Portsmouth student's idea for StoryWalk gets town's blessing

It's a natural and beautiful setting, so it would be a good place for children to interact in that area."”

PHS senior Eve Lowrimore

PORTSMOUTH — Young tikes will soon be able to read a good story while hiking in the great outdoors now that a Portsmouth High School student’s idea has town approval.

Eve Lowrimore, for her senior project at PHS, wants to install a StoryWalk — an outdoor path featuring wooden stakes that hold laminated, oversized pages from a children’s book — on the southern field at town-owned Glen Park. Visitors stroll along the trail to view each page or pages, then are directed to the next reading station.

Miss Lowrimore presented her idea Monday night to the Town Council, which unanimously approved the StoryWalk contingent upon a maintenance plan worked out with the Portsmouth Free Public Library.

The project supports not only children’s literacy but outdoor activity, said Miss. Lowrimore, who has taken child development classes at PHS. She hopes the local StoryWalk will spark children’s interest in reading. 

“It’s a natural and beautiful setting, so it would be a good place for children to interact in that area,” she said.

StoryWalks, which were created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vt. and developed with the help of Rachel Senechal of Kellogg-Hubbard Library, have been installed in 50 states and 11 countries, according to its website.

Stories to change annually

The local StoryWalk would be a permanent structure, but the plan is to switch out the stories annually with assistance from the library, said Miss Lowrimore. The first featured story will be  “Lemon the Duck,” by local author Laura Backman, who attended Monday’s meeting. The stories would be appropriate for children ages 6 to 12.

In her StoryWalk, there will be two pages per post, with 20 stations arranged in a perimeter abutting a stone wall on the southern field at Glen Park. Each post, planted two feet into the ground and standing four feet high, will be about “40 paces apart,” Miss Lowrimore said.

Brian Woodhead, deputy director of the Department of Public Works, said he would consult with Dig Safe to make sure the posts don’t hit any buried electrical lines. He also said DPW would still be able to mow around the StoryWalk.

Miss Lowrimore’s next job is to construct the posts with assistance from a local Boy Scout troop and the Portsmouth High varsity cheerleading team, of which she’s a member — on March 18 and 25. 

The posts would be installed April 8, with the grand opening scheduled for April 15 (rain date of April 16).

Valerie Seveney, a first-grade teacher at Melville Elementary School whom once had Miss Lowrimore as a student, is her mentor for the project.