Present: Alex Bernhard, Steve Darling, Craig Heim, Lindy Heim, Myra Mayman, Ellsworth Morton, Joyce Morton, and Bob Ward; Guests Tim Blagden, Elaine Clow, Bruce Crawford, and Representative Tom Schamberg.

The meeting was called to order at 7 PM. After the minutes of the October 23 meeting were approved, Treasurer Steve Darling reported that we received $10,000 in foundation grants this month, thanks to the efforts of Craig Heim. These grants are for next summer’s trail building.

Special guest Charley Freiberg of Wilmot, photographer and avid bicyclist, reported on the documentation he has been doing with historic preservationist Lisa Mausolf. She was hired by New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) to catalog the historic aspects of the Trail, including culverts and bridges.

Using the Valuation Maps drawn and updated between the mid-nineteenth century and the 1920s, Lisa and Charley have ridden and walked the Trail from Concord to White River Junction. The “Val Maps” (short for Valuation Maps required of all railroads in 1914) show all aspects of the trail down to 1/100th of a mile.

Charley enthused about the impressive stone culverts and bridges and other artifacts of the history of the railroad along the Northern Line. Elaine Clow of Boscawen’s Historical Society offered to share the information she has about the Poor Farm cemetery next to the Trail in Boscawen.

Under Technology Report, Lindy Heim said that more than 1,800 people have seen our new map from the Concord Monitor on the Trail’s Facebook page. Tim Blagden of Warner and Director of the Bike-Walk Alliance said that STRAVA collects GPS info. He believes they can give us counts of people on the trail.

Old Business

Alex Bernhard reported that the work of the 2013 trail construction project extending the Trail to Depot Street in Boscawen had been successfully completed and on budget. Regarding the application for Recreational Trails funding for 2014, he recommended that we increase the amount of our application from $20,000 to $30,000 in order to finish laying stone dust to the Grafton town line. His motion was approved by the board.

There was a discussion about the derelict Gerrish Depot in Boscawen. There is interest in restoring the building because of its historic value and because it sits at a natural trailhead on Route 3. Bruce Crawford of Boscawen opined that the Boscawen Historic Society would be interested, and he thinks the town would also, but they have no funds. Bob Ward offered that the FNRT board would be interested in a joint effort.

The next meeting, on Wednesday, January 15, will take place in Boscawen. Bruce will schedule a meeting room in the Town Hall and invite interested parties. Tim Blagden said that Jill Edelman at DOT and Laura Black at New Hampshire Division of Historic Resources could be resources. He also said that there is a seminar on March 20 regarding federal funding that we might want to attend.

Craig Heim reported on foundation grants. Over the past year he submitted 17 applications to foundations. Twelve of these were funded, totaling $42,500. Appreciation was expressed to Craig for his excellent and effective work.

Alex reported that Lenny Caron is attempting to challenge the DOT decision that he not use the Rail Trail for his gravel trucks.

Fall 2014 events were discussed. On September 27, the Law Enforcement Association’s races on the Trail to raise money for Special Olympics, now officially entitled “The Rail Trail Run ‘n Ride,” will be headquartered on Carr Field at Proctor Academy. It was agreed that we would have a banner and booth at that event.

Regarding a celebration of the Rail Trail’s completion, it was agreed that a Boscawen location would be appropriate. Elaine Clow and Bruce Crawford suggested that Boscawen’s Old Home Day, the last Saturday in August (August 30, 2014), might be a good date. It takes place at Jamie Welch Park, right on the Rail Trail. This will be discussed further at the January 15 meeting in Boscawen.

New Business

Bob will staff a table at the Andover Snowmobile Club’s spaghetti dinner on Saturday, January 25. He will ask Steve Rayno to join him. Bob has custody of the big presentation map.

The formal Annual Meeting took place: the current Directors and Officers were re-elected.

Lindy showed material about the possibility of creating saleable souvenir items (t-shirts, hats, bags, etc.) for our public events. Bruce Crawford offered to advise her based on his experience with another organization. This will be discussed at the April meeting, along with Larry Chase’s discovery of a Vermont blacksmith who turns railroad spikes into hooks.

All agenda items having been addressed, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.