Every summer, the small white information booth on the Green offers assistance to confused tourists, gullible prospectives and misdirected laboratory rats.
The booth, which is stored near Mink Brook during its off-seasons and makes its appearance on the Green each summer, provides local and state information, as well as free maps and brochures for the hapless traveler.
The booth is open every day for seven hours. It is mainly run by the Green Key Society under the supervision of Barrett Shaver '98, but its most dedicated helpers are alumni Everett Wood '38, Jay Evans '49 and Ed Tuck '50.
Wood has just retired as supervisor of the information booth after 17 years but continues to work there two days a week and gives historical tours of the College to tourists.
"This little place can help [travelers], and gives people a first impression of Hanover and Dartmouth," Wood said.
Tuck, a resident of Hanover since 1985 and a volunteer at the booth for seven years, said the most common question travelers ask is "Where is the Admissions Office?"
Tuck said 70 percent of the inquiries are about Dartmouth, while 25 percent are about local shopping, restaurants and hotels and five percent are from people who want maps and information about New Hampshire and Vermont.
But, Wood said there are also travelers who ask questions "you can't believe."
Tuck said the strangest problem he has ever confronted was a truck driver making a delivery of laboratory rats. He needed Tuck to find out if the rats were destined for the medical school or the hospital.
Evans, a former coach and administrator at the College and a supervisor at the Ledyard Canoe Club for 25 years, said he has worked in the booth for seven years and every year fraternity brothers ask to rent the booth for a party.
Tuck said there are also many people who come to the booth that do not speak English. He said the proximity of the booth to Dartmouth Hall and the various foreign language departments is helpful at those times
Evans said that he knows some German and French, and foreign travelers are "so appreciative whenever an American makes an attempt to communicate. Their face just lights up."
The volunteers of the information booth said the best part of working at the booth is helping the people they meet.
Wood said his favorite memory involves a girl named Melissa who asked him what she should say during her interview to impress the Admissions Office. Wood found that she was passionate about playing the viola and joining the string quartet, so he advised her to stress that in her interview. She did and subsequently got accepted at the College.
"The interesting thing to me is the students working in summer camps from places like Northern Europe and Russia," Tuck said. "They have a day off and need to know what they can do here. It's a pleasure to chat with them."
Evans said it is interesting to interact and react to strangers.
"A person pulls up and immediately you think about the people. How many people are in the car? Where are they from?" Evans said.
Evans said he can tell which prospective students will get into the College by the impression they make as they approach the booth.
"If a kid gets out of the car and leads the way, as opposed to following behind their parents, it shows they are independent, and they'll get in," he said.
Wood said he has learned to predict the questions a visitor will ask him.
For example, "If you see a car from Utah, they're probably looking for the Joseph Smith memorial," Wood said.
Wood said the area has changed since he started working in the booth.
"Hanover used to be very quiet in the summer," Wood said. He said Hanover has lost its "beautiful isolation" with the increase in summer camps and conferences, as well as the modern day ease of traveling from Boston to Hanover.
Tuck said the amount of summer programs at the College is growing, leading to more travelers needing information.
When travelers request information, the number of people in the car, the kind of information that was requested and the state the visitors are from is recorded, Tuck said.
The booth is co-owned by the Hanover Chamber of Commerce and such statistics are useful to them for measuring tourism in the state, Tuck said.
