A recent dinner conversation with friends centered on life in the Upper Valley. We agreed that we were fortunate to live here, a place that combines natural beauty, the glory (and sometimes the challenge) of changing seasons, recreational opportunities and extraordinary cultural resources, many of them provided by Dartmouth College.
Northern Stage in White River Junction, the Shaker Bridge Theater in Enfield, the Parish Players in Thetford and the Hopkins Center in Hanover offer an impressive array of events and productions, and we all look forward to the reopening of the Hood Museum at the end of this month.
Advance Transit provides invaluable service to the community. We’re fortunate also to have a first-class medical center here in the Upper Valley, as well as an excellent local newspaper, the Valley News. (Full disclosure: I receive a small stipend for my columns, but I am not on the payroll). Although I would not want to do without daily access to The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Des Moines Register (my hometown paper, for which I began writing in the early 1980s), the Valley News combines a useful blend of local news and features with wire service reporting from around the nation and the world. Not many communities of our size can boast such a fine daily newspaper.
Our dinner conversation then veered toward what might make the Upper Valley even better. Some of the answers are obvious: more affordable housing and more diversity, for instance, and a better handle on the opioid crisis. Other ideas we bandied about — the return of a shoe store, for example — seem unrealistic in this age of Amazon and internet shopping. It appears that the hideous Wilder Dam is going nowhere. We also concluded that the chances we could persuade the Red Sox to abandon Fenway Park for the Maxfield Sports Complex are, well, about as slim as Bill Belichick leaving the Patriots to host a talk show.
So what, in the realm of possibility, would make the Upper Valley a better place? Here are a few ideas — admittedly largely Hanover-centric — presented not as an exhaustive list but as an invitation to further conversation.
A New Bookstore
The closing of the Dartmouth Bookstore and Wheelock Books leaves Hanover with only Left Bank Books, which sells used books. Yes, the Norwich Bookstore, across the Connecticut River, is an excellent resource, but a college town — an Ivy League college town — without a bookstore is pretty much unthinkable.
When the news of these closings arrived, the Arts & Humanities Division Council at Dartmouth, which consists of department chairs, sent a letter to Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon asking urgently for his intervention. The letter cited the partnership at Princeton between the university and Labyrinth Books as a model. Labyrinth is a thriving, independent bookstore on Nassau Street, just across from the university’s Firestone Library. In addition to offering the benefits of a curated bookstore to the community, Labyrinth provides Princeton students with a 30 percent discount on textbooks and a 15 percent discount on all other purchases.
So far, only a tepid, noncommittal response from the administration.
New Restaurants
With the closing of Salubre and the demise of the Canoe Club coupled with the emergence of Tucker Box and Elixir, White River Junction has arguably replaced Hanover as the dining destination in the Upper Valley. Surely, Hanover can do better. Suggestions offered at our dinner ranged from Greek to French. I’d add Mexican and a seafood restaurant to that mix of possibilities, and my own preference would be Italian, perhaps a country Italian restaurant.
A Better First Impression
Let’s face it: The approach to Hanover coming across the Ledyard Bridge from Vermont is beyond dreadful. Sagging, dilapidated buildings provide a visitor’s first impression of what is otherwise, at the top of the hill, a lovely community. Once again, we can do better. In addition to a general cleanup and perhaps some more distinguished architecture, how about a large, wrought-iron sign arching over Wheelock Street welcoming visitors to Hanover and to Dartmouth? Some flowers and a bit of landscaping wouldn’t hurt, either.
More Bike Lanes
Any community can use more bicycle lanes and recreation paths, especially to connect those already in place. Stowe provides a good model. Not only does the recreation path serve the community, it’s also a draw for visitors. I’d love to see an expansion of the network of recreation paths in the Upper Valley.
Make Campus Smoke-Free
I’ve been agitating for more than two years now for Dartmouth to join the growing ranks of colleges and universities across the country by declaring a smoke-free campus. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is a smoke-free campus. Why not Dartmouth? I broached this idea with Hanlon long ago, and he expressed no objections; he said that he did the same while he was provost at the University of Michigan, expecting an uproar, but the initiative faced very little pushback. I also mentioned this (several times) to the relevant senior administrator at Dartmouth. He agreed that it was a worthy idea and promised to pursue it.
Nothing yet. If Yale can do it (with a much larger campus in an urban area), why can’t Dartmouth?
Support the Airport
In 1988, while I was teaching at my former place of employment, I flew into the Lebanon airport on a major airline (United, if memory serves). Now, the Upper Valley is served by the prop planes of Cape Air, which are slower and far more subject to weather delays and cancellations. I’d think that the major institutions in the area, especially Dartmouth and DHMC, would have a vested interest in restoring the services of a major airline into Lebanon — Dartmouth for faculty, students, parents and prospective students, Dartmouth-Hitchcock to expand its reach. Nobody is expecting nonstop flights to Paris, Dubai or San Francisco, but if the Upper Valley truly harbors aspirations of being a hub for technology and innovation, we need reliable regional jet service that will connect easily and quickly with New York and Boston.
I understand that the city of Lebanon cannot bear these costs alone, nor should it be expected to do so. A thriving airport would benefit the entire Upper Valley. Perhaps the solution would be to establish a Twin State entity (on the model of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) that would share the costs (and potential revenues) of a thriving airport.
Communities with much smaller populations across the country enjoy dependable air service, many of them subsidized by the federal government. Here, the congressional delegations of both Vermont and New Hampshire should take the lead. Given the outsized influence of small-state senators in the U.S. Senate, something surely could be done if the four senators work together. (Failing that, we’re about to be overrun by politicians campaigning for president. We should secure promises from all of them that they will attend to the matter of air travel for the Upper Valley.)
I reiterate: The Upper Valley is a fine and salubrious place, a place I’m pleased to call home. These are a few, modest ideas for its improvement, and I invite others to add their own suggestions.
Finally, I’ll anticipate a letter to the editor: “The Upper Valley would be a better place if a certain columnist would stop pontificating about making the Upper Valley a better place.”
Point taken. Happy New Year.
Randall Balmer teaches at Dartmouth College.