The College building that will probably be most frequently visited by tourists this summer will not be ivy-adorned Baker Tower or historic Dartmouth Hall, but rather, a tiny, nondescript white booth on the east side of the Green.
The Dartmouth-Hanover Information Booth -- which has supplied information about the College and town of Hanover to tourists since 1952 -- appears each year on the the Friday before Commencement and stands until First-Year Student Orientation begins in September.
Three Dartmouth alumni -- Jay Evans '49, Ed Tuck '50 and Everett Wood '38 -- and Hanover native Troy Scott take turns running the booth.
The white octangular kiosk, which proudly displays both American and Lone Pine flags, is approximately 10 feet long by 10 feet wide.
A peek inside the booth reveals shelves that are overflowing with books about Dartmouth and Hanover history.
More books spill onto a counter covered with maps and brochures of all kinds, and a small bowl of candy sits in the middle of the counter.
Standing inside the kiosk, Wood, the 17-year veteran and current supervisor of the booth, proudly talked about how it is one of only 26 information booths in the entire state of New Hampshire.
Tuck, who is in his fifth year working at the booth, said it is funded half by the College and half by the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce.
While the booth originally stood across from the Hanover Inn when traffic around the Green was two-way, it has been in its current location -- across the street from Reed Hall -- for decades, Wood said.
Normally, Wood said, 95 to 98 percent of the questions the boothkeepers receive are about a handful of College locations, including the Admissions office, the Hopkins Center, the Orozco murals and Baker Library.
Next to the booth is an information board that lists upcoming events such as Dartmouth Film Society screenings, theatre performances in West Lebanon, Hopkins Center special events, and this weekend's Old Timer's Fair on the Green at the Hanover Center.
At this time of year, the booth averages about 40 inquiries a day, but that number can double or even triple in July and August, Tuck said.
Wood explained that the boothkeepers are kept busy not just by tourists, but also by the participants in more than 70 Hanover summer conferences, which range from sports camps to debating camps and academic conferences.
Roughly 50 percent of the booth's visitors are tourists, 35 percent are local citizens and about 15 percent are prospective students with their families, Tuck said.
Wood said he enjoys meeting prospective students at the booth. He said with a grin, "We can tell right here who would make good Dartmouth material. We like it when the student gets out of the car [to ask questions]."
Tuck said he is very interested in the architecture and history of Dartmouth buildings.
"We like to focus on the history of the College and its buildings more than student activities," he said.
Every Monday and Friday at 2 p.m., a worker at the booth offers a walking tour which introduces the history of the College.
Wood said current Dartmouth students do not know as much about the history of the College as past students did.
He reminisced about his years at the College, when Ernest Martin Hopkins was president of the College and Professor Francis Lane Childs '06 gave each Dartmouth class a lecture entitled "A Dartmouth History Lesson For Freshmen."
Wood also recommended "The Dartmouth Story," by Bob Graham '40, as a good and important book about the history of the College.
When visitors are looking for a new and enjoyable place to see, Tuck likes to suggest sightseeing at nearby St. Gauden's or Shaker Village.
Once early September rolls around, the booth's roof is disassembled and the structure is hoisted onto a flatbed truck, which transports it to nearby Pine Knoll Cemetery, where it lives for close to nine months during the year.
Working in the booth is interesting and sometimes surprising, according to Tuck and Wood.
For example, Wood discussed a time several years ago when a skunk was flushed out from its temporary dwelling underneath the booth. The skunk raced across the Green and many people mistook it for a cat until it finally dove into a hole by Psi Upsilon fraternity, he said.
Wood said although the weekend rush sometimes leaves boothkeepers exhausted, he called working in the booth "a fun job. On occasion we can really touch someone and someone can really touch us," he said.
The booth is currently open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but starting Monday, it will open at 9:30 a.m. daily.
