Narrator and Words Trail co-producer Steve Hooper introduces Chestnut Hill, a special little neighborhood just above Downtown Brattleboro marked by an old reservoir, houses with spectacular views and access to the lovely Retreat Trails network. Steve describes visiting his grandparents, Howard Crosby and Amy Rice, his aunt Marion McCune Rice and uncle Howard C. Rice Jr. at their respective homes there. The Rice family's creative, cosmopolitan and community-minded lives and spirits helped shape the identity of Brattleboro. Howard and Amy were the first to build a house at the apex of Chestnut Hill after a former park created by publisher George Crowell was closed. That house at 105 Chestnut Hill, with its wonderful view of the Connecticut River, still stands today. Howard C. Rice was the first editor/publisher of The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, launching its first edition in 1913. (The Reformer was founded as the weekly Windham County Reformer in 1876.) He led the paper for more than 40 years until his son-in-law John S. Hooper (Steve's dad) took over for a collective and continuous leadership of the daily paper for more than 60 years. John S. Hooper married the Rice’s eldest daughter Marion in 1931 in the rose garden behind the house. Together they founded and led the Stephen Daye Press, one of the best regional book publishers in New England at that time. The press was sold after WW2 and John Hooper assumed the reins of the Reformer when Howard C. retired. Steven introduces the story of his Aunt Marion, who lived at 90 Chestnut HIll, a World War I American Red Cross nurse for four years in the thick of fighting in France. Her extraordinary body of letters and photographs, which Steve discovered after her death, poignantly describe her war experience. Steve's daughter Althaea reads from the letters in the first half of the podcast. Steve's wife Jackie Hooper narrates the second half of the podcast about the founding of the Reformer and family life with Howard C. Rice and Amy and gives a brief history of Chestnut Hill itself. Actors recount colorful vignettes of life at the time, including tales of stolen rings and dogs. She also tells of Steve's Great Uncle Howard C. Rice, Jr.and his wife France Chalufour Rice, who lived at 160 Chestnut Hill in a house closer to the famed Retreat Tower. Howard Jr. was an assistant librarian for rare books and special collections and an associate professor at Princeton University from 1948 until his retirement in 1970. He wrote several books on Kipling including “Rudyard Kipling in New England.” His research papers, originally housed at Marlboro College, are now at the University of Vermont library providing crucial information on Kipling and his Brattleboro friends. All in all, the podcast provides a charming account of the achievements of an extraordinary family with a very special place in Brattleboro history.