Saturday, October 22 – Tour of the Old West River Railroad
Take a ride on the West River Railroad! Actually, along the route of the West River Railroad! Glenn Annis will lead this tour of the West River Railroad’s 36-mile route from Brattleboro to South Londonderry, sharing the Railroads history, while seeing first-hand the...
Riverfest
Riverfest August 6, 2022 The town of Brattleboro exists within the Connecticut River watershed. The West River and Whetstone Brook feed into the Connecticut and, together, they have supported communities of people for centuries. As part of the Connecticut River...
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...
John Holbrook – How The River Built Brattleboro Village
Frugality, thrift and free enterprise were some of the watchwords that marked the beginning years of the United States. Locally, John Holbrook personified these traits and was instrumental in the early development of Brattleboro’s economy. Holbrook was born in...
Log Drives
In March of 1916 the Brattleboro Reformer ran an article explaining that the great Connecticut River log drives that had impacted our region since 1869 were done. For 45 years the river towns witnessed log drives that began in late March and ended in early...
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....
Bridges and Floods
In 1889 a “remarkably strong and substantial” suspension bridge was built across the Connecticut River to connect Brattleboro with Chesterfield, NH. It was the culmination of a series of negotiations designed to improve east/west transportation between Brattleboro,...