From my interview with Kristen Coats, I have no doubt that the Upper Valley Haven in White River Junction is incredibly lucky to have her. The Walden University graduate in public health spent almost six years working for Dartmouth-Hitchcock where she coordinated the Upper Valley Heal program. It was at Dartmouth-Hitchcock that Coats says she developed a true appreciation for the fact that people are healthy if their environments are healthy.

Having been at the Haven for only a year, it’s easy to see that Coats infuses her work with that same passion today. As leader of the nutrition program, she has no problem talking effortlessly about all the different areas in which the program has grown.… Read More

Politics aside, January’s Women’s Marches were incredibly inspiring to me and to hundreds of thousands of others across the world. It was truly a global initiative.

The scene in Boston was overwhelmingly surreal, as I am sure many in our community witnessed firsthand. January 21st wasn’t about negativity or one side versus another, but about the human spirit and our ability to unite as one people. While many are uncertain and apprehensive about the future, fear was cast aside and instead replaced with an energizing and positive feeling of hope. The marches were not merely about Trump, any political figure or initiative but about all of us.… Read More

Juanita Zerda, Tony Carlin, and their two boys, Liam, 11, and Juan, 9, have their home base in Winchester, MA, but own a second home here in Quechee. Like many Quechee homeowners, they were drawn here after visiting with a friend and seeing all that Quechee has to offer.

Although this time it was not a friend who owned a house up here, which is often the story, but instead a friend who had been here for a corporate retreat and remembered how much they liked it here. After visiting a few times, Juanita and Tony rented a house the following winter and decided to purchase a home.… Read More

As any Quechee resident or frequent visitor knows, a lot can change in thirteen years. Rickety two-person chairlifts give way to faster, sleeker, more flashy-named quads. Sometimes roadside alpacas appear. Restaurants come and go, as do people. But since she first stepped foot in Quechee over fifteen years ago, Taylor McKenna has been a witness to all these changes. Taylor, a resident of Sudbury, Massachusetts, has been a Quechee mainstay in the winter and the summer, on the slopes and off.

In the winter of 2000, Taylor first put on tiny ski boots and clicked them into tiny skis at Ascutney Mountain in Brownsville, VT.… Read More

Craig Allsopp, new President of the Quechee Lakes Landowners Association (QLLA) Board of Trustees, and I sat down recently on a beautiful fall day in Quechee to talk about his new role.

Allsopp and wife, Jo, moved to Quechee full-time in 2007. Allsopp describes moving here as “a bit of a ‘bucket list’ lifestyle change.” They had always liked Vermont, enjoyed ski vacations at Okemo, and summer visits to Woodstock and the Upper Valley area. Both are avid golfers, and that was the Quechee Lakes lure. They visited in 2005 for a weekend, and ended up buying a lot on Fletcher Lane, excited to build a house and eventually move here full-time.… Read More

The Dismas House is a non-profit organization that was first brought to Vermont in the 1980s by Frank and Rita McCaffrey. The original Dismas House began in 1974 in Nashville, Tennessee, as a program developed by Father Jack Hickey and a group of Vanderbilt University students. The Dismas name comes from Hickey’s original inspiration–Catholic tradition Dismas is the name of the penitent, or good thief, crucified on Calvary alongside Jesus. Dismas, is the thief that Jesus saves. The Dismas House reunites criminal offenders with the community, and it has been so successful that the original program model can be found in various forms nationally and internationally.… Read More

The Beverly Fowle Fiertz Community Center, located at The Upper Valley Haven in White River Junction, Vermont, is better known throughout the community as “Bev’s House.” When you listen to those who work or volunteer at Bev’s House speak about their experience, you can hear the warm familiarity spoken with the name, and walking through the halls and rooms lends one to believe she will come around the next corner and introduce herself. It could be her home after all: Bev’s artwork is found in every room, and her family portrait and diploma are prominently displayed in the front sitting room.… Read More

Audrey and Ted Raycroft are Quechee, Vermont homeowners who, for most of the year, reside in Sherborn, Massachusetts, as do the co-owners of their Quechee home, Suzanne and Adam Craig. When Raycroft began looking for a house, she did not set out intending to share with a friend; that happened by a little twist of Vermont fate. As time goes by, however, she has found it is a wonderful way to have a second home and, often, increases the fun of trips to Vermont.

There is an extended network of families and individuals from Sherborn, who own homes in and around the Quechee area.… Read More

A skier, swimmer, and a dedicated honors student, Victoria Carlson of Wenham, Massachusetts, does it all! Carlson’s ties to Quechee precede her. Her grandparents, Deb and Dick Carlson, built a house at the top of the Quechee Ski Hill in the early 1970s. Her great-grandmother, Ann Williams, named the road the house is on, Williams Lane. Her father, David, and his brother, Dan, learned to ski on the Quechee Ski Hill as kids. So, when David and his wife, Carol Harlow-Carlson, had Victoria it was only natural that she would spend a great deal of time in Vermont!

Carlson’s love of skiing started with lessons at age 3 with the Quechee Ski Bees.… Read More

I’ve never actually played golf. The only time I ever really hit a ball or two was with my former husband. As we casually practiced on a driving range one fine day many years ago, we both suddenly looked up and in a split second saw our balls collide in midair about 25 yards out! I figured I better quit while I was ahead of the stats curve.

As with most things in life, it’s best not to judge a book by its cover. I admit it, ever since I was a kid growing up in Quechee, I had somewhat of a fear of, which manifested as disdain for, golf.… Read More