History - Brattleboro Historical Society

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. Adding to the excitement was the announcement that Presbrey-Leland of New York was building a granite cutting shed at the location of the Maine-based Snow Flake Canning Company. The corn canning company had located on Vernon Road in 1898 but was a seasonal employer, while Presbrey-Leland promised year round skilled union jobs. The canning company buildings were sold off and dismantled. In their place foundations for a large granite plant were dug along the Connecticut River. It was during this process that three human skeletons were unearthed. For three days in a row, during October, 1922, a skeleton was dislodged from its grave about 30 feet from the riverbank and […]

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, Chesterfield and Hinsdale, NH. The bridge was built by the Berlin Bridge Company of Connecticut. At the beginning of 1888 there was a toll bridge between Brattleboro and Hinsdale, NH which traversed the island in the middle of the Connecticut River. This toll bridge crossing had existed for over 80 years and was a private enterprise. During the year it was proposed that Hinsdale and Brattleboro go in together to “free” the bridge by purchasing it from corporate owners. By eliminating future tolls it was thought that commerce between the two towns would improve and travel between NH and Vt would become more egalitarian. Each town held special votes. Hinsdale voted first and thought they should contribute $5,000 […]

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.”

Hinsdale Bridge

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 Brattleboro Daily Reformer gave the following description of what led to the bridge collapse. “The effect of the warm sun on the super abundance of snow in the woods was beginning to be felt…Brooks swollen by the contents of other brooks fed by smaller tributaries had been pouring into the Connecticut River for days, and the accumulated volume reached flood proportions…The ice jam at East Putney broke away about 5 o’clock, snapping off trees on the river banks as though they were toothpicks in a giant’s hand. When the river here began filling…it was known that the East Putney jam had arrived…With the water higher than ever the thunderous […]

Brattleboro’s Burgeoning Ski Industry

In 1935 Brattleboro was well-known in the burgeoning New England skiing community. The annual Brattleboro Outing Club ski jump attracted thousands of people to the area every year. New Englanders came to Brattleboro all winter to experience winter sports opportunities. For example, in January 1935, 700 people arrived on a special “Winter Sports” train originating from New London, Conn. The 13-coach train pulled into the station at noon and the skiing enthusiasts remained until 6 p.m. The Brattleboro Outing Club provided ski jumping and slalom races on the Cedar Street hill for the visitors. In February 1935 Brattleboro hosted the New England Ski Championships. The events included ski jumping and slalom racing. It was reported that 3,000 paying customers attended the activities. Specially scheduled trains from Connecticut and Massachusetts brought 1,250 of the attendees. One of the attendees at the Championships was Nancy Reynolds, a student at Bennington College and a skiing enthusiast. She often […]

George Bemis and the Phone Message for Coolidge

In 1954 George Bemis became the owner and manager of Hotel Brooks. In 1976 he was honored as the Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year. During his time in town he was a big supporter of the Brattleboro Outing Club. At the dinner, held at Dalem’s Chalet, Bemis explained his claim to fame happened in 1923. Bemis was a salesman making his monthly sales trip to Plymouth, Vt. He was in the General Store, (where the only phone in town was located) when the owner of the store answered the phone and took a call from the White House. The call was considered urgent so the owner asked Bemis to run a mile up the road in the pouring rain to get Vice President Calvin Coolidge and bring him back to the store. Bemis did this and sheltered the Vice President with his umbrella on the way back so he could take the message […]

Brattleboro’s Beginnings

ORIGINS: BRATTLEBORO’S BEGINNINGS Abenaki & Fort Dummer Prior to the 1700’s, Vermont was home to the Abenaki. Fort Dummer was built as the first English settlement in Vermont in 1724. The view of the Connecticut River and Mount Wantastiquet from the former site of Fort Dummer THE FORT Lt. Governor William Dummer of the Massachusetts Bay Colony built Fort Dummer as protection against the Abenaki. The wooden, walled fort was the northern outpost of settlers along the Connecticut River and defended against native and French attacks. In 1728 it became a trading post. It was used until 1750 by troops as a fort when skirmishes broke out. The fort was located just south of Brattleboro in a place now submerged by the Connecticut River. It was located along the river for ease of transportation and because of the ability to watch who was going up and down the river in a strategic fashion. CHARLES C. […]

Snow Removal Equipment – Changes Over Time

By WAYNE CARHART In New England when people lived mostly on farms, snow removal was limited to clearing a path from the house to the barn if the two buildings were not connected by a series of sheds, as they often were. Most of the occupant’s needs were met within the confines of their house and barn. Food, firewood, and silage had been stored so there was little need to travel over snow-covered roads. After the railroad and streetcars came to Brattleboro, snowplows and teams of men were hired to clear the tracks. No thought was given to actually removing the snow from the roads until after the arrival of the automobile. When roads were paved and people became more dependent on the automobile, the thought of not being able to use it in the snow was simply unacceptable to most citizens. Telegraph and then telephone and electric lines that were felled by a snowstorm […]

Maple Sugaring

Sugar Import About 125 years ago the Vermont Phoenix, a Brattleboro newspaper, published an article by local sugar maker John Gale concerning the annual gathering of maple sap during the early spring. The practice was learned from Indigenous peoples of the Northeast and adopted by European colonizers as soon as they arrived in North America. Maple sap was an Indigenous seasonal drink that had a sweet taste. Native Americans made maple sugar by collecting sap and placing heated stones in the sap until it boiled, thickened and hardened into chunks of maple sugar. Solid natural sweeteners were easily stored and transported. In the 1700’s and early 1800’s maple sugar was much more popular than maple syrup. Cane sugar was another sweetener that became available in the 1700’s. It was an expensive import from the Caribbean slave islands so locally produced maple sugar was initially more popular in early Vermont. Maple in the 1800s In 1799 […]

‘There’s A Bigger Story’: Recently Rediscovered Petroglyphs Bring Indigenous Narrative To Surface

Bigger Story: Recently Rediscovered Petroglyphs Bring Indigenous Narrative To Surface AT THE RETREAT MEADOWS – Written in the land This year brings the first official observation of Indigenous People’s Day in Vermont. It’s also a time to reflect on what this part of the world was like before any Europeans set foot here, and on a submerged river bank in Brattleboro, ancient petroglyphs offer a clue. Petroglyphs are images carved into natural stone. They’re only known to exist in two places in Vermont: one on the shore of the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls, the other in Brattleboro, where the West River and Connecticut meet… Read the rest at VPR: https://www.vpr.org/post/theres-bigger-story-recently-rediscovered-petroglyphs-bring-indigenous-narrative-surface#stream/0

Words on the Water: Stories of Wantastegok, the West River and Abenaki Presence

Words on the Water: Stories of Wantastegok, the West River and Abenaki Presence Friday, August 16, 2019 at 6:00 pm The Marina Restaurant, 28 Spring Tree Road, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Since construction of the Vernon Dam flooded the Retreat Meadows 110 years ago, Abenaki petroglyphs—ancient images carved in stone—have rested submerged, unseen evidence of the significant Native presence all around us. A special installment of the monthly Brattleboro Words Project’s free Roundtable Discussion series will be held on the waters of the West River/Connecticut River confluence to explore this presence and celebrate ongoing Vermont Land Trust conservation efforts adjacent to the site at The Marina Restaurant on Friday, August 16 at 6:00 PM for “Words on the Water: Stories of Wantastegok, the West River and Abenaki Presence.” Archaeologist and diver Annette Spaulding—whose 25-year search led to finding the petroglyphs, Rich Holschuh – member of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, and anthropologist and Indigenous […]

A Partial History of Brattleboro Printing and Publishing

Since 1797 there has been a weekly or daily newspaper in Brattleboro for all but four years. It started with Benjamin Smead’s paper the “Federal Galaxy” in 1797 and goes on to include William Fessenden’s “Reporter” in the early 1800’s, the “Vermont Phoenix” for over 80 years, and the “Brattleboro Reformer” under the banner of Windham County and Brattleboro for over 140 years.