Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Green Mountain Folklore Society

At the recent Annual Meeting of the Cavendish Historical Society, one of the members talked about The Green Mountain Folklore Society Founded in 1948 by University of Vermont English Professor Leon Dean, the non profit organization is working to collect, preserve and make available the folklore of Vermont.

Folklore can include customs, ceremonies, crafts, clothes, entertainment, proverbs, tall tales, writing, and songs. Each year, The Society holds a "Gabfeast," where people come and share stories and folkways. In addition, Green Mountain Whittlin's is published yearly and includes some of the stories from the Gabfeast, as well as ones submitted during the year.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Proctor Cemetery Tour 10/11/09

The Annual Cemetery Tour will be held tomorrow, Sunday, October 11. We will touring the Proctor Cemetery in Proctorsville. This will be the first time that many will see the cemetery. Note how the graves with the Irish names are off to one side. The Irish came to the area to work on the railroads.

The tour will be lead by Carmine Guica, who has completed the genealogy for many people in the cemetery. He not only has stories about the famous, but more often as not, the infamous.

The tour begins at the Cavendish Historical Society Museum at 2 pm. Wear comfortable shoes and be prepared for a short hike up to the cemetery.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Young Historians Program Oct 7 and 14

Today the Young Historians at the Cavendish Town Elementary School meet for the second time. We will be making paper beads and listening to music from the 1930's. Each student will be given materials so they can make enough beads for a bracelet or necklace. The stringing will take place at the YH meeting on Oct. 14.

Paper bead making was very popular in the 1930’s. It was a way to make something from scraps of paper, including newspaper. Just about any paper will do, with the exception of crepe and tissue paper. For a special present, beads from broken necklaces and bracelets would be added. While there are templates, special papers and a variety of videos on this topic, keeping it simple is the best. You can wrap the paper around straws, wire, skewers or anything else that leaves a hole. To make sure the bead comes off whatever type of rod you use, don’t start applying glue until you have already starting rolling the bead. Glue sticks work just fine. Once you have made some beads, they can be strung on any type of cord or wire. You can even make some fun animals using pipe cleaners. Below are on-line resources:

How to Make Paper Beads
How-To Make Recycled Paper Beads, Threadbanger Video