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How Did Flatboats Work?
This week in Brattleboro history we are going to focus on early trade and transportation. Before interstate highways and train rails there was the Connecticut River. The Abenaki used the river to trade tools and goods throughout New England. When Europeans arrived...
Hinsdale Bridge History – Eight and Counting…
Saturday, March 28, 1920 the Hinsdale Bridge between Brattleboro and Island Park collapsed into the Connecticut River. The winter had produced a great deal of snow, a warm spell caused a quick melt, and eight to ten inches of ice were still on the river. The...
Fort Dummer and the Vernon Dam
In 1976 the Brattleboro Reformer reported on the archeological dig that occurred at the Fort Dummer site along the Connecticut River. The site is about 1 mile south of downtown Brattleboro, along the Connecticut River. Fort Dummer was built on...
Development and Indigenous Burials
In 1922 the business community was pretty excited. Companies along Vernon Road were having a great deal of success. The White River Chair Company, Crosby Milling and Fort Dummer Cotton Mill had all settled into the southeast corner of town and caused a housing boom....
Brattleboro’s burgeoning ski industry
Brattleboro's Burgeoning Ski IndustryIn 1935 Brattleboro was well-known in the burgeoning New England skiing community. The annual Brattleboro Outing Club ski jump attracted thousands of people to the area every year. New Englanders came to Brattleboro all winter to...
Brooks House
In November 1869 the St. Albans Weekly Messenger reported on the status of Brattleboro, a town that was about as far away from St. Albans as you could get and still be in Vermont. The paper was commenting on Brattleboro’s recent hard times. In October, a Whetstone Brook freshet had wiped out many of the businesses along the brook and in early November a fire had destroyed all of the businesses on the west side of Main Street between Elliot and High Streets.
Wesselhoeft Water Cure
Dr. WesselhoeftIn the 1840’s one in five children born alive did not live to see their 1st birthday. The average life expectancy was less than 40 years. Many doctors bled their patients when they didn’t feel well and prescribed medicines that contained mercury and...
Early Maps Of Brattleboro 1745 – 1912
Harris Hill
In the beginning, the hill was 740 feet long. The landing space was 250 feet with a drop from the top to bottom of 284 feet. It was a big hill and it would get bigger.
Madame Sherri
Across the river from north Brattleboro, in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire, a trail winds through the Madame Sherri Forest to a set of ghostly stone stairs—the ruins of Madame Sherri’s castle, an estate whose former glory was lost to fire in 1962.
H.P. Lovecraft
HP LOVECRAFT & ROUND MOUNTAINH.P. Lovecraft & Round Mountain: West BrattleboroHoward Philips Lovecraft (1890 - 1937), was an American writer who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. He was virtually unknown and published...
Clarina Howard Nichols
Clarina Howard Nichols - Townsend and BrattleboroClarina Howard Nichols (1810 - 1885) was an advocate for human rights. Born in Townsend, VT she went on to become the publisher of the Windham County Democrat newspaper in Brattleboro, where she expanded coverage to...
The Latchis Hotel & Theater
THE LATCHIS HOTEL & THEATREThe Latchis Hotel & Theatre: Downtown Brattleboro The Hotel The Latchis Hotel Theatre first opened in 1938, when the “Greco Deco” vision of the Latchis family was finally realized. Built by four brothers in honor of their...
Brattleboro’s Beginnings
Intro Abenaki & Fort DummerPrior to the 1700’s, Vermont was home to the Abenaki. Fort Dummer was built as the first English settlement in Vermont in 1724. The view of the Connecticut River and Mount Wantastiquet from the former site of Fort DummerThe Fort...
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: West BrattleboroMary E. Wilkins Freeman, beloved 19th century American author and Brattleboro local, began her 50-year literary career in Brattleboro. She published over 250 short stories, 14 novels, and 3 plays. Freeman was quite an original....