On Wednesday, January 19, 2022, on the steps of the Vermont Capitol, John & Mary Carnahan were recognized by the Vermont Senate & House of Representatives for their many civic contributions to the Brattleboro community. Watch a video of the presentation at: https://youtu.be/ABvRSpyAxVY?si=hhblf3kdtsd326TD
Dr. Wesselhoeft In 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 other poisonous metals. About half of the patients who had surgery died from infections. It was in this medical uncertainty that Dr. Robert Wesselhoeft arrived in Brattleboro and established a “water cure” treatment facility on Elliot Street. The “water cure” aimed to work with nature to heal the body instead of attacking the body with man-made medicines. Fresh air, exercise, healthy foods, community and lots of water were the cornerstones of the Brattleboro Hydropathic Institution, locally known as the Wesselhoeft Water Cure. The “water cure” promoted a healthy lifestyle of diet and exercise. It was thought that many of the ailments facing people of the mid-1800’s stemmed from poor medical […]
After eye-opening research from three local students and their teacher, the town will purchase and install a new plaque to recognize the number of Vermonters who served during the Civil War but were left out of official recognition on a monument because of racism and classism of the time. Read Full Article at Reformer.com
Here’s a copy of the Brattleboro Historical Society’s Summer 2018 newsletter, featuring a story on the BHS exhibit in Montpelier at the Vermont History Museum.
In the Connecticut River there used to be a pretty big island between Brattleboro and Hinsdale. In the 1800’s it was over 22 acres. 1862 In 1862 a Connecticut Valley flood devastated the island. The tollhouse was washed away, as was the farmhouse, and when the waters subsided about eight sandy acres of land remained. By 1874 the largest chicken farm in the area had established itself on the island with over 2000 hens and chickens. In the 1880’s Brattleboro and Hinsdale joined together, bought the toll bridge company and made the bridge connection between the two towns free and open to the public. 1800s In the late 1800’s a brewery and saloon existed on the island and the island developed a sketchy reputation. In the early 1900’s Brattleboro and Hinsdale got into a disagreement about the brewery as Brattleboro had become a dry town, while Hinsdale was a licensed town that allowed the brewery […]
The Brattleboro Historical Society has scanned a copy of Early Maps of Brattleboro 1745-1912 by David Allen. We highly recommend buying a copy, as it comes with a bonus CD of gorgeous maps. Stop in the BHS Research Room to get a copy.
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.
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.
Go north on Main Street through downtown Brattleboro, past the library and bubbling Wells Fountain, and you’ll crest the hill onto a public park. Look through the trees and you’ll see flickers of an elegant clock tower. This clock tower watches over college-like campus of the Brattleboro Retreat, a pioneering mental health hospital that has been a cornerstone in Brattleboro since 1836. The Retreat and it’s grounds encompass more than 1000 acres along the West River, from its stately campus and adjacent farm to a networks public trails and even a haunted tower.
H.P. Lovecraft & Round Mountain: West Brattleboro Howard 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 only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, but he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors of horror and weird fiction. Right: H.P. Lovecraft (right) and friend Arthur Goodenough outside the latter’s home in 1927 on what is now Goodenough Rd. in West Brattleboro. Credit: H.P. Lovecraft Archive Lovecraft frequented the Brattleboro area, and his story “The Whisperer in Darkness” was set in West Brattleboro after the massive flood of 1927. “I’ve never seen no country niftier than the wild hills west of Brattleboro,” Lovecraft wrote to a friend. “The nearness and intimacy of the little domed hills become almost breathtaking. Their steepness and abruptness hold nothing in common with the hum-drum standardized world we […]
Clarina Howard Nichols – Townsend and Brattleboro Clarina 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 include women’s rights and equality for all. Her writings are credited for changes made in Vermont legislation providing for more rights. After the death of her second husband (having successfully divorced the first), Clarina moved her family to Kansas when the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 threatened to establish slavery outside of the South. In Kansas, she continued writing about and advocating for equality, and again had significant influence on laws passed to ensure those rights. Her dedication to ensuring those rights continued when she moved to Washington D.C. and California. ________________________________________________________________________ Previously, Brattleboro Area Middle School students under the tutelage of teacher Joe Rivers made a podcast about Nichols for the Brattleboro […]
The Latchis Main Theatre has stood as is since 1938 and is a member of the League of Historic American Theatres. Bedecked with Greek murals by the Hungarian-American painter Louis Jambor, swaddled in velvet curtains, and accented with a panoramic view of the Zodiac on the ceiling, this theatre has welcomed everything from the first run of The Wizard of Oz to livecast opera from the “Met.”