Northern Rail Trail Names New Welcome Center in Danbury

Audrey Pellegrino to open new Danbury Country Store

March 21, 2013 • Saved under Outdoors
Press release
The Danbury General Store, pictured here, was a favorite stop for walkers and bikers on the Northern Rail Trail … until the store closed. Sometime in April, Audrey Pellegrino plans to open the Danbury Country Store on the premises. The new store will be an official Rail Trail welcome center and offer many amenities for Trail users.

There is good news for users of the Northern Rail Trail. The Danbury Country Store, formerly the Danbury General Store, is slated to open in mid-April (target date: Friday, April 19). Designated an official Rail Trail Welcome Center by the Board of the Friends of the Northern Rail Trail in Merrimack County (FNRT), the store will offer amenities to bikers, walkers, and other users stepping off the Rail Trail in Danbury.

The Danbury Country Store is located across the street from the Northern Rail Trail at High Street and Route 4, about midway along the 52 miles of built-out trail in Grafton and Merrimack Counties.

Audrey Pellegrino, Danbury Country Store manager and long-time AE/MS kindergarten teacher, when asked to comment on the Welcome Center designation said, “I love having the store designated as a welcome center. We were actually talking today about where the bicycle racks should go!

“We will have a handicap-accessible public bathroom for people to use, as well as a separate sink to rinse travel mugs and water bottles. The name of the store has been changed just enough for people to realize it is something new and different. We will serve made-from-scratch cookies and muffins daily, as well as Boar’s Head deli meats for order-to-go sandwiches, homemade pizza slices, and salads. Hopefully, people enjoying the Rail Trail will start or stop at the store to relax and enjoy!”

The distance from the first Rail Trail Welcome Center, the Highland Lake Inn in East Andover, to the Danbury Country Store is just about 13½ miles — an excellent distance to ride to lunch.

“We’re very excited about the opening of the Danbury Welcome Center at the Danbury Country Store,” said Craig Heim, member of the Board of Directors of FNRT. “Fresh food, a public bathroom, water, and a warm welcome – a bicyclist’s dream! We’re delighted that local businesses are developing along the Trail.”

FNRT is delighted to have two wonderful welcome centers along its 27-mile length. Be sure to plan a visit to the latest addition come spring.

For more information about the rail trail in Merrimack County visit FNRT.org, facebook.com/FNRTNH, or call Alex Bernhard at 735-5071. For information on the longest rail trail in New Hampshire and one of the Top 100 rail trails in the country, please visit NorthernRailTrailOfNH.org.