Roadside Historic Markers

 

General John Strong was a Revolutionary War patriot and a prominent early citizen of Addison County. He served as a judge, state legislator and represented Addison at the State Convention, which adopted the Constitution of the United States and approved admission of Vermont to the Union as the 14th State. Five generations of the Strong family lived in this stately Federal-style home built ca. 1796. The Vermont State Society Daughters of the American Revolution now maintains the home as a museum to help preserve and tell the story of life on the Vermont frontier.

Oldest frame building one block east, built by Jehiel Hawley, 1764, was home of Thomas Chittenden, Vermont’s first Governor. Legend says the western vista, with its great pine, became the State Seal in 1779. Ethan and Ira Allen lived nearby.

This ancient tree was already a monarch of the forest in 1778. Visible then from the Arlington home of Thomas Chittenden, first Governor of Vermont, it is believed to have inspired Ira Allen in designing Vermont’s Great Seal. Note the similarity between the tree and its stylized portrayal in Seal atop this marker.

Born in Barnet on December 13, 1791, and educated at Peacham Academy, Henry Stevens was at various times a farmer, innkeeper, mill owner, legislator, postmaster, temperance leader, stage line proprietor, and operator of the Passumpsic Turnpike.  A dedicated antiquarian who assembled Vermont's first great collection of historical materials, in 1838 he became a founder and the first president of the Vermont Historical Society.  Stevens died on July 30, 1867, and is buried in the Stevens Cemetery.
 
-continued on back side of marker-

 
Henry Stevens, Jr. -Born in Barnet on August 24, 1819, Henry Stevens, Jr. inherited a love of books and historical research from his father.  In 1845 he went to England, where he became his generation's greatest antiquarian book dealer, helping to build the Americana holdings of the British Museum, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and such eminent collectors as James Lenox and John Carter Brown.  Fond of signing his letters "G. M. B." for "Green Mountain Boy," Stevens died in 1886 and is buried in London under a monument made of Barre granite that bears the inscription "Lover of Books."   

Born in Barton on February 16, 1843 to a hard working farm family, Henry Leland carried into his life the strength and quality of his family’s work ethic adding to it his gift and love for precision. By 1890, Leland was in Detroit where he had become chief engineer at Cadillac. Known as one of the world’s foremost automobile engineers, he won the Dewar Trophy twice:1909 for the concept of interchangeable parts; in 1914, with C.F. Kettering, for the automobile self-starter. At 74, he formed the Lincoln Motor Company to build aircraft engines for use in World War I. In 1919 he developed the Lincoln automobile. Henry Leland died March 26, 1932.

On August 16, 1777, British forces sent by General Burgoyne to seize supplies at Bennington were turned back by New Englanders under General John Stark and Vermont’s Col. Seth Warner. This 306 ft. commemorative shaft, planned 100 years later, was dedicated in 1891. In 1953 it was taken over, restored and an elevator installed by the VT Historic Sites Commission which now administers it for the State. 

When wealthy North Bennington resident Trenor Park purchased the Bennington-Rutland Railroad, he found that the railroad "barons" of the Troy and Boston Railroad refused him access to their New York lines. Rather than fight this monopoly, Park built a rail line from Bennington to Lebanon Springs, NY, where he could transfer his trains to southbound rails while bypassing Troy. The dozens of tight turns over 40 miles of hilly terrain gave this stretch of railroad the name "Corkscrew." Passenger service was canceled in 1931 and the line was officially abandoned in 1953. Remnants of the old rail bed can be seen where it crossed the highway at this point.

State Highway 9 traverses scenic Hogback Mt. to the Connecticut River Valley. Old Bennington, site of the Battle Monument and Historical Museum, was the meeting place of the Green Mountain Boys. It was the first town chartered by Governor Benning Wentworth of N.H. in 1749.

100 yards behind this marker is the site where James Wilson had his home and workshop. Between 1808 and 1810 Wilson made and sold the first terrestrial and celestial globes in North America. Wilson was a farmer and blacksmith b. 1736 in Londonderry N.H. who moved to Bradford in 1795. He taught himself astronomy and geography, studied with Amos Doolittle in CT to learn engraving, skills he needed to make globes. Wilson died in Bradford in 1855 at the age of 92.

Established in 1915, the program served Vermonters with mental retardation and developmental disabilities continuously until 1993. Founded as the Brandon State School for Feebleminded Children, the name was changed to the Brandon Training School. Begun as a working farm, many original structures still exist, including remnants of a horse racetrack visible from Route 7. The campus grew to include over 30 buildings and 400 acres, and served over 650 persons at its peak in 1968. In the 1980s the population of the facility declined as persons were served in community based programs. The Brandon Training School maintained a proud tradition of quality care and active training throughout its history.

The ‘little giant’ of national politics, born in Brandon in 1813, moved to Middlebury to learn cabinetmaking. Returning to Brandon, he attended the Academy. Moving to Illinois in 1833, his career merged with the stream of national politics, reaching the height in his famous debates with Abraham Lincoln in 1858. Lincoln’s opponent during the campaign, he nonetheless supported the Union until his death in June, 1861.

Rudyard Kipling’s home near Brattleboro for 4 years after marriage to the American, Caroline Balestier, and after visiting her home, famed British writer built isolated ‘Naulahka’. Here he wrote the ‘Jungle Books’ and other stories, and two daughters were born. In 1896 the Kiplings returned to England.

Since 1820, eight versions of the Floating Bridge have spanned Sunset Lake, each serving as a unique gateway to Brookfield Village. Previous versions of the bridge were constructed with a variety of materials, including massive timbers, 50-gallon barrels, and Styrofoam. The eighth version opened in 2015 and was intended to reflect the overall design and aesthetics of the previous crossings, but is constructed with a state-of-the-art flotation system to allow for easier maintenance and segmental replacement. Brookfield’s is the only floating bridge in Vermont, and remains an important community landmark and gathering place for the town.

Here in June 1813, a Vermonter, Trent Churchill, and men built a parapet and set up a battery. On August 3 a British gunboat and 2 sloops, 12 miles offshore, began a cannonade. This attack was repulsed in 20 minutes by the American Battery and by 2 of Commodore Macdonough's armed scows.

On June 24, 1861, the first Vermont soldiers who enlisted for service in the Civil War for three years left Burlington for Washington by rail. Four days earlier, the 866 officers and men from across the state had been mustered into the Union Army under Colonel Henry Whiting at the county fairgrounds. Company G was recruited mainly in Chittenden County. By autumn, the 2nd Vermont had been joined in the war zone by the 3rd through 6th Vermont. These five regiments were then formed into the Vermont Brigade that fought with distinction in many battles during the war. A total of 1,858 men served in the 2nd Vermont before its members mustered out on July 15, 1865. 
Losses in the war: 399 dead, 692 wounded, 129 captured.

The mortal remains of Ethan Allen, Vermont leader, fighter, writer and philosopher, lie in this cemetery beneath the marble statue, but his spirit is in Vermont now.

Hero of Gettysburg In this park on July 22, 1863, Vermont’s only ethnic Civil War unit was welcomed home from the battle of Gettysburg. Lonergan commanded Co. A, 13th VT Regiment— the Irish Company—and he received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the battle. The five VT regiments on 9-months duty formed the 2nd VT Brigade on October 27, 1862. In late June of 1863, the brigade marched from Union Mills, VA, to Gettysburg in six days. On July 2, 1863, the Irish Company helped recapture four cannons and took 83 rebel prisoners. The next day Lonergan’s men led the way when two VT regiments flanked Pickett’s forces assaulting Cemetery Ridge, causing heavy rebel losses. The Irish battle cry: Faugh a ballagh—Clear the way!

Putting behind him the martial deeds of a hero, Ethan came here in 1787 to till the soil as a peaceful farmer. On Feb. 12, 1789, he died here after a trip across the ice to South Hero. Memorial Tower was built on Indian Rock, traditional Algonquin look-out.

On Oct. 4, 1905, at 2:05 p.m. in front of the bay window in the parlor of this house, Grace Goodhue married Calvin Coolidge of Plymouth Notch, VT. Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States; Grace served as First lady from 1923-1929. Built in 1899, the house at 312 Maple Street was the family home of Capt. Andrew Goodhue, his wife Lemira, and their only child Grace Anna. Capt. Goodhue was federal steamboat inspector for the Lake Champlain Transport Co. The Goodhue family moved here while Grace was a student at the University of Vermont. Grace was a founding member of the VT Chapter of Pi Beta Phi, the first national college fraternity for women. The house was restored in 1993 by Champlain College.

Beginning in the early 1900s, the area directly to the east housed numerous emigrants.  Many moved here from Italy with hopes to build better lives.  Some worked in the lumber mills and railroad yards that bordered the lake.  In the process, they created a community of over 140 homes, lush gardens, thriving businesses, community social centers, and Catholic schools and churches.
          
In the 1960s this area became the center of Vermont's largest urban renewal project.  The final home was razed in 1968.  Displaced families were scattered into the outskirts of Burlington.  In place of this once vibrant family neighborhood stands a dynamic downtown district, internationally known as a social and economic center of Vermont.

In 1808, the Federal government, reacting to unfair British policies, passed an Embargo Act, forbidding trade with Great Britain. The Champlain Valley relied on trade with British Canada and the Act was unpopular and significant smuggling developed. The Black Snake was the most notorious smuggling vessel of its day. In August, 1808, the Black Snake was in the Winooski River to load potash for Canada. The Revenue Cutter Fly seized the Black Snake and, in the confrontation, the Black Snake crew killed three men. The smugglers were tried for murder and three men were sentenced to be hung but only Cyrus Dean was executed. On November 11th, with 10,000 people present in Burlington, he was "swung off".

In 1962 architecture student Bill Truex experienced the transformation of Stroget, Copenhagen's main shopping area from traffic-snarled nightmare to successful pedestrian mall. Seven years later, while on the Burlington Planning Commission, Truex enlisted support from Pat Robins of the Street Commission and together they promoted turning Church Street into a pedestrian district. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and his chief of staff, Paul Bruhn, secured a federal grant and Burlington voters, with support from Mayor Gordon Paquette, passed a bond for the city's share of construction costs. The Church Street Marketplace, which opened on September 15, 1981, has been described as the gem in the crown of the Queen City of Burlington.

This brick tavern was built by Abdiel Kent between 1833 and 1837. It served as his home, and from 1837 to 1846 was a stagecoach stop on the road from Montpelier to Canada. The Kent family settled in Calais in 1798 and this section of town is known as Kents Corners. One of Abdiel’s six brothers, Ira Kent, lived in the white clapboard house across the street. Together from 1837 until 1860 they operated I&A Kent Store in the two story wooden addition on the tavern. The Kent family owned the property until 1916 and at various times and places in town made and sold shoes and boots, ran a brickyard and sawmill, and farmed. The barn is the only survivor of the several outbuildings that stood on this property. Louise Andrews Kent, the best selling author of the ‘Mrs. Appleyard’ series of books, convinced her cousin, A. Atwater Kent, the radio inventor and magnate, to purchase his great uncle’s home and restore it as a museum in 1930.

On this site Castleton State College, Vermont’s first college and the eighteenth oldest in the nation, was first established as the County Grammar School, chartered by the General Assembly of the Republic of Vermont on October 15, 1787. The College moved to its present campus in 1833.

Battle of Hubbardton Seven miles north directly east is the elevation of Fort Warren, built in 1779 for defense of the northern frontier. The road from the north was the route of American retreat before Burgoyne, protected by Col. Seth Warner’s rear-guard action at the Battle of Hubbardton, July 7 ,1777.

Castleton Medical College was the first such college in Vermont. This structure, built in 1821, was originally located on Main Street west of the present town library. In 1864 a leading citizen presented the building to Harriet Haskell, Principal of Castleton Seminary. It has served the College as dormitory, classrooms, and chapel and is a reminder of traditions which date back to the College’s founding in 1787. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1849 an 11,000 year old Beluga Whale was found north of this site in what had been the Champlain Sea. Resident J.G. Thorp collected the bones, and naturalist Zadock Thompson assembled the skeleton now displayed in the Perkins Museum of Geology at UVM. 

The last of a dozen mills that dotted Mill River during the 18th & 19th century, stands just upstream of the Town lattice truss covered bridge. Kingsley’s Mill, the only mill ever designed and built by nationally known Vermont covered bridge builder Nicholas M. Powers of Clarendon, served Vermont’s grain production needs from 1882 until 1935. 

In July 1909, the 10th U.S. Cavalry arrived at Fort Ethan Allen for a four-year assignment. Nicknamed the “Buffalo Soldiers” during the American Indian Wars, the 10th Cavalry was one of the first peacetime all-black regiments established in the regular U.S. Army after the Civil War. Highly decorated and famous for their professionalism and contributions during the Spanish-American War in Cuba, the 10th Cavalry became popular with the local community, hosting performances, parades and sporting events. They joined in military funerals and monument dedications. The Music Center, built in 1895 as Riding Hall, was used by the 10th Cavalry for drills, riding practice and as a performance venue in winters.

Called from his Gilman parish to serve as a Chaplain in World War II, First Lieutenant Fox died when the Dorchester was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. Giving his life jacket to a soldier, he perished with 3 other chaplains, in one of the most heroic acts of the War.

On this site, in 1849, Benjamin Greenbank converted an existing small mill into a 5-story woolen factory. As many as 45 people worked here to produce up to 700 yards of cloth a day. Greenbank's Hollow, as it became known, included a company store, gristmill, sawmill, school, and several residences nearly all owned by Greenbank.

On December 14, 1885, a fire at the mill quickly spread and destroyed the village including the covered bridge. Greenbank did not rebuild and today only the foundations of mills and homes remain--mute testimony to the existence of a once thriving and important Danville community.

Derby Line demonstrates the goodwill between Canada and the United States with its International Rotary Club and Haskell Library and Opera House built astride the boundary line. Southward in Orleans County lie two of the New England’s most beautiful lakes, Memphremagog and Willoughby.

At Cephas Kent’s Tavern on the West Road, four Conventions were held, 1775-76, where finally the vote to form a ‘separate District’ was passed by the delegates from the East and West sides without one dissenting vote.

Jonathon Fenton established a pottery and kiln near this site in 1801. He first made redware from clay found along the banks of the Mettowee River. He then became the first potter in Vermont to make salt-glazed stoneware. In 1810 he moved his pottery to East Dorest. His two sone, Richard Lucas Fenton and Christopher Webber Fenton, aslo became stoneware potters of note, working in East Dorest and later with the Norton family in Bennington. 

Established in 1883 by Elmer A. Darling (1848-1931), native of East Burke. He became part owner/manager of the world famous Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. After the hotel closed in 1908, Mr. Darling retired to the life of a gentleman farmer, raised prize-winning Morgan horses and Jersey cattle. The farm also produced the choice ‘Darling’ brand of cheeses and butter. At its zenith, his prosperous Mountain View Farm included Burke Mountain and extended over 7,000 acres. The farm’s monumental barns and distinctive colonial yellow and white-trimmed farmhouses line Darling Hill Road. Elmer Darling studied architecture at M.I.T., and with the assistance of Jardine, Kent and Jardine, architects, designed his magnificent neo-Georgian residence, Burklyn Hall, built in 1905-1908 on knoll astride the Burke/Lyndon town line. Mr. Darling was a public-spirited citizen whose philanthropic generosity includes the Colonial Revival style Burke Mountain Club, built in East Burke in 1919.

This area of Vermont is known for its high quality slate; the first quarry was opened on Scotch Hill in 1839 by Alonson Allen & Caleb Ranney. Allen began the first manufacture of roofing slate in Vermont in 1848. By 1869 there were seventeen quarries in Fair haven of which eleven were on Scotch Hill. Quarrying of slate was important to the economy of the area and brought in many skilled Welsh immigrants who were familiar with the quarrying of slate in their native Wales. 

Research indicates Chester Alan Arthur was born in Fairfield, Vermont, on October 5, 1829. When he was less than a year old his parents moved to a new parsonage built at this site. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Union College, he became a lawyer championing civil rights for blacks. Later, as Quartermaster General, he organized the provision of food & supplies to Union Civil War soldiers. On September 19, 1881, Arthur became president following the assassination of James Garfield. As president he advocated reducing tariffs and backed Civil Service reform, turning away from political patronage. Arthur died in 1886 and is buried in Albany, NY. This replica of the parsonage was built in 1954.

Born in Fairfield in 1899 at her family farm, Consuelo Northrop attended grade school in Sheldon and high school in St. Albans. In 1921 she graduated from the University of Vermont. Later she entered Boston University Law School, graduating in 1925. In 1940 she married Henry Albon Bailey. Consuelo Bailey was the “first” in many areas: first woman city prosecutor for Burlington, first woman lawyer in VT to try a murder case, first VT woman to be admitted to practice law before the U. S. Supreme Court, first woman to be elected Speaker of the VT House, and the nation’s first female to be elected lieutenant governor.
 
Traveling the world and representing the state were important to Consuelo Northrop Bailey but no place was more comforting than Fairfield.
 
“One of life’s most comforting extras is love of the land…I see here the same land which the Northrop Family knew for nearly two centuries…I feel close to the America I knew in days gone by and because I feel free here… I feel the love of those whom I have known there which today still gives me a feeling of confidence, protection and peace”.
 
Bailey worked tirelessly for the local and national Republican Party until her death in 1976. She bequeathed the Town of Fairfield monies to build “The Bent Northrop Memorial Library.” The library, opened in 1988, is a constant reminder of Bailey’s never ending love of Fairfield.

Samuel Morey, resident of Orford and later Fairlee, successfully operated a steamboat on the Conn. River in 1793. Making over 4,000 experiments, this early scientist patented an internal combustion engine in 1826 to anticipate the age of the motor car and airplane.

Here in 1833, Rowland E. Robinson was born of Quaker parentage. He became a popular illustrator and interpreter of nature and Yankee dialect. ‘Rokeby’ was a station on the Underground R.R. Here are the blind author’s memorabilia. Open to the public during summer.

On this site, on June 6, 1810 settlers dug an outlet to the north from what was then known as Long Pond.  The retaining bank collapsed, causing all water from the 1.5-mile long pond to be discharged toward Barton River, and on to Lake Memphremagog, with extensive damage to the countryside, but no loss of life. 

Built circa 1783. This pioneer log cabin was one of the first buildings constructed in the area. Built from cedar logs by Jedediah Hyde, Jr., an engineer and veteran of the Revolutionary War, it was the home of the Hyde family for over 150 years. The cabin has one large room, heated by a stone fireplace, and a loft above. Many believe this to be the oldest log cabin in the United States. The cabin was moved two miles to this location in 1946 by the Vermont Historical Society and restored in 1956 and 1985. The Grand Isle Historical Society owns the collection in the building.

Boston-born Royall Tyler’s play, ‘The Contrast’ was the first American drama to be performed in this country (1787) and his novel, ‘The Algerine Captive’ presented the first Yankee types in our literature. He came to Guilford in 1791 and was Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court for 9 Years.

At 2:10 AM on February 5, 1887 the last car of The Montreal Express derailed causing three cars to fall from the bridge and crash on the ice of the White River 43 feet below.    Embers from the coal stoves ignited the spilled oil of the lanterns and fire consumed the wreckage.  Twenty-five passengers and 5 crew members perished.  As a direct result of the wreck, oil lanterns and coal stoves were abolished on railroad trains, and electric lights and steam heat were adopted.

Here in 1786 John Saxe, (Johannes Sachse) a Loyalist from Rhinebeck, N.Y, built the area's first gristmill. His sons added a sawmill, potashery, general store, post office, and tavern. They incorporated the town of Highgate in this house 1805, and served in numerous offices; Matthew as Highgate's first elected Town Clerk, Conrad as Captain of the militia during the War of 1812, and Peter as member of the Vermont General Assembly and Franklin County Judge.   Peter's son, John Godfrey Saxe, born here in 1816, ran twice for Governor but is best remembered for his poetry.

Only Battlefield on Vermont Soil, July 7, 1777 Here, a successful rear-guard action by Col. Seth Warner’s Vermont, Mass., and NH troops ended British pursuit under Gens. Frazer and Reidesel. Thus, Gen. St. Clair’s American Army safely retreated from Fts. Ticonderoga and Independence to fight again near Bennington and Saratoga. Burgoyne’s plans for British advance, first resisted at Hubbardton, ended in defeat at Saratoga.

Vermont’s Oldest Settlement on this shore was the site of Fort Ste. Anne built in 1666 by Capt. Pierre LaMotte for defense against the Mohawks. The Jesuits celebrated the first Mass and erected the first chapel. Though not permanent, this stockade was Vermont’s 1st white settlement. 

On this site on September 6, 1901, Vice President Teddy Roosevelt was a guest at the home of Lieut. Gov. Nelson Fisk to be the main speaker at the annual meeting of the Vermont Fish and Game League. Here Roosevelt learned that President McKinley had been shot in Buffalo, NY. McKinley died eight days later and Roosevelt became the 26th US President.

Named for Thomas Chittenden, first governor of Vermont and great-great grandfather of Frank Howe. Frank and his father Lucian rebuilt this mill in 1885 changing from grinding with mill stones to the new gradual reduction roller process. Grain was shipped in on the B&L Railroad from the mid-west and the flour sold over a wide area of northern Vermont. The four Tyler turbines were powered by the Brown’s River. The miller’s house was built in 1859. Until 1929 a Towne Lattice Truss covered bridge spanned the gorge on the site of the present footbridge. 

Southward appears the summit of Mt. Killington, once called Pisgah, on which Rev. Samuel Peters claimed he christened the wilderness with the name ‘Verd-mont’ in 1763. Most historians give credit to Dr. Thomas Young’s letter ‘to the inhabitants of Vermont,’ sent to Windsor in 1777.

Pioneer in Creating the telephone industry bought a farmhouse on this site in 1883. Continually enlarged by Vail, it became his permanent residence and office. Conferences held here culminated in the creation of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company with Vail its president, who proceeded to develop the world’s first mass communication system.

Begun in the 1920s as an informal artists' group for the exhibition of painting and sculpture, the Southern Vermont Arts Center has grown to become a leading Vermont institution devoted to performance, exhibition and studio art. It acquired the current site, the former Gertrude Divine Webster estate, in 1950. By 2000 a music pavilion, studios and museum expanded its role in the local and regional community. Hundreds of artists show and perform annually, and thousands attend programs, continuing the traditional search for creativity in the inspiring hills and small villages of southern Vermont.

Near this location lived "Captain John" Vincent, a member of the Caughnawaga tribe. An admirer of General George Washington, Captain John became a firm friend of the Colonies. He accompanied Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery to guide American troops from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Quebec for the siege on Quebec in 1776. He fought with General Gates at the Battle of Saratoga, where Burgoyne surrendered his British forces. After the Revolutionary War he settled in Mendon. Captain John died on July 3, 1810, at the home of Johnson Richardson, site of the first public house in Mendon, Vermont.

Born in Middlebury on October 4, 1887, Ray Lyle Fisher grew up on farms along Otter Creek and Creek Road. Ray starred in baseball and football at Middlebury High School and Middlebury College before joining the New York Yankees in 1910. He pitched in the major leagues for ten seasons, compiling a 100-94 record and 2.82 ERA. In 1921 Fisher became baseball coach at the University of Michigan, where he coached for 38 seasons and won 15 Big Ten championships. He spent his summers at a camp on Lake Champlain and coached in Vermont’s Northern League. Ray died at the age of 95 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

Inventor of the plow that broke the plains John Deere learned the blacksmith trade here as an apprentice in the shop of Capt. Benjamin Lawrence from 1821 to 1825. The shop was located below this spot on Mill Street, in what is known as ‘Frog Hollow’. In 1836 Deere removed to Grand Detour, Illinois where, in 1837, he built the world’s first steel moldboard plow.

Vermont soldiers played an important role in the Union victory at Cedar Creek. In a desperate stand made to slow the early morning onslaught of confederate Jubal Early’s army, the Eighth Vermont Regiment lost 110 of its 164 men engaged. The First Vermont Brigade held the central position in the mid-morning stand that finally brought Early’s attack to a halt. the battered Eighth Vermont was the first Union regiment to break the Confederate line in the afternoon Union counterattack. In that attack the First Vermont Cavalry captured 23 cannon and three battle flags.

Montpelier became the Capital in 1808, when the first State House was built. Ammi B. Young’s 2nd State House, built in 1838 and destroyed by fire in 1857, was similar to this 3rd structure on the site, completed in 1859.

Built c. 1872 by the St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad, a division of the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad, this depot served as an important stop linking Portland, Maine and the Great Lakes for nearly a century. The original portion of the depot has a low gable roof and broad projecting eaves supported by heavy chamfered brackets. In 1956, passenger service was discontinued.

Mechanicsville was a village center in the Town of Mount Holly, which was chartered in 1792.  The village prospered with the growth of water-powered manufacturing, that included sawmills, gristmills, wheelwrights, furniture shops, and the A.P. Chase Toy Factory.  As manufacturing declined, Mechanicsville became popular with vacationers.  The citizens petitioned to have the village name changed to Belmont to better fit the image of an idyllic summer retreat.  The change was enacted on September 2nd, 1911.

Born on March 19, 1871, Charles Ross Taggart, "The Man from Vermont" grew up in Topsham, VT and in 1907 moved his family to this house which he named Elmbank. Beginning in 1895, Taggart, a humorist and musician, traveled all over the U. S. Entertaining in lyceum and Chautauqua circuits with his fiddle & stories. His most recognized character was "The Old Country Fiddler,” and his credits include over 40 recordings and a 1923 Phone-Film - one of the earliest "talkies." Taggart retired in 1938, selling his beloved Elmbank and relocating with family out of state. He died in Kent’s Hill, ME on July 4th, 1953.

This small community - once called Rich's Hollow- was settled in the late 1700s and during the 19th century was an important cultural and industrial center area.  Samuel Rich created North Montpelier Pond by damming the Kingsbury Branch to power a sawmill, gristmill, and woolen mill that operated until 1970.  Businesses included a blacksmith, shoe shop, cheese factory, distillery, two general stores, the Rich Tavern and the Nye Organ factory.  A wooden bridge connecting the two sides of the village as replaced in 1897 by a metal pony truss bridge.  A bridge with a steel grate deck that "sang" as vehicles crossed was built in 1936.  This "singing bridge" was replaced in 2011.  The village is listed on the Vermont State Register of Historic Places.

A native of Norwich, Vermont, Alden Partridge was a pioneer in American military education. Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1815 to 1817, he returned here in 1819 to found the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, which, in 1834, became Norwich University, now located in Northfield, VT. Partridge’s innovative curriculum, called the ‘American System of Education’, combined military, practical, scientific and liberal instruction. The educational system established here served as a model for eighteen military academies and colleges founded throughout the United States. The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 and the 1916 legislation which created the Reserve Officers Training Corps are extensions of Partridge’s theories of education.

Located on this site. On June 17, 1785, the Vermont General Assembly enacted a law which designated "the place for keeping a County Grammar School in and for Windsor County, shall be at the house commonly known by the name the Red Schoolhouse in Norwich," thus initiating the provision of Vermont’s First Constitution for schools of secondary learning.

Forged by the determination and skills of early settlers, Norwich’s legacy survives in its Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival buildings. With commercial, residential, and public buildings clustered near its green, Norwich remains an engaged, vibrant. The village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On July 4th, 1761 the Royal Governor Benning Wentworth of the Province of New Hampshire granted a charter for the town. The 1820s – 1904s were prosperous and the town exported agricultural and manufacturing products. Norwich University and Dartmouth College, across the river, attracted residents. In 1866 the South Barracks of Norwich University burned, and the school relocated to Northfield, VT.                                                                      
Home to Norwich University founder Alden Partridge, artist Paul Sample, and many Olympians. Norwich has long attracted people of purpose and ingenuity. The 1843 Norwich Female Abolition Society and the c. 1894 Women’s Christian Temperance Union pressed for change. The first Vermont YMCA band played on the green for years. In 1963 President Kennedy established the Dresden School District, the first interstate school system in the country.
The Lewis House, on whose grounds this marker sits, was built c. 1807. from 1846-1892 General William Lewis was the first of five generations of the family to live and work here, where he served as the Town Clerk and Treasurer. The house remained in the family until 2003 when the Historical Society purchased the house.

Caledonia County was set out from Orange County in 1792. Peacham chose to provide a County grammar school rather than a courthouse. The Caledonia County Grammar School (Peacham Academy) was chartered in 1795, the third County grammar school in Vermont. Classes commenced in 1797. Thaddeus Stevens, abolitionist and Pennsylvania Representative to the US Congress, and George B.M. Harvey, Ambassador to Great Britain, were among the notable persons educated here. Over 3000 students from Peacham and other towns, states and countries attended Peacham Academy. The school closed in 1971. The Academy building burned in 1976. 

The Colonial revival building, designed by Scopes & Feustmann of Saranac Lake, Ny, was constructed and endowed by Redfield Proctor and his family as a private pay institution for the treatment of Tuberculosis. Completed in 1907, the center building was for Administration with an infirmary, staff quarters, and public areas. To the southwest connected by a glass enclosed loggia, was the West Cottage for men. To the southeast, also connected by a glass enclosed loggia, was the East Cottage for women. A northwest wing for additional patients was added in 1930.

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Early 20th century treatment for Tuberculosis was bed rest, fresh air, outdoor sleeping, a good diet, sunshine and ultra-violet lamps. Some patients had surgical procedures. The building capacity was 44 patients but often housed more. In 1921 the Board of Trustees donated the Sanatorium, its endowment and all property to the State of Vermont. Medical Directors of the Sanatorium were: Dr. H.D. Chadwick 1907-13; Dr. Edw. J. Rogers 1913-47; Dr. Louis Benson 1947-1966. The Sanatorium closed in 1966 and the building reopened in 1971 as the Vermont Police Academy. 

In 1791, Israel Keith built an iron blast furnace two miles east of here, adjacent to what is now Furnace Brook. Materials for the smelting process included iron ore, manganese, and charcoal from Chittenden, with limestone flux from Pittsford. In 1826, Simeon Granger & Sons purchased the furnace from Keith’s successor, Nathan Gibbs. The furnace was rebuilt after a fire and in 1829, the Grangers erected a foundry nearby. Worker housing, a company store, school, and the Granger family’s brick house surrounded the foundry to form the village of Grangerville.
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At its peak, the Granger foundry produced 300 tons of cast iron stoves a year for kitchens, laundries, parlors, and bedrooms, which were shipped across the eastern seaboard. They also produced kettles, griddles, basins, flatirons, and door hardware. Later owners included C. & E.L. Granger; Granger, Hodges & Co.; Pittsford Iron Co.; Vermont Iron Co.; and Jeremiah Pritchard. Under Pritchard, sixty men were employed at the furnace, foundry, mines and charcoal kilns. As local resources were depleted, iron ore from eastern New York was shipped by rail to Pittsford. In 1882, operations ceased and Vermont’s last operating iron furnace closed. Several stoves are in the collection of the Pittsford Historical Society Museum.

This lakeside meadow was a 1777 campground for Rindge NH
troops en route to Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga to fight Burgoyne's invading British army.  The 1776 Crown Point Road linking Fort No. 4 on the Connecticut River to Lake Champlain forts closely followed the present highway.  The earlier 1759-60 Crown Point Road, ordered built by British General Amherst during the French and Indian War, passed further to the south.  It followed Indian trails and later brought homesteaders to Vermont.  The Black River ponds were at a portage point between the Black River and Otter Creek.  Other campsites may be found nearby.  The Boy Scouts of America owned this property and operated a summer camp here from 1927 – 1984 when the land was sold to the State of Vermont.

Achsa Sprague was born and lived in Plymouth Notch, teaching in the stone school by age 12. At 20, she contracted a mysterious disease and spent seven years bedridden, waking one day miraculously cured. Attributing recovery to “angelic powers,” she became a trance medium and lectured on Spiritualism throughout the United States and Canada. Sprague was a prolific author of Spiritualist articles, prose, poems, and letters through “automatic writing,” which she claimed was controlled by worldly energies. She supported women’s suffrage, prison reform, and the abolition of slavery. Sprague died at age 34 and is buried in the Plymouth Notch Cemetery. Her tombstone is engraved with her verse, “I Still Live.”

Jeffrey Brace was born in West Africa with the name Boyrereau Brinch. At sixteen he was captured by European slave traders, shipped to Barbados, sold to a ship's captain, and eventually arrived in New England. Some years later, while still enslaved, Brace enlisted in the Continental Army and he won his freedom fighting in the Revolution. At the war's end in 1784 he settled in Poultney, in newly formed Vermont - the first state to prohibit slavery. He met an ex-slave, married, and they raised their family here. In 1810 he published his life story, one of the most unique and important anti-slavery memoirs written in America.

Here two Presidents taught school at the beginning of their careers. Chester A. Arthur, a graduate of Union College, educated Pownal youth in 1851. Later while an undergraduate at Williams College, James A. Garfield did likewise. When Garfield was assassinated in 1881, Arthur succeeded him as President.

The earliest marble was quarried by the Humphrey brothers in 1836. They were followed by successive marble companies. In 1870 Redfield Proctor took over in receivership and brought the Vermont Marble Company to world prominence. Building contracts and work done in the Proctor shops include the US Supreme Court, Jefferson Memorial and the rotunda columns in the National Gallery of Art. The Company employee program established the first Industrial Nurses in 1895. Between 1890-1915 workers came from 23 countries and lived in many boarding houses and later in houses rented from the Company. Nationalities had social groups and aid societies.  There were two Lutheran Churches, one Roman Catholic, one Greek Catholic and the Union Protestant Church.

Vermont’s First Female Medical Practitioner
This c. 1900 house was built for Dr. Laura Plantz (1829-1923), the first female medical practitioner in Vermont, Minnesota, and Michigan. Dr. Plantz graduated from Pennsylvania Medical University of Philadelphia. She specialized in women’s diseases and was superintendent of the Home of the Friendless in New York. In 1950, Norman Mailer briefly lived here while completing his second novel, Barbary Shore. Windham College renovated the house to serve as Currier Hall, a dormitory, classrooms, and infirmary, while the barn was a dining hall and bookstore. In 2014, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust purchased the building and rehabilitated it to create housing opportunities for area citizens.

In 1791, Schoolmaster Justin Morgan brought into Vermont the colt that was to bear his name and to make them both famous. This Morgan horse which Justin Morgan took as payment of a debt, became the ancestor of one of the greatest breeds of horses ever established in America.

Jonathan Peckham Miller was born in Randolph and educated at Orange County Grammar School close to this spot. When he fought in the Greek Revolution for freedom from the Turks in the 1820s, he was known internationally as “the American Daredevil.” Jonathan returned to fight for the freedom of slaves in his own country as a member of the Vermont legislature and a champion of the abolitionist movement. An orphan himself, he adopted a Greek orphan, Lucas, who later became a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin.

Site of Homestead of Lawyer and Statesman George F. Edmunds, one of this nation’s foremost legislators, was born on this farm, Feb. 1, 1828. After serving at Montpelier as Speaker, he represented Vermont in Washington as Senator for 25 years and presided over the Senate when Arthur was President.

This 16-sided church, Richmond's first meeting house, was built by a group led by William Rhodes in 1812-13 on land donated by Issac Gleason & Thomas Whitcomb.
 
The first Proprietors were members of five denominations: Baptist, Christian, Congregational, Methodist, & Universalist.
Richmond Town Meetings were held here for 160 years, until 1973, when it was closed due to structural problems and for restoration.
 
Maintained by the Richmond Historical Society, and staffed by volunteers, this National Historic Landmark is used for tours, meetings, ecumenical services, weddings, and concerts.

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RICHMOND, VERMONT
Richmond sits along a natural east-west corridor, the Winooski River. The Abenaki used this corridor for 10,000 to 12,000 years. Archaeologists have established a fall hunting site used around 1500 AD at the mouth of the Huntington River.
 Richmond was created by an Act of the Vermont Legislature on October 27, 1794 from parts of the towns of New Huntington, Williston & Jericho. A small section of Bolton was annexed on October 25, 1804. The first businesses in town were located near this church. Richmond was also a stopping point for early travelers on the Winooski Turnpike (US Route 2) between Burlington and Montpelier. After the railroad was completed in 1849, the town center shifted to the north.

Here first Canal in United States was built in 1802. The British-owned Company, which was chartered to render the Connecticut River navigable here in 1791, was 10 years building the 9 locks and dam around the Great Falls, 52 ft. high. After the railroad came in 1849, river traffic declined and the canal was used for water power only.

Commonly called “the fish hatchery,” this culture station was established in 1891, making it the oldest state hatchery in Vermont. Built in response to the dwindling fish population, the hatchery was funded by an initial state appropriation of $2,400 and built on land donated by Hon. E.N. Spaulding. This site was chosen for its abundant spring water and proximity to the Central Vermont Railroad line. The hatchery building was built in 1891, with an ice house added in 1894 and carriage barn in 1897. The first fry plants in 1892 consisted of brook, lake and rainbow trout. The fish culture station operated with earthen ponds until 2011, when it was heavily damaged by Tropical Storm Irene. A modern facility has since replaced it.

Mormon Prophet’s Birthplace Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born near here on December 23, 1805. A visitor's center and a 38 1/2 foot tall monument, considered the world's largest polished granite shaft, commemorate his life and is located at the birthplace 2 1/2 miles up Dairy Hill Road. The site is open year round.

On the site at Hagar Brook stood the small clapboarded mint-house in which Reuben Harmon, Jr. coined copper for the Republic of Vermont, 1785-1788. When the Federal government was instituted in 1789, Vermont abandoned minting. These rare coins of the Republic of Vermont (known as the Harmon Cent) may be seen in museums today.

The Center Rutland Depot is a classic example of an early 1900's rail station.  Built at the junction of the Delaware and Hudson and Rutland Railroads, the depot served the area's passenger and freight customers until the late 1950's.

On March 1, 1914, the Italian American Club of Rutland was founded as a mutual aid society by approximately forty southern Italian immigrants. Their mission included teaching local Italian immigrants English and assisting them to become American citizens. The Club’s first president was Domenico Paolucci and the first vice-president was Gerardo Ricci. On July 11, 1915, the Club received a charter to become the Christopher Columbus Lodge #414 of the Sons of Italy. The building at 73 Grove Street was acquired in 1933 for meetings and social gatherings and has been the site of weekly dinners, bocce games and other events that promote Italian heritage and culture in the community.

1825-1913 Julia Dorr, who lived in Rutland during childhood and from 1857 until her death, was one of Vermont's most famous and best loved poets. She published hundreds of popular poems, sonnets, and prose works, which reflect a keen sense of observation and love of nature and history. Guests at her Dorr Drive home included Ralph Waldo Emerson and others of the famed "Concord Group". She was a member of the influential Ripley family and wife of Judge Seneca M. Dorr. Active in community affairs, Mrs. Dorr led the Fortnightly, woman's cultural group of the congregational Church, for 33 years. She was a founder and president of the Rutland Free Library.

James Mead, Rutland’s first settler, arrived at these falls on the Otter Creek in 1769. The next year he and his family were given shelter by members of the Caughnawaga tribe while they finished their log cabin. Mead built saw and grist mills on the falls and ran a ferry on the Otter Creek. He was an ardent defender of the New Hampshire Grants and served as a colonel in the militia. Mead’s Falls was an important military site: the 1759 Crown Point Military Road ran by here, General Arthur St. Clair wrote his report after the Battle of Hubbardton in 1777 at Mead’s home on the West Proctor Road, and Fort Ranger was built in 1778 on the bluff northeast of the falls.

Jonas Galusha, born in Norwich, CT in 1753, moved his family to Shaftsbury in 1775. During the Revolutionary War he served with Seth Warner’s Green Mountain Boys and was at the Battle of Hubbardton and a Captain during the Battle of Bennington. A blacksmith, innkeeper, carpenter and politician, he became the 5th Governor of Vermont and was re-elected for 9 terms from 1809-1819. His wife, Mary, was daughter of Gov. Thomas Chittenden. Gov Jonas Galusha died in 1834 and is buried nearby in the Center Shaftsbury Cemetery. The rear ell of the present house was built in 1783 and the front, designed by master-builder Lavius Fillmore of Bennington, was constructed in 1805.

In 1776, at the request of General Washington, Elisha Sheldon was commissioned by Congress to raise a regiment of cavalry. Named the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons, the unit served with distinction throughout the Revolutionary War. In 1791 Colonel Sheldon, his sons Major Samuel, Elisha, Jr., and George, and their families came, with other families, from Connecticut as first settlers of this town. The town was originally chartered as Hungerford but the name was changed to Sheldon in 1792. The first meeting to organize the town was held in Georgia, Vermont. The large hipped roof house Colonel Sheldon built in 1795 still stands on a nearby hill.

On their retreat back to Canada from the attack on St. Albans, the 22 man Confederate detachment rode into Sheldon near dark. Crossing a covered bridge which stood on this Site, they set it on fire, but alert village citizens saved the bridge. In great haste to escape an aroused countryside, the invaders gave up a planned foray on the local Bank.

Levi Parsons Morton, son of a minister, was born on this site, May 16, 1824, and for 8 years lived in Shoreham. He became a New York City banker, Member of Congress, Minister to France, Vice-President under President Harrison, and Governor of New York.

Site of Pioneer's Tavern Here Ethan Allen's cousins, Ebenezer, made the first settlement on South Hero. From his tavern, Ethan, one of the "heroes" for whom the islands were named, started homeward across the ice to Burlington, Feb. 11, 1789. Stricken enroute, the Green Mountain Boy died the next day. Site: 3.5 miles south.

The farmhouse on this site, dating from the late-18th century, was purchased by Irene and Robert Slater in 1934, along with a barn and 145 acres of land. During the Great Depression, like many Vermont farmers, the Slaters took in tourists to supplement their income from dairy farming and maple sugaring. In 1937 and '38 the famous New York artist Edward Hopper and his wife, Josephine, spent month-long sojourns at Wagon Wheels while Hopper painted watercolors of the farm property and the landscape along the White River. In 1941 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt stayed overnight in the farmhouse, traveling from the White House to inspect Camp William James, an offshoot of the Civilian Conservation Corps in nearby Tunbridge.

Born in Springfield, Vermont in 1890, daughter of Governor James Hartness and wife of U.S. Senator Ralph E. Flanders, Helen Hartness Flanders became an internationally recognized ballad collector and authority on folk music. Among her many endeavors, she wrote nine books (the first, Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads), lectured with local singers and developed the Flanders Ballad Collection. This treasure containing thousands of folk songs preserved in the oral tradition, as well as books and manuscripts, was donated to Middlebury College in 1941. The College awarded Mrs. Flanders an honorary Master of Arts degree for her work in the field of folk music. She died in Springfield in 1972.

This site, the former Henry Seymour farm, became a Civil War camp named in honor of Vermont’s second Civil War Governor, Frederick Holbrook. Over 1000 men of the 5th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment camped on this land and were mustered in to Federal service for three years on Sept. 16, 1861.  A week later they marched 1½ miles to the St. Albans train station and departed for Washington, D.C.  In the late winter and early spring of 1865, Camp Holbrook was again the site of military activity. Two companies of the frontier cavalry recruited immediately after the St. Albans Raid on Oct. 19, 1864 occupied the nearby fields. These soldiers patrolled the borderlands providing security for the citizens of Vermont until midsummer of 1865.

After experimenting with new types of farm equipment, plows and stoves, Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scale here in 1830. With his brothers Erastus and Joseph, he founded the company which still bears their name. Many St. Johnsbury public institutions were gifts of this talented family.

After experimenting with new types of farm equipment, plows and stoves, Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scale here in 1830. With his brothers Erastus and Joseph, he founded the company which still bears their name. Many St. Johnsbury public institutions were gifts of this talented family.

In the 1790s a body of ore was discovered here, leading to the production of copperas from 1809 - 1880s and the intermittent production of copper from 1832 - 1958. The mine site covered 850 acres, and over three million tons of ore were extracted from open cuts and below ground. By 1834 the site included one of the nation's earliest successful large-scale copper smelting plants. Employing as many as 220 workers, the mine had a major impact on the economic and cultural development of Strafford and surrounding towns. By the 1980s the site was identified as a source of pollution in nearby streams. It was designated a National Priorities List (Superfund) clean-up site in 2001 by the Environmental Protection Agency, and a massive remediation effort followed.

Justin Smith Morrill 1810-1898
Born in Strafford Village, Justin S. Morrill was the son of a blacksmith. He entered politics in 1854 serving in the United States Congress for a total of nearly 44 years. As a member of the House of Representatives and later the Senate. Justin Morrill was the chief sponsor of the 1862 and 1890 Land-Grant Acts, the most important pieces of legislation for American higher education in the 19th century. The Acts resulted in more than 100 Land Grant colleges and universities in the United States with many millions of graduates worldwide.
Justin Smith Morrill is buried in the Morrill Mausoleum, located in the town cemetery beyond the 1799 Town House. Also buried there are his wife Ruth, their two sons, Justin and James, and his sister-in-law Louise Swan.                                                                                                                                        Morrill Homestead
Vermont’s First National Historic Landmark
This site includes the Justin Smith Morrill Homestead and seven agricultural buildings all set in a designed Picturesque landscape. Morrill planned the 17-room house, a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture. The Homestead was completed in the spring of 1851. The four original outbuildings were the ice house, carriage barn, horse barn, and a summer gazebo. Many of the original plantings made by Morrill in 1952-1953 survive, including species from Europe and Asia. In 1859 Morrill had the house painted the present shade of pink as an attempt to imitate the the appearance of cut sandstone. The Morrill Homestead is a Vermont Historic Site administered by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

Allen families lived here Ira Allen lived on this site by the Batten Kill and as Treasurer and Surveyor-General his "Office" helped shape the destiny of the Republic of Vermont. Here Ethan's family lived; here he dictated his freethinking "Oracles of Reason" in 1782. To his bride, his second wife, he presented the first copy.

The ancient Missisquoi/Mazipskoik Abenaki village was the region’s focal point into the 1760’s.  In 1744, Jesuits built a cabin which served into the 1790’s as the first long-term Christian mission in Vermont.  Speculators took much of the Abenaki land by 1798, but the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi survived.  In the 1860’s, Swanton historian John Perry lamented the hasty destruction of the old village noting its antiquity and great importance to all.  Nearby, the Abenakis live quietly to this day.

Longest Single Span Covered Bridge in State This 277 Foot Bridge, built in 1870 by Harrison Chamberlin, consists of two king post trusses and a 166 foot Town lattice truss. The latter was the longest wooden span in Vermont; in 1981 a concrete pier was constructed to provide support. An earlier attempt to strengthen the bridge with the addition of a laminated bow arch was not successful.

On the Tunbridge hilltop, across the meadow, three hundred Indians, led by the British in the waning years of the Revolutionary War, laid in wait the night of Oct. 15, 1780. As dawn approached on the 16th, they began their pillaging, reducing homes to ashes, capturing and killing unsuspecting settlers. Near this site in the Royalton meadow by the river, young Thomas Pember lost his life. On the hill, northeast of here, Peter Button met the same fate. When the raiders had finished marauding the White River valley, they had captured 32 and killed 4. The captives were marched to Canada either to be sold or imprisoned. In the years that followed, many of the captives returned to their families via escape or ransom.

Below the Otter Creek Falls was the site of Thomas Macdonough's shipyard, where the U.S.S. Saratoga was built in 40 days and other ships launched that defeated the British at the Battle of Plattsburgh, 1814.

In this brick building, constructed by his great-grandfather in 1818, Paul P. Harris attended school as a youth and received his elementary education. Many years later, Mr. Harris expressed the conviction that it was during his boyhood in Wallingford that he learned the basic ideals which became the cornerstones of Rotary International; destined to become a World-Wide service organization. This former schoolhouse is now maintained as a Memorial to Paul P. Harris by Wallingford Rotary.

Henry Janes, physician, soldier, farmer, and humanitarian, was born here January 24, 1832. As head of services at the Union Army hospital immediately after the Battle of Gettysburg, Dr. Janes faced the challenge of caring for 20,000 wounded Union and Confederate men. Without prejudice, he cared for the suffering and healed the wounded by practicing advanced medical procedures to hasten recovery of his patients. A small town physician and scholar, he treated townspeople with equal care and compassion and was a generous benefactor to the Town of Waterbury. Upon his death in 1915, he bequeathed this house for use as the Waterbury Public Library.

Opened on July 18, 1959 as Vermont's first organized auto racing track under the guidance of the Northeastern Racing Association, the State's first motor sports sanctioning body.  By instituting formal point and purse structures and focusing on driver and spectator safety, these pioneers laid the groundwork for a sport that continues to thrive today.

Consul to Lisbon. First to Import Merino Sheep to U.S. In 1811, Consul Jarvis brought from Spain to his farm in Weathersfield Bow the prized Merino sheep, whose longer fiber revolutionized the woolen industry and stimulated sheep raising throughout the East. In the 1830's Merinos were the state's principal livestock.

This renowned American painter and illustrator lived in Arlington from 1939 to 1953. Moving to this house in 1943, Rockwell employed neighbors as models to create memorable images for calendars, advertisements, and magazines. Iconic pictures like Rosie the Riveter (1943) and The Gossips (1948) were painted at his art studio and published by the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell’s art was printed on 323 covers of the Saturday Evening Post. He also painted the Four Freedoms (1943) while living here. The famous series was viewed by millions of people for a war bond campaign. President Roosevelt said of the Four Freedoms, “The roots of democracy run deep in Vermont and, in drawing upon the life about you, you have tapped these roots.”

Westminster "Massacre" Northward stood the Cumberland County Courthouse, seat of New York's colonial administration. Opposition to holding a court session let to the "Massacre" of March 13, 1775. Here the New Hampshire Grants on Jan. 16, 1777, declared their independence as "New Connecticut", later Vermont. 

The village of Weston is on the National Register of Historic Places. Settled in 1761, originally as the West Town of Andover, Weston was incorporated in 1799.  The Farrar Mansur House, built c. 1795, served as a home, tavern and community center.  It is now a museum of Weston’s early history. The Mill, built on the site of a 1780 sawmill, was revived as a water powered gristmill in 1936.  It contains an important collection of early trade tools.  Weston’s first firehouse, located by the millpond, now houses a Concord Coach purchased in 1880 by the Weston Coronet Band and outfitted as a bandwagon.

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The Village Green, once a frog pond and later a dump for the local tanneries, was established in 1886 as a private park by the Vermont General Assembly.  It is owned by the Farrar Park Association which consists of nine local women.  The first summer theater in Vermont opened its doors in Weston in 1936.  A remodeled church served as the original playhouse.  This burned in 1962.  The present Playhouse was rebuilt on the site of the church. 

The U.S. Government established a Morgan horse breeding program in 1905 at the University of Vermont to study and refine the Morgan horse as a superior cavalry mount.  That program moved here in 1907 when Joseph Battell donated this farm to the U.S. Government and the U.S. Government Morgan Horse Farm was created.  In 1951 the University of Vermont assumed ownership.

Joseph Battell, a devoted Morgan horse breeder, researched the history of the breed and published Vol. 1 of the first American Morgan Horse Register in 1894.  Some of Battell’s Morgans were used as breeding stock by the U.S. Government Morgan Horse Farm.  The Battell and U.S. Government Morgan horse bloodline is perpetuated by the UVM Morgan Horse Farm’s breeding program. 

The leader of the Mormon pioneers, Brigham Young, was born up the steep hill to the south on June 1, 1804. He eventually led his people from Illinois to Utah where he founded Salt Lake City in 1847 and 500 communities’ throughout the west. Young became the first territorial governor of Utah and the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Williamstown was established in 1780 by Elijah Paine and was formally chartered one year later on August 9, 1781. The first settlers lived on West Hill, along present-day Stone Road. By the mid-1800s, development had shifted from the two hills into the valley, an area better suited for civic, religious, and commercial activities. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, craftsmen from Canada, Spain, Sweden, and Italy were drawn to the town by the promise of jobs at the granite quarries. The traditional building materials and forms reflect the town’s evolution from an agrarian society to an industrialized community. The Williamstown Village Historic District was listed in the State Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Scott Nearing: August 6, 1883 - August 24, 1983
Helen Knothe Nearing: February 23, 1904 - September 17, 1995
 
Prominent economist, socialist, teacher, writer and scholar, Scott and his wife Helen Knothe, lived in Winhall from 1932 to 1952. During the Great Depression they moved from New York City to begin a new life in Vermont. Here in their homestead, named "Forest Farm", they chose to live "the Good Life," a title of one of their many books. They built their handcrafted stone houses, created fertile organic gardens, made maple sugar, and were sustained by the land. Pearl Buck was a frequent visitor and eventual neighbor building her own stone houses in the area. They inspired many followers who shared their philosophy, which was recognized as a centerpiece of America's "Back to the Land" and "Simple Living" movement. Scott was an outspoken radical, an anti-war crusader, an advocate of social and economic justice, and a strict vegetarian. Scott and Helen led the life of pioneers in Vermont and later in Maine, whence they moved in 1952.

Reverend Brown was the first African American Methodist minister in Vermont.  He was born in Newport, RI and became a Methodist minister in Kingsbury, NY in 1833.  He made a living by building stone walls; many of which are still standing today.  Brown served as a missionary to Liberia from 1837-1843.  In 1855 he organized Methodist classes in Wolcott and supervised the building of the church in 1856.  As far as can be determined this is the only church he served in the United States as the preacher in charge.  He died in Glens Falls, NY. 

Born on September 19, 1859, in Mobile, Alabama, Marianne Gaillard married Edward Daniels Faulkner in 1885.  Edward owned Johnson & Faulkner, a very successful and prosperous upholstery firm in New York City. The couple bought the former Woodward mansion on Mountain Avenue prior to WWI and spent many summers here.  After Edward’s death in 1926, Marianne Faulkner spent increasingly more time in Woodstock.

Mrs. Faulkner was a generous benefactor to the town. Among her gifts are the Woodstock Recreation Center, The Homestead, Faulkner Park and Trails, and contributions to many local churches and charities. Her Faulkner Trust is still used to help Woodstock individuals in need.

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She also funded the Faulkner House at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH, and gifted an endowment that continues to benefit the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Because of her generosity, she is the only person to receive a Life Membership at the Woodstock Country Club.

Mrs. Faulkner was described as a woman with a powerful spirit and unshakeable will, an extraordinarily interesting human being with compassion for others.
She passed away on January 6, 1958, at her home in Woodstock, yet her legacy endures.

The Taftsville Covered Bridge is a rare example of early vernacular wooden truss covered bridges in the United States.  All evidence indicates the builder, a longtime Taftsville resident named Solomon Emmons III, used no existing patented bridge truss designs, and that the design and construction techniques are unique.  Constructed entirely of local wood and stone in 1836, at a cost of $1800, it is the oldest covered bridge in Windsor County, and the third oldest in the state.  At approximately 189 feet in length at the floor, and 200 feet at the roof, it is the second longest covered bridge in Vermont.  On August 28, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene devastated the south abutment, closing the bridge for two years while extensive repairs and restoration efforts were made.

In January, 1934, on this pasture hill of Clinton Gilbert's farm, an endless-rope tow, powered by a Model "T" Ford engine, hauled skiers uphill for the first time. This ingenious contraption launched a new era in winter sports.