A new rule for protecting archeological and historical sites during development under Act 250 is in place after a legislative panel signed off the changes. Officials from the Douglas administration said the new rule would maintain the protection of archeological sites while making it easier for applicants to comply with the state’s environmental protection and development control law. “This new rule should make the process of applying for an Act 250 permit smoother and more predictable for an applicant under the ‘historic sites’ section of Criterion 8,” said Tayt Brooks, Commissioner of Economic, Housing and Community Development, including the Division for Historic Preservation.

Ancient artifacts dating back roughly 7,000 years ago to 5000 B.C., were found by state archeologists on land near Thomas Dairy in Rutland Town recently. John Thomas, one of the landowners, said the pointed projectiles looked like arrowheads and were discovered in at least two different locations on his property. The discovery occurred as a part of an archeological dig — a standard procedure prior to subdivision — by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

The local historical societies; the Pownal Historical Society, the Shaftsbury Historical Society, the Dorset Historical Society, the Londonderry Historical Society and the Manchester Historical Society, will be presenting exhibits on their communities' histories at the tenth annual Vermont History Expo, June 26 and 27. This popular two-day event is dedicated to showcasing stories and exhibits of Vermont's local historical societies, and it takes place at the historic Tunbridge World's Fair Grounds in Tunbridge.

Town officials have learned the Guilford Country Store has received $30,000 in state funding to preserve and revitalize the historic building on Route 5. Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie announced the awards, $2.9 million in total from the Vermont Community Development Program, at a ceremony in Barre on Thursday. Guilford's $30,000 grant comes roughly two weeks before Friends of Algiers Village, Inc. (a local nonprofit) purchases the country store.

After an exhaustive 18-month, $17 million renovation during which almost every window, wire, pipe and lick of paint was replaced, the largest residential building in Windsor, VT is filling with new tenants and leaving behind its troubled past. “We have a great mix – young families, single people, the disabled people are applying from all over. I’m moving in people every day,” said Catherine Richardson, occupancy manager of Stewart Property Management. Because much of the project was paid for through historic-preservation tax credits – as well as a patchwork of funding from federal, state and local sources – renovations had to proceed with care.

Four times a year, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation visits municipalities in the state that have designated downtowns. Tuesday, the division and representatives from a number of Vermont towns and cities were in Brattleboro to learn about Building a Better Brattleboro's efforts to create a more vibrant and diverse downtown. The overwhelming response from the visitors was that Brattleboro's downtown is a model of success for the rest of the state. The Vermont Downtown Program was established in 1994 to help municipalities revitalize their core businesses.  

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The Glimmerstone Mansion, a prominent historic building in the town that author Alexander Solzhenitsyn once lived in, is going on the auction block. The 6,100-square-foot building at 1589 Main St. will be up for public auction at 11 a.m. on May 20. Terry Owen, vice president for the auction house Thomas Hirchak Co., said the property would be great for the right person. In addition to being an imposing edifice, it is also historic. Completed in 1845, the building is listed on both the state and national historic registers. The property changed hands numerous times during the next 150 years, until brothers Timothy and Peter Jefferson purchased it in 2004 and opened it as the Cavendish Inn.

Vermont Public Television (VPT), the statewide public television network, received a My Source Education Innovation Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) recently.  VPT was honored for an extensive educational initiative related to the project Lake Champlain Voyages of Discovery: Bringing History Home and the documentary “Champlain: The Lake Between,”  part of the 2009 Champlain Quadricentennial observance. 

One of Vermont's classic Carnegie Libraries is about to get its first major addition. And it's the last of its kind to do so. Of the nearly 1,700 public libraries that Andrew Carnegie paid to build at the turn of the last century, only four were in Vermont. Of them, the Morristown Centennial Library is the only one that still looks much the same as when it was built. But now, after more than 20 years of planning, the Morristown library is about to get bigger.

Governor Jim Douglas has announced $208,723 in Historic Preservation Barn Grants that will be awarded to 25 farms to help make repairs needed to keep the barns in use.  In a ceremony at the Dodge Farm in Berlin, which received $10,000 to repair its barn roof, the governor noted that the program promoted two of Vermont’s most important industries, agriculture and tourism. “Our farms are more than just providers of jobs and bonds to our agricultural past, they boost our tourism industry by preserving our working landscape,” Governor Douglas said. “Preserving these magnificent barns for future generations isn’t just good for the view, it’s good for our economy.”

Changes could be coming to one of the most storied institutions in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium is shifting its focus to natural history, astronomy and climate and that could lead to the donation of hundreds of local historical artifacts. And that has some people upset. Museum Curator Peggy Pearl says the museum's board has already voted to make the change, but supports keeping the artifacts local.

For thousands of years the area of Lake Champlain where Vermont’s Chimney Point and New York’s Crown Point stretch toward each other has played a crucial role in history. Now, the major find of what appears to be a 279-year-old French fort may help Vermont Division for Historic Preservation officials shine a brighter light on the Addison side of the lake.

Fifteen years ago, the Burlington Irish Heritage Festival was little more than a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner celebrated on St. Patrick’s Day, but the festival has come a long way since then. It now features more than a dozen events, beginning this Sunday and culminating in a concert at the Flynn Center on St. Patrick’s Day.  

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Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., brought word Wednesday that the effort to rebuild the Putney General Store will be boosted by another $60,000 in federal historic preservation funds. The latest contribution means reconstruction of the new general store will start in April, said Lyssa Papazian of the Putney Historical Society, which owns the store.

Update on Monday, March 15, 2010 at 01:15PM by VCF Staff

Residents of Putney say their twice-burned general store will rise again from the ashes. Construction of a new store - made of local timber - is expected to begin this summer. The big question now is: Who will be behind the counter?

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When J. Brooks Buxton retired from ConocoPhillips in 2003, he moved back to the town where he started: Jericho. Since then, in an elegant, light-filled home with a valley view, he’s spread out his collection. And he’s established himself as a one-man force to be reckoned with when it comes to preserving material relics and more elusive memories of our state’s rich past.