Two years ago, they decided to make Keene a more permanent home.

“We wanted to look at retiring in this area, so we bought a home here in Keene in August 2022,” Hummel said. “We spent a year here just kind of setting it up and spending about 10 days a month here.”

Retirement soon went on the back burner, though, when an ad appeared for a part-time teaching position at Little Peaks. Hummel, whose background is in early childhood education, took the job.

“I walked through the doors and it just felt like home,” she said.

The part-time gig didn’t last long — in quick succession, Hummel was promoted to assistant director and then, last December, to executive director.

She and her husband have still not moved north permanently, so she spends around three weeks in the town of Keene and a week in her home state of Virginia every month.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Hummel said. “I’m surrounded by a great group of people and the teachers are wonderful. The board has been super supportive. Everyone in the community has been very welcoming.”

Hummel said the North Country is “very different” from northern Virginia. Previous schools where she taught served an urban population and were much larger than Little Peaks. She said her favorite thing about Little Peaks is its play-based, nature-oriented lessons.

“Kids are kids. They go and they play in the mud, they sled in the snow,” she said. “We’re tapping trees and collecting maple (sap). Where I’m from, that was a dream for me, when I did teach. … Being able to see that happen and help that grow and have the children be grounded in their surroundings and understand that this is a gift to live in a place like this.”

She said it’s been “different” experiencing all four seasons in the Adirondacks, as opposed to the summer trips she and her husband used to take. She loves kayaking and hiking, but for her, being in the Adirondacks is about simply connecting to nature.

“It’s like my body just exhales,” Hummel said. “We would hit a certain spot driving up here and I could just feel the tension go. Our home here, we have several acres. Most of it is wooded, but the coolest part to me is to sit on the back porch and watch the deer and the turkeys and the birds and the owls and even the chipmunks and the groundhogs. … I love just sitting and being in nature and it’s just, for me, it’s the zen part that’s super attractive.”

A self-described tomboy as a child, Hummel said that the move to Keene has helped her get in touch with her outdoorsy roots.

“It was a new introduction, coming from the city to just being in the wilderness, just nature,” she said. “As a kid, I was very much a tomboy, so I was always out, playing, climbing trees, playing in the creek. Just being outdoors. So, this was kind of a reconnection for me, coming here as an adult, and again, doing the same sorts of things.”

Hummel said that working at Little Peaks has given her a “different perspective” on what it means to live in a small town, where people are deeply connected. She said that her goal for Little Peaks is to be just as connected to the community.

“(My goal is) making it a place of comfort and joy and wonderment and all of those sorts of things where you know everybody can come and be and enjoy, and they know that their children are safe and well taken care of,” she said.