The Gnome Doors are located at the base of trees on the trails in town. Here is where you can find them:

Clark Pond - 1 doors

Clark Lookout - 1 door

Cocoa's Path - 1 door

Kidder-Cleveland-Clough - 1 door

Kidder-Cleveland-Clough East - 1 door Knights Hill - 1 door

Low Plain - 2 doors

Messer Pond - 1 door

Morris Trail at CS College - 2 doors

Shepard Spring - 1 door

Windy Hill Nursery Class has two resident Gnomes, Bob (left) and Cortland. These Gnomes were the inspiration for the creation of the doors.

Bob and Cortland have been residents for several years and one day they left a letter for the Windy Hill Nursery Class to say they had family and friends who were looking to relocate to New Hampshire. The only way Gnomes can relocate is if they find special doors. Doors made and decorated by children. They get placed at the bottom of trees in the wooded areas around town. Bob and Cortland knew many new doors needed to be made and asked the Windy Hill Nursery Class for help.

Children at the nursery collected natural materials, such as leaves, stones, branches, pine cones, acorns, shells, and feathers, to use for the decorations on the doors. They spent several days searching the 100 Acre Woods, Boulder Forest, and Mousey Meadow, collecting the materials they needed. These are places they have named over the years and visit often to explore and construct fairy houses and forts.

Working in teams and individually the children glued the materials on the doors, making each a unique work of art. Once completed, the doors were given a protective coating and then installed at the base of trees on many of the town trails.

Our thanks go out to Brenda White, Suzanna Brown, and Karen Cook of Windy Hill Nursery, Ruth White and Bob Brown of the NLCC, and all the children at Windy Hill Nursery for building, decorating, and installing the Gnome Doors.

Children who are 12 or younger can win free ice cream by finding all the Gnome doors. Download the Gnome Door Form and check off each door as you find them. Once you've found them all, put your contact information on the form and return it to the New London Town Office. And while you're out looking, be sure to take pictures when you find them. We'd love to see them. You can post them on the New London Conservation Commission Facebook page or on the New London Recreation Department Facebook page.

Click on the button below to get a copy of the contest form.