GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly cloudy, chance of showers. There’s this large area of low pressure that at the moment is centered over the Gaspé Peninsula, and it’s in charge right now, with multiple little systems wandering around its edge—which happens to include us. We’ve got a couple more days of drear, with showers possible this morning and gusty winds this afternoon. Highs today in the low 50s, mid or upper 30s tonight.
A star shines out. Sunset the other evening looking toward Woodstock from Quechee, with the Mt. Tom star a beacon in the distance, from Kathy Stroffolino.
Wilder ice cream spot reopens after 22 years. For six years, starting in 1998, Jennifer and Luke Mattern ran Whistlestop Ice Cream out of their pink home on Depot Street. They closed it to raise their kids, “took other jobs and the shop reverted into a home,” writes Nina Baker in the Valley News. But last week, she reports, the Matterns reopened after renovating their first floor, putting three serving windows onto the porch and room to keep 70 flavors cold inside. They did it, Jennifer tells Baker, because they missed the community feel an ice cream shop brings. “If you’re coming to an ice cream shop, you’re going to bump into somebody,” she says. Hours here.
Warehouse workers’ strike affects shelves at independent grocers in NH, VT, including Co-op Food Stores, Woodstock Village Market. The strike, begun last week by 255 members of a Teamsters local at the Associated Grocers Northeast (AGNE) distribution center in Pembroke, NH, has disrupted deliveries “to hundreds of independent supermarkets across New England ahead of Thanksgiving and the holiday season,” writes Kevin Haynes for Inc. mag. The Co-op stores are partners with AGNE; the distributor owns its own stores in NH and VT, including the Woodstock Village Market. "It's going to go as long as it takes,” a union rep told WMUR on Saturday.
Windsor man dies in fire. Saturday morning, the Windsor police write in a press release, fire crews and police officers responded to a fire on Kennedy Drive, with reports that the home’s occupant was still inside. Crews from area towns also responded. Windsor firefighters found the man’s body in the basement. State investigators are looking into the cause, but the police write that “at this time, no foul play is suspected.” They’re withholding the man’s name pending notification of family.
The story behind the Shattuck Observatory’s overhaul. The 1871 Clark refracting telescope that’s at the Dartmouth facility’s heart is rusted, writes Sophia Sahni in the VN, while the building itself is deteriorating and the dome “struggles to open.” Astronomer Doug Arion, who was a student at the college in the ‘70s, is funding the work; Boston craftsmen Alan Sliski and his son Aaron will restore the telescope in their workshop. "There is nobody else that does it. So eventually, I get the call,” Alan Sliski tells Sahni. Meanwhile, a Dartmouth crew will work on the building, putting in new floors, an HVAC system, and more. They’re planning to reopen in 2028.
In Norwich, ghost hamlet gets a historic plaque. Lewiston, down by the river, was a busy place from the late 1700s well into the 20th century, before it began to decline and was eventually razed to make room for I-91. As an Eagle Scout project, writes Demo Sofronas on his About Norwich substack, Ian Sun decided to commemorate the village with a historic marker in Foley Park, the little stretch of green by the Ledyard Bridge. With the help of a variety of locals, including the construction help of the American Legion’s Tom Slater, Sun has now brought the plaque into existence—and Demo has a series of photos documenting it all (including the marker itself).
White Mountains wildfire nearly 30 percent contained. The Wild River Fire is, at least unofficially, the largest fire in the history of the White Mountain National Forest. At its peak last week, it was burning over 1,000 acres; now, reports WMUR’s Blois, it’s down to 821 acres, thanks in part to the recent rain. The US Forest Service, Blois reports, says the fire was likely human-caused. With challenging terrain and plenty of potential tinder, "We're not going to be able to put the entire fire out,” incident commander Ryan Hughes tells Blois. “So really, what that looks like is a season-ending event, so a large rain event or snowfall." NH Bulletin’s Molly Rains details what’s behind the fire’s spread.
“We get snow, then it warms up, and we lose the snow, and then we have to make more snow.” That’s Molly Maher, president of Ski Vermont, talking about a winter experience that’s become all too familiar to anyone who frequents the state’s ski areas. In VTDigger, Bear Savage uses it to open the first of two stories about a new study by UVM’s Gund Institute that finds—no surprise—that the state “is experiencing unprecedented weather extremes, and its climate is getting warmer, wetter and more variable.” And in addition to ski seasons, the changes are affecting towns’ ability to maintain roads and other infrastructure. Town officials are “kind of becoming experts in disaster funding,” says Ted Brady of the VT League of Cities and Towns.
The Monday Jigsaw: An 1855 map of Hartford and surrounding towns. “We all know Quechee Gorge and the bridge that carries Route 4 across it, far above the river,” writes Cam Cross. “Fewer of us know that the bridge was built for a railroad, and that before the railroad the road from Woodstock never went near the Gorge at all. It crossed the Ottauquechee at Taftsville, ran through Quechee village, and climbed past Hartford's old town center to the White River.” Lots more on the history (and current status) of “the roads that time forgot” on Cam’s Curioustorian page.
Today's Wordbreak. With a word from Friday’s Daybreak.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
THERE'S SOME GREAT DAYBREAK SWAG! Like Daybreak tote bags, sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
HEADS UP
Climate Future Film Festival at Dartmouth’s Loew Auditorium. Twelve films from around the world on the theme of “Youth, Reckoning & Resolve,” including young brothers searching for clean water in India, a young Turkish girl reckons with scarcity, farm and ranch families in the western US reckon with dwindling water supplies, and more. Sponsored by the Dayenu Circle and Dartmouth’s Center for Social Impact, it runs 6-8 pm. RSVP at this link.
Les Arts Florissants at the Hop. Baroque experts William Christie (a former music prof at Dartmouth) and Paul Agnew lead the Paris-based ensemble of singers and musicians on period instruments in a series of madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi. 7:30 pm in Spaulding. Christie and Agnew will talk about their work with Filippo Ciabatti at 6:30 pm in a free pre-show talk in the Top of the Hop.
And for today...
Let’s jaunt into the week with the great French singer Christophe Maé, messing around with a spotlight and a shadow, for “Y'a que de l'amour chez toi” (“There’s nothing but love in you”).
See you tomorrow.
Looking for all of the hikes, Enthusiasms, daybreak photos, or music that Daybreak has published over the years? Go here!
And always, if you’re not a subscriber yet:
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on Daybreak’s homepage.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editors: Jonea Gurwitt, Sam Gurwitt
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to visit daybreak.news to sign up.
Thank you!
