Vermont Public Radio reports that the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation seeks volunteers to conduct an inventory of the state's barns. According to State Architectural Historian Nancy Boone, the goal of the project "is to determine the number and condition of Vermont's barns." Project volunteers will "canvass areas, take photographs, note barn features and their conditions." The state plans to train people about what they need to know at a series of workshops. "The first census will be conducted on August 2nd and 3rd. A second census will be held later this year."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that "the Kingsley Grist Mill Historic District in Clarendon will open to the public "later this month for the first time since being listed on the National Register of Historic Places." Visitors will be able "to view buildings and grounds, including the 3-1/2-story Kingsley Grist Mill designed by Nicholas Powers and built in 1882. The Crary/Kingsley house was built in 1778 by Nathaniel Crary and expanded by Horace Kingsley in 1835." Also part of the district is the Kingsley Covered Bridge, which "was listed on the National Register in the mid-1970s."

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The Times Argus reports that the historic Middlesex train station may be demolished because the local historical society cannot afford to move the property. The building, which is badly in need of repair, is currently owned by the St. Albans-based company Sticks & Stuff. Recently, Sticks and Stuff changed hands and became "eager to rid of the deteriorating train station." In an email to the Middlesex Historical Society, Sticks & Stuff executive Don Wells explained that the station's new owners "would either like to donate the station to anyone who might be interested in it and have it moved off the site at no cost to [the company], or tear it down as it presents a potential hazard and cost to [the company]." Now members of the society are "scrambling to generate interest in preserving a building they say played such a pivotal role in the history of their mill town."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that Robert Frost's home on Route 7a in Shatsuby has been turned into a museum. When Frost purchased the home, he wrote that he intended "to plant a new Garden of Eden with a thousand Apple trees -- of the Unforbidden variety." The group of volunteers that turned the house into the museum "hope to restore Frost's ‘Garden of Eden.'" Notably, "Frost wrote his best known poem at this home."

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The Rutland Herald reports that third graders at Fair Haven Grade School will spend the next six weeks embarking on an oral history project funded by the Vermont Historical Society. "Students will interview teachers, school administrators and members of the community" in order to "uncover the long lost names, forgotten anecdotes and untold stories about the people who have lived in their community." Students have already picked the individuals in the community who they will interview. After the interviews are complete, "each student will write a summary of their question-and-answer session, and the reports will be displayed at the Fair Haven Historical Society." Recently a guest speaker from the Rutland Herald gave students advice on hot to conduct an effective interview. Students learned "how to prepare, how to ask the right questions and how to write accurate, concise stories."

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