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...

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...

      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...

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....

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,...

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.”