At the Retreat meadows

Written in the land

This year brings the first official observation of Indigenous People’s Day in Vermont. It’s also a time to reflect on what this part of the world was like before any Europeans set foot here, and on a submerged river bank in Brattleboro, ancient petroglyphs offer a clue.

Petroglyphs are images carved into natural stone. They’re only known to exist in two places in Vermont: one on the shore of the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls, the other in Brattleboro, where the West River and Connecticut meet…