ANNUAL MEETING 2/23/14
The Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) Annual
Meeting will take place on Feb. 23 (Sunday), 5 pm at the Cavendish Town
Elementary School in Proctorsville. There will be a pot luck supper starting at
5 pm, followed by a short business meeting. At approximately 6 pm we will be
showing the film Freedom and Unity:
The Vermont Movie- Part 1 A Very New Idea
Part One explores the
roots from which the future state of Vermont grew. Samuel de Champlain steps
into
a canoe, paving the way for Yankee immersion into native culture. We look
at early settlement, native peoples’ resistance, and the little-known history
of African American settlers. Pioneer rebel Ethan Allen leads the struggle for
independence, resulting in Vermont’s radical constitution- the first to outlaw
slavery. Finally, Vermont’s heroic role in the Civil War reminds us that,
despite occasional missteps, Freedom & Unity— Vermont’s state
motto—continues to chart the state’s course into the present. http://thevermontmovie.com In the event of
snow, the meeting will be rescheduled. For more information 802-226-7807 or
margoc@tds.net
CHANGE IN DATE FOR ANNUAL PLANT SALE
No one seems to know
just how long it’s been since the CHS Plant Sale took place the Saturday
closest to the 4th of July.
Given the response to the Town Wide Tag Sale, held the last Saturday in
July, the board has decided to switch
the date of the sale to coincide with this town event. Consequently, this
year’s CHS plant and tag sale will be on July 26th from 9 to 3.
Please mark your calendars.
CAVENDISH
UNDERGROUND- RUM RUNNING
Many people in Cavendish will proudly tell you how their
house, or one of the houses in their neighborhood, was part of the underground
railroad. While former slaves found safety here, there was no need to hide
them. Vermont outlawed slavery in 1777 and continued to pass laws that made it
difficult for those trying to recapture slaves to come to far into the state as
they could easily be caught and prosecuted.
Yes, there are tiny rooms and odd places in many of the old
houses in our town. Some had very practical purposes. If they were close to a
chimney they could have been used for curing meat and storing large cooking
pots etc. Tunnels and other hiding places had other practical purposes-rum
running and smuggling.
Because Vermont shares a border with Canada, smuggling has
been part of the state’s “underground” employment from the early days of its
settlement.
On January 16, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of
intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes" went into effect. Breweries, distilleries and saloons closed their doors. This did
not sit well with Vermonters, who believed the government had no business
interfering with their drinking habits. Consequently, more people drank more
alcohol during Prohibition than they did before or since.
Everywhere
people helped bootleggers, hid them in barns from chasing customs agents,
covered up, covered over, and supported them by making bootlegging a very
profitable venture. Stories abound showing the bootleggers as the folk heroes
they quickly became, and revealing the customs patrol as being slow minded, dim
witted, and unpopular spoil sports. VT Historical Society
When Suzanne Beyer, author of “The Inventor’s Fortune Up for
Grabs,” and granddaughter of Una and Leon Gay visited Cavendish in 2011, she
related that her great Uncle Art Hadley was engaged in rum running during
prohibition at her grandparents home-Glimmerstone. Were other people in town
involved in rum-running? Probably.
If you have stories about Cavendish’s involvement in various
bootlegging or smuggling activities, please send them to the Cavendish
Historical Society, PO Box 472, Cavendish VT 05142 or e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807.
MY CAVENDISH ALBUM
Facebook has been a great way for people to reconnect and
there are many discussions taking place on the Cavendish VT Facebook page. Some
people have been posting photographs from their family albums as well as
pictures they took when they were growing up. Unfortunately, not everyone is
on-line and many would love to see and share their own photographs and stories.
This summer, the CHS is planning to host a special exhibit
at the Museum –My Cavendish Album. If you have photographs, or even albums,
that you would like to share for this exhibit, please send them by May 1 to
CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. These can also be brought to the CHS
Annual Meeting on Feb. 23 or e-mailed in Jpeg format to margoc@tds.net. Please
include as much information as you can about the photograph(s)-date it was taken,
by whom, names of people, location and stories that may be particularly relevant.
Cavendish
Historical Society Board
Dan Churchill
Jen
Harper
Gloria
Leven
Bruce
McEnaney
Mike
Pember
Gail
Woods
Coordinator: Margo
Caulfield
UPCOMING CHS ACTIVITIES
February 23 (Sunday): Annual meeting, 5 pm at the Cavendish Town Elementary
School in Cavendish.
March 17 (Monday): Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Hands on History for 3rd and 5th
grades.
May 1 (Thursday): Last day to submit photographs for summer exhibit-My Cavendish Album.
May 25 (Sunday): CHS Museum opens for the summer season. Hours are 2-4 pm.
July 26 (Saturday): CHS Annual Plant and Tag Sale, 9-3 pm on the Museum grounds.
BECOME A MEMBER, RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP, DONATE: If you have not joined the Cavendish Historical Society, need to renew your membership, and/or would like to be a volunteer, please complete the form below and sending a check, payable to CHS, to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. All contributions are tax deductible.
Name: _______________________________________
Address:
_______________________________________________
Phone Number:
_____________________ E-Mail: ____________________________
Membership
Level
__
Individual Member $10 ___ Senior
Member 65+ $5 ___ Sustaining Member $500
__
Household Member $15 ___
Contributing Member $250
Volunteer
___ I would be interested in serving, as a volunteer .I would be
interested in serving on the following committee(s):
__
Program Planning __ Fundraising __ Building (Museum)
__Archives _ Budget –– Cemetery __ Hands on History
Donations are always welcome and can be designated as
follows:
__ For
general purposes __ Educational Programs __Publications
__
Archeological Activities __ Museum
& Archival __ Special Events
__
Rankin Fund __
Williams Fund __ Hands on History
__
Other (please specify) __ Cemetery Restoration
President’s
Report for 2013
This past year the
Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) laid the ground work for some new and
exciting programs, which we hope will be around for a long time.
In March, voters
approved accepting the donation of the Cavendish Stone Church from the Universalist
Unitarian Convention of Vermont and Quebec. A town wide committee has been
meeting to oversee the conservation of the building. While CHS has been putting
considerable money and effort into this project, the good news is that after
site visits from a number of people in the conservation field, the building is
considered to be in exceptional shape. In fact, representatives from the
Vermont Historic Preservation have said it is the only building in the state
where the interior has remained in tact. As such it is not just a local
treasure but an important piece of Vermont history. The building will used as
the permanent home of the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit as well a small venue
space to be used for intimate concerts, plays, readings, lectures, films etc.
It is also available for special events such as weddings.
The past summer, the
Museum hosted a special exhibit on Solzhenitsyn as well as established a
reading “room” where visitors can do research, watch videos and look at photographs.
In addition to speakers at the Museum, CHS offered various tours to different locations
in the community. We hope to expand our tours this coming summer.
The Young Historians
program at the Cavendish Town Elementary School continues to grow by leaps and
bounds. In December, CHS hosted a month long series of workshops with the theme
“A Dickens of a Christmas.” All of the grades participated making ornaments,
greens displays and flowers that were typical of the era. In addition, students
learned about Cavendish in the mid 1850’s and the impact the Victorian era had
on our town’s Christmas customs. This would not have been possible without the
help of a number of volunteers, particularly Sandra Stearns and Pang Ting, and the generous donation of supplies from
the community.
It was a student in
our home school outreach program that inspired the writing of a biography of
Solzhenitsyn for students in grades 4-7. We are in the editing phase but we
hope to have the book published and available for distribution by the end of 2014.
Even though
Cavendish is a small town, our history has world wide impact. CHS strives to
make this available via a variety of programs, including digital outreach. This
past year, we launched a new Facebook page on Phineas Gage and we post a number
of pictures of Cavendish through the years on the Cavendish VT Facebook page.
As a result, many people have been adding their own photographs as well as
including stories that were unknown to us.