

During visits to Norma in Cincinnati, Davis would play favorites like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for residents of the assisted living center. “I would start to play,” Davis recounts. “You could see a change across the whole space: in their eyes, in the ways they sat or stood, and some would begin to sing or hum along.”

“Some who didn’t know their kids’ names, didn’t know how to walk…they would start to sing along word for word,” Davis adds.

In August, Davis organized his first music recital at Wheelock Terrace and advertised on the Norwich Listserv to young musicians in the area.

The first recital was a huge success: “You could tell that everyone was so uplifted,” Davis says. “Not just [by] the songs that were played and sung, but also just the connection to kids that are young.”

Davis planned another music recital, this time Halloween-themed, at The Greens at Hanover – an independent senior living community. Davis advertised on the Norwich Listserv and Hanover Listserv and ended up with nine young musicians who participated.

Mostly from Norwich and Hanover, the participating young musicians wore their Halloween costumes to the recital at The Greens in October and played some spooky classical tracks to set the autumnal mood. Musicians ranged in age from five years old to teenagers under 18.

Davis says that the biggest impact of his recitals is the connection that music brings for seniors, those with and without Alzheimer’s.

“Both my grandma on my mom’s side and my grandad on my dad’s side, they both suffer pretty severely from Alzheimer’s, and I’ve spent a lot of time in these places,” Davis says. “I’ve seen firsthand how big of an impact the sound of music and how it can bring joy to them.”

As a junior at Kimball Union Academy, Davis will graduate soon, but in the meantime, he plans to continue the tradition of music recitals at area senior centers every two or three months. He also hopes to expand to more locations.

The sound of music touches the mind, body, and soul of all those who hear it, and Davis has seen it work its magic over and over again.

Not only does music spread joy and bring people together; Davis says, “Music has been shown to bring back memories.”

From its founding in 1917 in Chicago to today, Lions Club International continues to be one of the world’s largest service organizations with more than 1.4 million members worldwide. In Norwich, the Lions motto, “We Serve”, is the guiding principle for the Club’s many initiatives focused on improving vision, hunger, global relations, pediatric cancer, and the environment. The wide array of community activities over the history of the Norwich Lions Club is remarkable. For a relatively small group, the Club has had a hand in supporting or improving nearly every aspect of the town including schools, non-profits, and town infrastructure and recreation facilities. Most recently, the Club was involved in screening elementary school children in Norwich, Sharon, and Woodstock for eyesight issues.

Chartered in 1954, the Norwich Lions Club (NLC) has served Norwich and the surrounding communities for nearly 70 years and conducts large and small fundraisers to support community projects initiated by its members as well as non-profit organizations throughout the Upper Valley. The Club’s first service projects included the donation of a piano to the Marion Cross School, the construction of a house at Beaver Meadow, and the development of baseball diamonds in town.

Phil Wheeler – a long-time Lion of 60 years, past Club president, and past district governor overseeing all Vermont clubs – was an early founder of one of the club’s most popular projects: the Memory Tree. “I started my Lions service with the Middlebury Lions Club but moved to Norwich after graduating from the Tuck School. When the Memory Tree project first started, I encouraged clubs all over Vermont to get involved,” says Wheeler.

Each year, volunteers install the tree and decorate it in the gazebo in town and invite people to name those that they want to memorialize or honor. At one time, every Lions Club in Vermont hosted a Memory Tree, thanks to Wheeler’s encouragement.

The first year the Memory Tree program took place in Norwich, Wheeler memorialized his parents. His father was a general surgeon in Brattleboro and a 50-year member of his local Lions Club. “My mother was there to take care of us and support him because he was often called away on an emergency in town,” Wheeler remembers.

This commitment on the part of both his parents inspired Wheeler to take up a life of service. “I really enjoy helping others; the club is always looking for people who need help,” he says.

The Memory Tree program has evolved over the 44 years since Wheeler presented the idea to clubs around Vermont to include honoring a friend or family member who is still living as well as memorializing those who have passed on. The Memory Tree program is part of the 19 days of Norwich, and the Byrne Foundation matches the proceeds for a donation to the Upper Valley Haven – a non-profit organization that serves people struggling with poverty by providing food, shelter, education, service coordination, and other support.

The signature fund-raising event for the Norwich Lions Club is the well-loved Norwich Fair. Originally organized by local churches for the first 40 years, NLC took on sponsorship and operation of the fair in 1989 and has been providing fun and entertainment to all fairgoers ever since. The Club celebrated the 69th year of the Fair last summer, which has raised over $30,000 in recent years, far exceeding previous annual receipts of $18,000-22,000.

Club President Fran DeGasta reflects on the many service-oriented benefits of the Norwich Fair: “Local non-profits partner with the club for their own fund-raising initiatives at the fair, and they can retain all of their proceeds. People really enjoy the popular dunk-tank attraction on the sidelines.” Until recently, the fair also featured a pig roast, King Arthur Pie Baking Contest, and bingo.

In addition, NLC solicits grant applications annually and has funded projects for nearly 40 different Upper Valley non-profits, schools, and community groups over the years. The list of funded projects is extensive – digital library materials, food resilience projects, heat pumps, medical equipment, and educational materials are just a few examples.

Early fundraisers included an annual Lions Minstrel Show, the sale of light bulbs, spring auctions, and sponsoring canoe races on the Connecticut River. Over the years, the Club has also held wine-tasting events at the Norwich Inn to support NLC’s service activities. In addition to the Norwich Fair and the Memory Tree, current major fundraisers include an annual “Meadow Muffin Contest” wherein participants purchase “plots”, hoping to be chosen for a prize by a bovine “plop” – a fan favorite of many native New Englanders. An online silent auction with over 200 items donated by local businesses and individuals throughout the Upper Valley raised more than $11,000 in 2022 to be offered in the Club’s granting program.

Many of the NLC’s community projects are part of an ongoing response to needs identified by members and may provide one-time or ongoing support. The various fundraisers support these initiatives as well. A partial list includes sponsoring free monthly dinner meals for over 100 adults and children at LISTEN, providing fuel assistance, cash donations and eye exams and glasses, delivering sand to seniors during the winter season, sponsoring bus transportation for children to local nursing homes to read to residents, and supporting the Pediatric Cancer Treatment Room Transformation Project at ChaD (Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth).

Similar to other service clubs, Lions Club members volunteer individually and collectively at various local and regional events for service, fellowship, and of course, fun. Collaborating with other Lions Clubs and local institutions, club members have planted trees, marched in parades, helped with elementary school reading programs, and provided voting outreach services. The reach of the Norwich Lions Club also extends to a Cabot, Vermont-based summer camp for children with vision and hearing loss. Lions provide lunches during registration days, host activities, provide equipment and games, and work with Lions from other clubs at the camp.

The original founder of Lions Club International was Melvin Jones, a Chicago insurance salesman. In Norwich, as in many clubs, a fellowship has been established to honor the founder, and is presented to those who donate $1,000 to the Lions Club International Fund or to recognize a club member or citizen who demonstrates ‘above and beyond’ dedication to humanitarian causes. In 2023, the Club honored retired Norwich town clerk, Bonnie Munday, with the fellowship. Munday was instrumental in supporting the Memory Tree by annually posting a list of those who were memorialized and honored and managing donations.

Munday recalls her participation on a local Substack blog: “I tried to have a complete list up for the Christmas Pageant so that people could look at it and see that the memories they submitted were posted. I do hope the next clerk will keep up with this tradition.” Lion Stephen Flanders, a retired research civil engineer, and Nico Bekker, vice president of Ledyard National Bank, were awarded the fellowship in 2021. “It was an honor to get it,” says Flanders. “Nico and I each did things to help the club’s effectiveness with new fundraising procedures and by expanding our website.”

Lions International celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017, and clubs around the world developed ‘Legacy Centennial’ projects to mark the occasion. In Norwich, the Lions Club purchased a basketball scoreboard for the Marion Cross Elementary School, installed tree signs on the Norwich Green, contributed a flag pole for the Norwich Police/Fire complex, and helped to fund the Norwich Veterans’ Honor Roll Monument.

As club members prepare to install this year’s Memory Tree for the 2023 holiday season, residents and visitors to Norwich can see it on display as they pass through town. “It’s a welcome sight as you drive into Norwich to see the tree lit up in the gazebo,” says Wheeler.

President Fran DeGasta hopes to see the next generation step in to get involved in community service with the Norwich Lions Club. ”Prospective members who are prepared to share the club’s commitment to helping others are encouraged to attend one of our meetings to see what we’re all about,” DeGasta says. “We come together as a club for the greater good of all.”

The Norwich Lions Club meets twice a month from September to June, on the first and third Tuesdays in the downstairs Community Room of the Norwich Public Library.

For more information on how to get involved in this active community service club, visit the club’s website at norwichlionsclub.org.

Norwich’s Billy Bender Qualifies for World Rowing Championships

This summer, Norwich native and Hanover High School graduate, Billy Bender, had a decision to make. Head to the United States men’s senior team selection camp (where he had earned an automatic invitation) or try to make his second U.S. Under-23 rowing team (at a camp that was being held in his backyard at Dartmouth College).

Bender decided to push the boundaries by attending the senior team camp…and it paid dividends.

“I feel like I have always been the best athlete when I’m out of my comfort zone,” he said. “When these guys are better than me and I know I need to step up my game, that’s when I’ve been my best. Sometimes when you’re the best guy on a team or in an environment, it can become easy to be stagnant and complacent.”

Now a two-time first team All-American at Dartmouth, Bender qualified for the World Rowing Championships in the men’s pair (two rowers sweeping with one oar each) after winning the USRowing Senior National Team Trials in late July. The championships run from September 3-10 in Belgrade, Serbia.

“Obviously, it’s super cool,” said Bender. “It’s coming a little faster than I thought it would.”

What Bender means is that in the days and weeks after qualifying, everything hadn’t quite set in.

“I raced for the U.S. two years ago for Under-23s,” he explained. “It will probably set in once I get over to Serbia, but it didn’t initially because the main competition that we raced (in the lead-up to the World Championships) were rowers I have competed with and against before – in U23s and the IRA National Regatta. 

“I think once I arrive to the world championships and I’m lining up against the best guys in the world, then it’ll really hit me,” Bender continued. “Right now, I’m training in Hanover. The gravity of it isn’t right in my face the way it will be (soon).”

All this likely wouldn’t have been possible without Bender’s success at Winter Speed Order in Sarasota, Florida with Dartmouth alum Oliver Bub ’20. There, they finished third in the pair to earn automatic invitations to the first USRowing men’s senior selection camp in Princeton, New Jersey. 

This winter was also the first time Bender knew he truly belonged with the best of the best.

“I went out and was training with – and racing – the best guys in the country (at California Rowing Club), and I beat a lot of them,” he said. “The pair is obviously a very different boat than the eight (eight rowers sweeping with a coxswain), but that definitely made me think this isn’t a pipe dream.”

Which it wasn’t; it was reality.

From the first selection camp, Bub was named to the men’s eight. Bender was cut, but he had another opportunity to represent the Red, White and Blue.

“I called Wyatt Allen (Dartmouth’s Betsy and Mark Gates 1969 Head Coach of Men’s Heavyweight Rowing) and asked if it was worth trying to do some trial boat or come back to Hanover and reset for the year,” said Bender. “What was really clear about senior camp is I have to get faster on the erg. At Dartmouth, I have relied pretty heavily on my boat-moving abilities and my ability to win swaps. That works at the collegiate level and U23 level, but not at the senior level.”

After selection camp, Bender wasn’t sure if he should focus on training for his final season as a Big Green student-athlete or take another opportunity to reach the world stage in the pair.

“If I can just get more horsepower, get a bigger ‘engine,’ it will help me,” he said. “Wyatt obviously thought that was a good idea, but also said it may be worth going down (to senior trials in the pair) and seeing where I stacked up. Either way, it would be a good training opportunity (even) if I didn’t win.”

It ended up being both a valuable training opportunity and a win for Bender and his pair partner, Evan Olson.

The two initially met through a mutual connection. “We had a phone call and we got along, so Evan came up here to Hanover, we trained for a couple weeks and went down to New Jersey for trials,” said Bender.

Bender also knew he and Olson would have a reasonable chance for success in the pair, based on the competition.

“In some ways, the pair is slightly less contested than the single,” said Bender. “If you’re a good guy, you enter the single. In the pair, you need to find another good guy to row with and you have to match up and be in the same training location. There are a lot of good guys who can train by themselves and make a single go fast.”

Bender has been making boats go fast for some time. He began rowing at an early age, due in large part to his brother Ryan who rowed for Colgate University. Ryan originally joined the rowing team at Hanover High because next-door neighbor Blair Brooks was the freshman coach.

“We actually didn’t know this about Blair for a long time because he would never tell you, but he was a super successful rower back in his day,” said Billy. “He was captain of the mid-1970s Harvard crew that was called the ‘rude and smooth’ and they won everything. They were absolutely dominant.”

The Brooks connection got Bender’s brother Ryan into rowing, which led to Bender taking up the sport. Bender attended elementary school in Norwich where he grew up, then middle and high school in Hanover. He also rowed for the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation.

“The Hanover program is really fun and a good group of guys,” said Bender. “The coach, Andy Hilton, is great. The program was founded by Julie Stevenson, a former Dartmouth rower and current principal at Hanover High.

“I was pretty proficient by the end of high school, maybe better than a lot of high school rowers, but there wasn’t very much time on the water,” Bender continued. “We were pretty limited by the rules, without that many water sessions. I didn’t build the fitness, strength and endurance necessary to be really strong.”

All that said, Bender was in a good place at the end of high school. 

Allen, a former Olympic gold medalist, played an integral role in getting Bender to Dartmouth, and his subsequent growth and improvement.

“Wyatt really took a chance on me, and he recruited me when I was still pretty slow on the erg,” said Bender. “He recruited me in my gap year. I went to Thames Rowing Club in London and lived and trained with them for the year, which was a great experience. That was when I got into a full-time training program and really started to take some steps forward in terms of my fitness.”

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit that year. Bender’s time in England was cut short, but was still worthwhile. 

It set the stage for an already decorated collegiate career, and it’s not over.

“Wyatt is a rockstar,” said Bender. “He’s such a resource because he’s been on a bunch of teams and he’s an Olympian. He knows the players, he knows the system and he’s been through it a bunch of times himself, so he can call up to coaches because they coached him or because he rowed with them. He’s got this unique perspective where he’s been through it a bunch of times as an athlete, so he knows what I’m thinking, feeling and worrying about.

“I didn’t really realize when I was looking at and committed to Dartmouth how lucky we are with Wyatt,” Bender added. 

The feelings are mutual.

“We definitely got lucky with Billy in the recruiting process,” said Allen. “We took a chance on him as a local kid with great grades, a good mentality and a promising frame, and he took his gap year opportunity and ran with it. It’s a real credit to him and his hard work in England. He walked in the door for his freshmen year way stronger, more skilled and he had even grown another inch or so.”

Bender is hoping to follow in his coach’s footsteps. Bender’s goal for the upcoming world championships is to finish top 11 out of 26 entries and qualify the boat for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

“It’s not necessarily guaranteeing our (Billy’s and Evan’s) seats, but it’s two more seats for America,” said Bender. “It’s another boat that America gets to send to the Olympics.”

There are two opportunities to qualify any boat, the first and most direct route being the world championships the year prior. The other is the final Olympic qualification regatta, which comes during the Olympic year.

“There are a lot of really good guys in the pair,” said Bender. “Great Britain has arguably their best guys in the pair, and a lot of small countries that don’t have the talent to field a good eight, they have two good guys who can make the pair go very fast. We’re pretty quick and we’re getting better. We haven’t been together for that long, but I believe it’s definitely possible.”

As Allen said, “Billy is one of the best boat movers I’ve had the opportunity to work with. Most impressively, he’s effective across all boat classes: he can scull, he can move a pair, and he’s really good in the eight. The fact that he’s had good results at the elite level this year with two different pairs partners is very impressive, especially given his relative young age.

“There’s no hiding in the pair,” Allen continued. “If you’re not holding up your end of the bargain, the boat is not going to go.”

Bender has aspirations to go and qualify for the 2024 Olympics, which makes him think of the John F. Kennedy quote: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

“I feel like I have to try,” said Bender. “I’m good enough that if I don’t try, I’ll look back in five years or ten years and think I should have tried. If I don’t make it, that’s okay, but I want to know I gave it my best shot.”

Before any Olympic dreams come the world championships, which run from Sept. 3-10, right before the start of the fall term at Dartmouth. From there, Bender would like to return to Dartmouth for the fall, then take the winter off to train and race at Speed Orders.

“By March, I would have a pretty good idea if I’d make a (U.S. Olympic) boat, or at least be in contention,” said Bender. “And if I’m not at the level, which is definitely a possibility, then I would come back to Dartmouth, race in the spring, and get on with my life. 

“If I think it’s a possibility that I could make a U.S. boat, then I would likely take the spring off (to train),” he added. 

At this point, Bender’s exact plan is far from finalized. But for now, he is focused on representing the Red, White and Blue in September. 

Regardless of what the near and distant future holds, Billy Bender will continue to push himself out of his comfort zone, which helped him reach the 2023 World Rowing Championships in the first place.

It’s something that will continue to define him as he moves forward, no matter what comes his way.

In our Winter/Spring 2022 issue, the Norwich Times took a look at local rock music school, Tuck’s Rock Dojo, run by Norwich resident husband and wife team Tuck and Kata Stocking. We caught up with the Dojo this summer as we ran into their students performing some radical rock at the 2023 Norwich Fair hosted by the Norwich Lion’s Club in August.

The Norwich Lion’s Club first invited the Dojo to perform about 13 years ago when a former student’s parents, Laurie and Rob Sabatelle, introduced the school to the club. Now, in their 10th or so performance at the fair, Tuck can’t say enough good things about the opportunity the Norwich Fair creates for the students to perform the craft they spend hours honing, live in front of an audience: “Norwich fair feels like home. It’s a real festive time for our bands. There is a magic to playing under the fair lights that never gets old.  The kids get to shine on stage then go and ride the Hurricane – it’s an adventure that is hard to beat.” 

Kata, who runs the administrative side of the business and was busy introducing acts and taking phenomenal photos of the students rocking out on the day of the performances, agrees. She notes how, while the students get to perform in a variety in venues, taking the stage in front of their own friends, family, and community members is something special: “For us the Norwich Fair is one of the biggest highlights of the year. We are performing with the bands in many different venues and the Norwich fair definitely is the cherry on top. The kids absolutely love it.”

Juliette Gemignani, 10, a Norwich student who performs vocals in the band Black Iris, agrees: “It was a great experience! I really enjoyed performing for my family and friends and with the other kids in the band.”

Juliette’s parents, Liz and Tony, were excited for the memories their daughter would make performing live at the Norwich Fair: “Of course we were super proud of her but we also felt so lucky that she was given such a great opportunity. Performing for her friends, family and community is something that will stick with her for a long time.” They reiterate that these platforms that Tuck and Kata and the Norwich community provide to express and experience music helps them build confidence. “It’s really incredible.” 

Katie Bucci of Norwich, mom of performer Lila, values the opportunity to watch her daughter perform: “Seeing Lila up there on stage, singing her heart out, being such a cool rock star, it’s almost unreal. It fills me with so much joy.” Norwich parents Katherine and Enrico Riley of drummer and guitarist Alex, 16, and guitarist and vocalist Etienne, 10, feel the same: “There is no joy quite like watching your kid embodying music.” 

Both Alex and Etienne name the fair as one of the highlight of their summer and one of the favorite things they’ve ever done. “It feels great to be able to show off the music you worked hard to perfect,” Alex says.  Etienne loves the chance to make music with her friends: “I think when you’re having fun on the stage and the audience is having fun watching the performance, it’s one of the best things you can do.”

The audience jammed to the young musicians tunes amid rowdy rides and just a stone’s throw from the Lion’s Club dunk tank. Jaden, Tuck and Kata’s ten-year-old son who is talented on multiple instruments including drums and bass, recalls being one of those audience members before taking the stage himself: “I grew up seeing kids rock out – it’s awesome to finally be up there too and rock out. I love the Norwich Fair. It has such a great energy.” 

Kata says creating that great energy and putting together these shows “always takes a village,” noting that another community member Neil Odell, a musician himself, was helping with the sound.

This was the first year for Lila, 14, to sing at the Fair and her first chance to sing in a band by herself without a co-lead singer. “Performing at the Norwich Fair for the first time this year was a very exciting opportunity for me. Tuck, my friends, and my band (Rockology) did a great job of cheering me on and encouraging me. Tuck always makes the performance of it so fun, even when I am super nervous.” 

Fellow vocalist Juliette similarly say that while she also was nervous at first, “after it was over, I just wanted to do it again.” And luckily, with a community like Norwich that provides the town with events such as the Norwich Fair, she can!

To check out photos of a variety of young musicians – past and present – visit tucksrockdojo.com/gallery. You can see video of the musicians featured in this article on Tuck’s homepage.

There are various ways to access the history of a village like Norwich. It’s easy if you’re a student at the Marion Cross School, because Norwich history is a part of the curriculum there. New residents, on the other hand, can drop by the Norwich Historical Society (NHS), examine the maps and exhibits, and purchase a copy of Norwich, Vermont: A History. In the summer, NHS offers historical walking tours around the village. Visitors (and residents!) can learn more by listening to a historical podcast as they cruise the back roads of Norwich. Now, as supplements to the school curriculum and podcasts, there are four new illustrated histories of our town – a creative collaboration between artist Emily Zea, NHS Director Sarah Rooker, and retired Marion Cross School teacher Wendy Thompson.

Zea, who grew up in Norwich, credits her elementary school art teacher, Tracy Smith, with the inspiration to become an artist. “I still have a lot of the projects from her classes. I turned one watercolor flower that I completed in class into stationary,” Zea says. After high school and college, Zea returned to the Upper Valley and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction. Along with a passion for art, Zea grew up in a family that valued history. “During my childhood, my parents worked at many different museums. My brother and I were raised as ‘museum kids’,” she says.

Since she earned her master’s degree in 2020, Zea has created two illustrated town histories along with several pocket-sized history guides. One guide is about engraving a powder horn (a personal piece of equipment that held black musket powder and was worn by the owner), which includes the art process that goes into making them and the museums with the best collections. According to Zea, “Powder horns were used to tell the stories of their owners… It is fascinating to discern their stories through the pictographs they carved.” She also developed a New England graveyard art pocket guide that can be used to decipher the meaning of all the art carved into gravestones. “Every carving is purposeful and has a significant meaning,” she says. “With this pocket guide, you can learn even more about the people buried in our small-town plots, what was important to them, and what kind of lives they led.” At the end of the day, Zea admits that she is more of an artist than a historian. “But my love for history is undeniable!” she says. “I love using my art to teach myself about new topics.”

In 2019, Zea, Rooker, and Thompson brainstormed topic ideas for a series of illustrated histories of Norwich. Entitled The Early Years and Rivers and Mills, they were created to be podcast companions for two of the NHS driving tours. Next, they matched up several critical issues in the world today with events in Norwich’s history.

“We wanted to share more about Abenaki history than the fact that they were simply here before us,” says Rooker. “In the histories, we talk about how the Abenaki people and the first settlers from Connecticut interacted with and supported one another. We also wanted to have stories of women and people of color. That’s why we focused on the stories of Lucy Terry Prince and Lydia Brigham.” In Norwich Town Meeting and The Women of Norwich: Change Makers, the focus is on civic duties. “We had so many new people coming to town during Covid,” Rooker adds, “that town meeting might be a new concept for some people.”  

Along with introducing newcomers to local history, the illustrated histories connect to topics taught at Marion Cross. “It’s been a perfect way to get kids excited about history,” says Zea. “The graphic histories provide visual information while one is reading and create two different avenues to get the topic across at the same time. It makes history very accessible.”

Several steps were involved in the process of creating the illustrated histories. First, Rooker and Thompson selected topics and a script was outlined. Next, Rooker created digital folders with historical photos for Zea, who selected the information that would best translate visually on the page. The illustrations of architecture, geography, and clothing had to be carefully drawn. “Every little detail had to be historically accurate,” says Rooker.

Zea drew a thumbnail sketch for each page. Then she edited the page so the image and text fit together. From there, Zea made pencil drawings of each page, followed by a pen-and-ink version. She then scanned the drawings and incorporated the text. Zea admitted that she faced several challenges, and the photos were difficult to draw. “Transportation with the interstate took a long time,” she says. The two-page drawing contained a rope ferry, railroads, and bridges. As Zea points out, “It’s a mix of times. But when you read it, it goes in order.” Some of the histories took six to nine months to complete. The Rivers and Mills booklet took a year.

The overriding goal for all of the illustrated histories is to encourage students and newcomers to get involved and engaged in Norwich. According to Rooker, the histories are designed to build “a strong sense of place and attachment to the community… When you become more involved you become more attached, so it’s circular.” Knowing the history “creates a tighter, more cohesive community,” Rooker points out. “We all want to feel like we belong and these books are geared for that.”

To follow up on this theme, at the end of each history booklet there is a page that offers ideas on how to become more involved in the community. Rivers and Mills suggests you go canoeing on the Connecticut River and imagine what it would have been like when the area was largely a wilderness. In The Early Years history, readers are encouraged to find Norwich’s town charter – signed by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth – at Tracy Hall.

Talking to Zea and Rooker underscores that the creation of the illustrated histories was much more than a simple art history project. “I do think it’s an incredible story,” Rooker says, “about a youth growing up in our community as an artist and coming full circle and helping others connect to the town. Zea has a strong sense of place, as you can see in her drawings”

“My mom was very involved in the history of our town,” notes Zea. “And it’s important for me to continue that work.” Zea’s mother, Kim King Zea, was a curator at NHS and championed the move to Lewis House as a new home for the society in 2003. Rooker appreciates the connection.  “There’s something very special about having Zea working on projects at the historical society. It feels good to continue the history of Norwich with her. It feels good having her here.”

Soon all four illustrated histories will be assembled into one book. In addition, later this spring a new exhibit at Norwich Historical Society will display all the drawings, showing the steps that Zea went through to create the histories, as well as the artifacts and archival documents that were used in the research, writing, and drawing.

There’s a lot to learn about a place by its history. For Sarah Rooker, this means digging into the rich history of Norwich – to appreciate the past, and also to better serve the future.

“Citizen historians” – or residents who are taking an interest in learning about and investigating their local history – are on the rise in Norwich, Rooker says, who became the director of the Norwich Historical Society (NHS) in 2016. “We need to continue to tell the story of Norwich and help people understand what makes a strong community and what the aspects are that make them love it so much.”

Norwich, chartered in 1761 by Benning Wentworth – the Royal Governor of New Hampshire – is a town with a rich history and a strong community that continues to thrive. When Rooker moved to Norwich in 1994, she learned this quickly.

As the director at NHS, Rooker’s main responsibility is to fulfill the society’s mission of preserving local history and promoting community engagement in local history education. Depending on the day, this could mean working with trustees and volunteers, curating new exhibits, organizing community projects and school programs, or caring for the artifacts in the society’s collections.

When it comes to history, “I really like all of it,” Rooker says, though architecture and landscape history are some of her favorite topics. Growing up in a family who appreciated local history played a big role in Rooker’s interest in New England culture. Rooker spent much of her childhood reenacting at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, where her mother was the museum curator. “I learned a lot there about history,” Rooker says. “I would spin and weave and do hearth cooking… I just really connected deeply to it.”

As an undergrad student at the College of William & Mary, Rooker completed a degree in American Studies and worked at the nearby Colonial Williamsburg settlement where she trained to become a museum educator. Since then, Rooker’s career focus has always been on history education. Over the years, Rooker has worked as an educator for the Vermont Historical Society and as the director of the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance. Along with working at NHS, she also leads the local non-profit “The Flow of History” – a place-based history professional development resource for grade school teachers in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Now, Rooker has just finished putting the final touches on NHS’s “Becoming Norwich” exhibit – a collaboration with Norwich cartoonist Emily Zea, featuring a series of illustrated histories of Norwich, which just opened in May. Between Zea’s artistic contributions and Rooker’s writing, the exhibit covers Norwich’s history from its early years to today, with an emphasis on the importance of small-town government. The exhibit will run through 2023.

The historical society’s last exhibit showcased an old pulpit Bible from Norwich which had been vandalized by “rogues” in 1848. The Bible had been in NHS’s collections, and when Rooker opened it, she discovered that “it had been cut all the way through almost like a book safe,” to reveal a note written by the church deacon exposing the vandals “for all generations yet to come.” “It gave me the shivers,” Rooker remembers. “I [had] just got a note from the past. He wanted us to know what had happened.”

This exhibit and all NHS offerings aim to engage community members in learning about their own history. Rooker sees it as a way of “taking the history and thinking about ways to make it connect to the present,” she says. For the vandalized bible project, Rooker invited community artists and poets to respond to the exhibit with their own interpretations of the story. This blend of curiosity and creativity is at the heart of NHS and Rooker’s mission.

A current NHS project – “The Weather Diaries” – presents monthly reports from two Norwich diaries written 150 years apart – one in 1873 and one in 2023. The diary entries focus on the weather, and when viewed in comparison, “[It’s] really interesting – especially with climate change – to look at the differences in snow cover, frost dates, planting dates, and sugaring,” Rooker says.

After spending the past few months bringing “Becoming Norwich” to life, Rooker will soon turn her attention to the busy summer season at NHS. Now that the warmer weather has kicked in, history walking tours and other community events are just on the horizon. Most of these NHS-sponsored events are fundraisers to support the continued success of the historical society, which “[raises] everything that [it spends] every year,” Rooker says.

Walking and bicycle tours are some of the most popular event fundraisers, which cover all time periods of Norwich history, generally anywhere from 1700-1960. “People in Norwich, they’re active; they like to bike and hike and get out,” Rooker says, who plans to continue developing NHS programming that incorporates nature and exercise. “We want to meet them where they’re at.”

Walking tour offerings include mid-century modern house tours, home and garden tours, stone wall and cellar hole walking tours, a Union Village tour, and a Civil War and slavery history tour at the center of Norwich. “Any kind of fundraising thing we do, I like to have it have a history piece to it,” Rooker says. “Those walking tours are an incredible way to connect to the Town.” Pre-recorded podcast driving tours are also available year-round and can be accessed for free through the NHS website.

Tour participants receive a laminated packet of documents and resources specific to the tour (these might include things like historic photos, diary entries, or other archival materials), and they’re encouraged to make observations and comparisons and to ask questions. “When you walk up and down a street and you can look at a house and imagine who lived there and how it was built and know stories, you feel so grounded, and it makes you happier,” Rooker says. “I see that over and over again, and it just brings me great joy to help people discover that.”

An Antique show in September is another annual fundraiser that supports NHS, and through the winter, a series of Zoom lectures – “Discover Norwich” – helps bring donations in during the colder months. Between these fundraisers and volunteer support, NHS would not be possible without support from the community of Norwich that it serves.

With an influx of people moving to the Upper Valley, Rooker takes special care to welcome any new Norwich neighbors to learn about the community using NHS as a guide. “We have constant work to do to help people learn about and value the historic houses and their historic barns and their historic landscape,” Rooker says. “And [to] understand that all those pieces come together to make this beautiful town what it is.”

Finding a balance between historic preservation and modernization can prove tricky sometimes, but Rooker is determined that Norwich can keep up with the times while still “[retaining] the historic character [of Norwich] that we all love,” she says. For the historical society, part of finding this balance is keeping records to help preserve history (like photographs, diary entries, or other artifacts), while also embracing progressive attitudes and a growing population. For example, NHS offers educational resources for homeowners on the care and maintenance of old buildings, so that their history can be honored while also accommodating concerns about energy efficiency – an increasingly common focus of modern construction.

Another way NHS connects with the community is by providing an interactive and easily accessible array of digital history resources, which can be found on the historical society’s website, norwichhistory.org. The website contains updates on NHS news and events, along with information on historical society exhibits, an online collections catalog, resources for historical research, and even a list of activities for families with children. NHS also connects with patrons and community members via a mailing list and the local listserv.

“At the heart, historical societies are community institutions,” Rooker says. “It’s a busy hive of activity all the time.” Even though the historical society’s official hours are Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, students, volunteers, and community members stop by daily for one reason or another. Community members – typically high school students and elders – are drawn to volunteering at NHS and are involved in a variety of ways, anywhere from setting up exhibits to putting on fundraisers.

NHS memberships, which renew every summer and start at $15, are another large piece of the support that makes the historical society possible. NHS members directly support the programming that the society provides to the community, most of which is offered for free. “Really, what you get by being a member is knowing that you’re a steward of your community,” Rooker says.

For the community of Norwich, the historical society is a vital resource for keeping the Town’s history alive – helping people answer questions about their past and learn from history as they make decisions for the future. For Rooker, some of her most important work is giving citizens the tools they need to stay engaged in their own history.

“I like seeing how history can connect people to where they live,” she says. “If a town is going to have a strong identity, it needs to know where it comes from.”