The late Nicole Cormen, a dedicated conservationist and Lebanon City Councilor, loved Lebanon’s trails and natural areas. She and her friends liked to hike a different trail every Friday to honor the memory of Laurel Letter, who created Lebanon’s first conservation lands map by hand long before GPS and Google Maps. If you were lucky enough to get out on the trail with Nicole or Laurel, you could be guaranteed to learn a few things about the trees, wildlife, and flowers in Lebanon’s conserved lands.

It’s a bit of a challenge to choose a few favorites from the City’s 22 miles of trails on more than 1,880 acres, with more publicly accessible trails owned and maintained by others to explore.… Read More

At age 80, West Lebanon resident Robert Camarra, who lives at the Quail Hollow Senior Living Community, can sit comfortably by the fireplace and reminisce about a sterling career that saw him not only protecting the United States of America faithfully, but also making the states of Vermont and New Hampshire safe places to live and raise a family.

As a young man right out of high school at the tender age of 17, Robert enlisted in the United Sates Army and was assigned to a Military Police unit to receive full training in that field. Upon his discharge 12 years later, he returned home to New Hampshire and, following a few stints as a police officer for local municipalities, he was accepted as a New Hampshire State Trooper.… Read More

A coalition of Lebanon parents is working to make play space more accessible to young children, especially those under the age of five. The Lebanon Plays project has two primary objectives: create play spaces that are accessible to families on foot, bike, or public transit, and create play spaces that are safe and fun for the youngest Lebanon residents.

The initiative sprang out of the Safe Routes to Play initiative, a year-long study funded by the Healthy New Hampshire (HNH) Foundation and Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Safe Routes to Play seeks to improve the safety and ease of biking and walking to recreational areas for young children and their families.… Read More

Look up tidal wave in Webster’s Dictionary and among other terms, it will state that the definition of a tidal wave is “Any widespread movement or feeling, etc.”

Lebanon Police officer Dakota DeRego acted when a life-altering tragedy descended upon a young Lebanon High School student, and his acts of kindness set off a tidal wave of compassion and emotion that swamped the Upper Valley and continues to gain strength.

It all started when Dakota heard the plight of Julie Barber and her family. Julie, a sophomore at Lebanon High School and a varsity ice hockey player, was admitted to the hospital to have a cancerous tumor removed from her spine.… Read More

Lebanon’s AVA Gallery has undergone many transitions and changes this winter, saying goodbye to Bente Torjusen following her 30-year tenure as Executive Director, welcoming incoming Executive Director Trip Anderson, and completing the construction of an innovative and energy-efficient new sculpture studio.

In January, AVA Gallery completed three major capital projects: the new 4,000-square-foot Bente Torjusen West Sculptural Studies Building, and two separate solar arrays—one on the sculptural studies building and one on the existing Carter-Kelsey building. The solar arrays are part of a plan to for the buildings to be net-zero energy. In the summer months, the large array on the “Bente building” may provide enough energy, not just to power the new building and the heavy machinery in the sculpture studios, but also to supplement the array on the Carter-Kelsey building making both buildings energy neutral.… Read More