Cultural Heritage: Recent Headlines

Historical Society gets new Civil War letters

2008-10-16T13:13:00Z

Vermont Public Radio reports that the Vermont Historical Society has added a set of 53 Civil War letters to its collections. "The letters were written by James Wilson, a Vermont soldier from East Warren" and "describe daily life with Company B of the 13^th Vermont regiment in 1862 and 1863." Notably, the 13th Vermont regiment "gained fame from its service at the Battle of Gettsyburg." According to Historical Society librarian Paul Carnahan, "The letters are particularly poignant because Wilson's fiancé died a few months after he did." The letters also "add to the understanding of the Vermont troops' service" and "shed light on life in a small village like East Warren in the middle of the 19^th century."

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Head of Native American commission resigns

2008-09-03T15:13:00Z

Vermont Public Radio reports that Mark Mitchell, the chairman of Vermont's Commission on Native American Affairs is "resigning, and blaming the Legislature for failing to set up a mechanism by which groups can become recognized as tribes." Mitchell said " his role as chairman of the commission has become too frustrating" because the Vermont "House failed to take action this year on a bill that would have clarified the process for state tribal recognition." According to "Jason Gibbs, the spokesman for Gov. Jim Douglas, the governor is disappointed to see Mitchell go, but agrees with his frustration about the inaction in the Vermont House"

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Native American site being excavated in Colchester

2008-09-02T17:01:00Z

Vermont Public Radio reports that "volunteers from the Vermont Archaeological Society are helping study a Colchester site that is believed to have been used by Native Americans thousands of years ago." According to University of Vermont Archaeologist Charles Knight, "Evidence from the current study suggests a temporary hunting camp from the early woodlands period, about 2,000 years ago." Notably, "the site is being studied as part of Vermont's Act 250 land use permit process, which requires an archaeological review be a site can be developed." Link to article

Bennington Prepares to Celebrate Battle of Bennington

2008-08-15T13:43:58Z

Vermont Public Radio reports that the town of Bennington is gearing up for the 231st anniversary of the Battle of Bennington, during which "General John Stark and American forces - including the Green Mountain Boys - defeated two detachments of British General John Burgoyne's army." The battle is remembered each year at the Bennington Battlefield historic site in North Hoosick, New York. "At the Bennington Battle Monument in Bennington, a 5K road race is planned, followed by free admission to the monument and a re-enactment featuring people from Philadelphia and Massachusetts portraying life in a Revolutionary War encampment."

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In St. George, a push to renovate old school

2008-08-13T17:47:04Z

The Rutland Herald reports that members of the St. George Historical Schoolhouse Restoration Society are trying to raise money for the repair and relocation of the town's [19th Century] schoolhouse." The building was constructed "in 1852 but hasn't been used as a school since 1964."

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Guilford Cemetery funding strategy considered

2008-08-13T15:27:45Z

The Brattleboro Reformer reports that the Guilford "town Selectboard heard testimony from a member of the Cemetery Commission about what Guilford can do to take action on local deteriorating burial grounds." According to Jerry James, the commissioner and trustee of cemetery funds, "The historic cemeteries of Guilford need help." James added, "Along with general maintenance, the cemeteries are in need of landscape improvement and monument repair and restoration." James concluded, " Although the commission has done an admirable job grooming the sites, other needs at the cemeteries have been postponed due to financial restraints... I, and members of the Cemetery Commission, are ready to work with this board and the people of Guilford on this important community issue. The short and long term future of Guilford's cemeteries demand that we take action now."

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Lake Champlain wreck added to National Register

2008-08-05T14:23:19Z

Vermont Public Radio reports that the Revolutionary War gunboat the Spitfire, which is located on the bottom of Lake Champlain, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. "The Spitfire was sunk during the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776, an engagement lost by the American rebels, but which delayed by a year British plans to move from Canada down the Champlain and Hudson valleys and split the colonies in two. The wreck was discovered in 1997 during sonar mapping of the lake. A replica of its sister ship, the Philadelphia, is on display at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Ferrisburgh."

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State wins award for Mount Independence trail

2008-07-17T15:32:38Z

Vermont Public Radio reports that "the state Division for Historic Preservation has won an 'award of merit' from the American Association of State and Local History" because "it has "done an exceptional job at making one of its key historic sites accessible, even to people with disabilities."

"The recognition comes for a new interpretive trail that opened last year at Mount Independence, the former Revolutionary War fort." Notably, "the fort played an important role in preventing the British from invading the new United States from the north during the Revolution." According to Administrator Elsa Gilbertson, "The trail was designed with gentle grades and a compact surface so strollers, walkers and wheelchairs can use it." The award also recognized the trail's signs which "describe the activities that took place throughout the old fort."

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History on display at Brooks library

2008-07-14T15:18:29Z

The Brattleboro Reformer reports that the "first known 'documented use of the word Vermont,' is on display at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro through the month of July." The word is found in an "April 11, 1777, broadside, or self-published one-page newsletter, in which a man named Thomas Young wrote, from Philadelphia, 'To all inhabitants of Vermont, a Free and Independent State.'" According to the University of Vermont romance language and Canadian studies professor Joseph-Andre , "All evidence points to Young as the originator of the word Vermont, a (French) translation of the English Green Mountains. Young's purpose was probably to honor, in a thinly disguised manner, the bombastic Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys."

The document is part of a unique collection of books and manuscripts that was given to the Library's trustees by James H. Phelps in 1889. "Although the Brooks Library still owns the bulk of what Phelps left to the library, his collection was split up in 1970's, according to librarian Jerry Carbone. In the mid-1970's, an inch-thich stack of historical documents was sold to the University of Vermont. And in 1979, another part of the family collection was sold at the Amherst Auction Gallery." The Library's other historical artifacts include the small wooden ballot box used for Brattleboro's first election and an old newspaper the Phelps family collected from March 27, 1776, called the Constitutional Gazette.

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UVM traces its history with a walking tour

2008-07-08T13:46:54Z

The University of Vermont has launched a new historical walking tour of campus that will be lead by retired history professor Bill Averyt every Saturday through October. The tour traces the history of Ira Allen, whose family has "defined Vermont's history" and includes stops at the school's Old Mill, completed in 1829; Williams Hall; and the old Billings Library, completed in 1885. "The tour also passes the red stone Royall Tyler Theater - originally built as the men's gymnasium - Pomeroy Hall - home to UVM's first medical school - and many other gems."

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