PARKING UPDATE

I have talked with the director of the Norwich Recreation Council, which schedules most events at Huntley Meadows, and she has told me that there should be no problem with our use of the lot from Wednesday evening to Saturday evening.

We have been asked to park in the upper lot [the one you immediately drive into] as close to Beaver Meadow Road and the brook as possible. If you are coming from a drop-off at the barn, that will mean turning in to the right and heading back towards the bridge you just crossed to get there. If you are coming from Main Street directly onto Turnpike Road, that will mean turning left into the entrance, and continuing to the right as far from Main Street as possible.

In the [hopefully] unlikely event that you have to leave your car in the parking lot overnight, you MUST call the police and give them: the make, model, and license plate number of your car, as well as your name and emergency contact information.

I hope you will understand if I ask you NOT to give out our telephone number as the emergency contact.

YOU CAN'T PARK HERE... unfortunately

Parking here is EXTREMELY limited; we have two cars ourselves, and several guests for the board meeting who are attending the Roundtable as well. So we have to ask you all to carpool and park at the parking at the town playing fields ["Huntley Meadows"] on Turnpike Road.

Directions to Huntley Meadow:

From the highway or Hanover, drive under the highway and continue straight into town [Route 5-North comes in from the left at the last traffic light before Town. [Watch out for the police, who seem to have income-producing quotas for speeders as they do for trucks without a Norwich overweight permit…]. You will pass a gray church [St. Barnabas] and the town green on your right; continue straight ahead on Main Street when Route 5 takes off to the right. You will pass our town hall on the right, numerous banks, and then, on the left, our famous general store and its gas pumps, and right after Dan & Whit’s, the Norwich Inn.

Immediately after the Inn, turn left onto Beaver Meadow Road. [If you are coming from other points, find your way to the center of town and make the turn at the Inn onto Beaver Meadow Road.] Follow the double yellow line, resisting all temptations to turn right or left for almost exactly a mile; the road snakes around a lot [and used to change its name twice before you got here]. You will pass the low-slung, dark St. Francis RC church in a field on the right, and about ¾ of a mile out, the VFW hall, a white cinder-block building on the right, where you can play cribbage Thursday night. About 9/10 of a mile out, before the road rises suddenly to start the long climb to Sharon, you will see a newly resided barn that is your “home” for the next few days. The number “288” is on the mailbox, along with the name “Huessy”.

Pull in past the mailbox into the circular drive and drop off your passengers. Then continue around the oval past the end of the barn, turning left back onto Beaver Meadow Road as if you were about to drive back into town; instead, immediately take a left onto Moore Lane. Cross the bridge and at the dead-end into Turnpike Road, take a right; as you follow the road around to the left, you will see the playing fields and the parking lot on your right; the entrance to the lot is at the far end. Park and walk back; it’s about a quarter of a mile. Please plan to car-pool; there may be events at the fields that limit the availability of parking there as well.

If you are without passengers, you can drive straight out Main Street past Dan & Whit's and the Norwich Inn to Turnpike Road, which is the second left-hand after Beaver Meadow. It is 0.6 miles from the Inn to Turnpike, and 0.3 miles from the turn to the entrance to the lot. It is still a quarter-of-a-mile walk from the lot to the barn.

To download the above map, click here.