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,...
Ice Flow 2022
Steamboats and Connecticut River
Gravestone epitaphs have led us on interesting journeys. At Prospect Hill Cemetery there is a stone that overlooks the Connecticut River. Carved on one side is the following; “The grave of Alanson D. Wood, who was killed instantly on this river by the explosion of the Steamboat Greenfield, May 18, 1840, age 30.”
Unsorted Photos
Soldiers’ Monument Tablet on Juneteenth
On June 19, 2022 the town of Brattleboro unveiled a corrective and interpretative tablet that was placed next to the Civil War Soldiers' Monument. A town committee crafted the text of the tablet and the Select Board approved the new installation and funding for the...
Richard Hamilton Speaks At Memorial Day Remembrance
On May 27, 2022 Richard Hamilton, a 1940 graduate of Brattleboro High School, spoke to an audience of more than 400 people on the front lawn of BUHS. He shared stories of growing up in West Brattleboro and attending public schools. This was part of a Memorial Day...
The Bradshaw’s
What was it like to be a young African American family settling into 1820’s Brattleboro? In 1823 a young couple in their twenties, with a small child, moved to Brattleboro from Massachusetts. Andrew and Phoebe Bradshaw rented a building on Main Street to begin...