History

The Thornton Beagle Club was founded in 1936 in order to promote the sport of beagling, improve the beagle breed, and to provide beaglers with a place to enjoy the sport that they love. Originally founded in Thornton, Rhode Island-hence the name-the club was forced to move to Foster in the 1950's due to rapid development around the original site. The club membership exceeded 200 members at times and dwindled to as little as 5 in the early 70's when some members thought that best thing to do was to dissolve the club and sell the land. Fortunately, other members, who were in a minority at the time, made their wives members and they were able to out vote the pro-dissolution members and the club survived. The club was forced to sell some land in order to maintain itself at another time when membership once again dwindled to only a couple of members in the early 1970's.

Membership is not limited , as yet, and the current membership is 39. The club is self sustaining and all members are required to help in the physical and/or financial maintenance of the Thornton Beagle Club by participating in grounds-keeping excercises and helping out at fund raising events. Members are also expected to attend monthly meetings which are held on the first Thursday of every month.

The Thornton Beagle Club exists for its members and to promote the sport of beagling. All members are dedicated to the survival of the club and all have the common goals of enjoying the "sound of the hounds", improving the beagle breed, and encouraging others to join the rewarding and satisfying world of beagling.

Clubhouse- The clubhouse is ideally constructed for the monthly meetings and fund-raising events. It is a large, one story block building with a full kitchen where meals for more than 100 can be prepared. At the other end of the building is a bar where beer, wine, and soda are sold at game dinners and other events. The building is heated and has rest room facilities.

Grounds-The club running grounds consist of 2 large tracts of land, both of which are completely fenced to secure the safety of the dogs and to discourage the entrance of rabbit predators and to keep the rabbits confined to the running areas. Thirty six acres of running grounds are across the road from the clubhouse, and 56 acres of running grounds are adjacent to the clubhouse. Both areas possess well-maintained feeding paths which serve to provide a good vantage point for observing the dogs when running, and also provide the nourishment of young green grass for the rabbits. Rabbits are also nourished from strategically-placed feeders throughout the running grounds. These are kept full of rabbit food. Although the primary rabbit on these grounds is the Cottontail, the club does have Snowshoe Hare in the smaller running ground area and an initiative to raise Snowshoes in the rearing pens is underway. As is shown below, both areas contain terrain which may be found in New England when hunting for Snowshoe Hare or Cottontail rabbits.

Rabbit Maintenance- Breeding pens are used to raise both Cottontail Rabbits and Snowshoe Hare for stocking into the club running grounds. Additionally, members may trap wild rabbits, as the law allows, and transfer them to the club running grounds. the club also has a "puppy pen" which is used to start young pups on rabbits.