Featured Stories - Brattleboro Historical Society

Unveiling Moments in Brattleboro History

The Brattleboro Historical Society will unveil its historic markers project at a ceremony behind the Wells Fountain at 10:00 AM on Saturday, June 28, 2025. Here John Clements of Zephyr Design prepares the sign for his building – where the home of the Bradshaw family, Brattleboro’s first African-American family was located in the 18th Century. Digital Extras The Bradshaw family SoundCloud audio file Moments in Brattleboro Vermont History YouTube presentations

Unveiling Moments in Brattleboro History

The Brattleboro Historical Society will unveil its historic markers project at a ceremony behind the Wells Fountain at 10:00 AM on Saturday, June 28, 2025. The project is titled ‘Moments in Brattleboro History.’ The public is welcome to join the Historical Society’s unveiling of the first marker. Here John Clements of Zephyr Design prepares the sign for his building – where the home of the Bradshaw family, Brattleboro’s first African-American family was located in the 18th Century. Moments in Brattleboro History (video files) https://youtube.com/@momentsinbratthistory?si=hyMCr5NpRmA-pIkt The Bradshaws (audio file) https://on.soundcloud.com/4PJoGdDjMhmG12dLA

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 their new life. According to available information they were the only Black family in town. In the 1820’s some northern states were taking steps to legally limit or curtail slavery, but it was also a time when laws and practices were often at odds with one another. For example, in 1825 Solomon Bayley published a personal narrative of his experiences as an enslaved man in Delaware. In the 1700’s the state of Delaware banned the sale of enslaved people across state lines. It was an attempt at economically handicapping slave trade in the north. However, this did not stop Solomon Bayley’s owner from selling Bayley to a man from Virginia. As […]