FNRT press release

At 2 PM on Sunday, October 14, the Friends of the Northern Rail Trail in Merrimack County (FNRT) will ride for the third time to honor the memory of Peter Oren Crowell. The ride will start at Potter Place in Andover, and each rider will be free to ride as far as she or he elects.

Peter Crowell was from New London and was instrumental in getting early portions of the Trail built. His sons, Peter and Ben, have continued Peter’s tradition by making their compactor and grader available each year for trail resurfacing.

A pilot and avid cyclist, “Peter was generous, competent, and a doer, not a talker,” said Alex Bernhard, Vice President of FNRT. “He was one of the finest people we’ve met in the process of building the Northern Rail Trail. He just showed up at one of our meetings with a contribution in hand – which he wouldn’t relinquish until he was sure we were building trail, not just talking about it. ‘We can do this,’ he said at the end of that meeting, and he was an inspiration. By riding the Rail Trail on October 14, we’re keeping his spirit alive in us and all who join us.”

Crowell family members and FNRT fans of all ages are invited to join in a bike ride on the Rail Trail headed north towards Danbury for as long as they like. The event will start with light refreshments.

There is no rain date: if pouring rain makes it impossible to ride, we’ll gather for a moment of remembrance at the Potter Place railway station. The railway station, off Route 11 in Andover, is also the starting place for the ride.