CHS Briefs December 1, 2017

Please also check the Cavendish VT Facebook page for photo albums of various CHS activities.

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

Decorating for the Holidays: Thanks to Svetlana Phillips, there are now greens and holiday decorations at the Museum, Stone Church and War Memorial. The lights are on in the Stone Church. Thank you Kem and Svetlana Phillips for the batteries and a special thanks to Cooper Naess for patiently working to make sure all the candles would light. They should be lit from about 6-11 pm. 

Carmine Guica Young Historians Program (CGHP): The Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) program for the 5th grade was so much fun. Check out the photo album to see all the crafts the students were involved in making along with the altar they set up. Thank you Peggy Svec and Pang Ting for your help with this program.

Examining the Model T located at the site of Fitton Mill.

Building on what they learned from their trip to Sturbridge Village, the 6th graders toured the old Fitton Mill site that burned in 1875. Using an archeologist map, they could identify cellar holes and observe the damage done to the area by repeated flooding. The Mill was constructed in 1867 on the banks of the Black River off the Cavendish Gulf Rd near the gorge. It was destroyed by fire in 1875. Robert Fitton set fire to the family woolen mill, according to court testimony. He is probably responsible for numerous other fires in town involving a dwelling house, tenement house, storehouse, and a factory boarding house. According to an article in the paper from that time period, "In giving his evidence in the case, James Fitton testified that Robert Fitton told him, after the burning of his (Robert's) factory in 1875 that he (Robert) set the building on fire himself, spreading oil over the floors and elsewhere so it would burn well, and that the machinery for putting out fires go out of order just in time so no one could prevent the mill from burning, or words of that import. James Fitton also swears in the same deposition that the books showing how Robert's affair stood previous to his going bankruptcy the first time were burned by Robert himself. " Check out the Photo album  for this trip as it includes a lot of photographs from the original mill.

It was a thrill to hear the 6th graders discussing how wrong they thought it was that the only surviving building from the mill-the school house-was now a second home. “They sold off our history,” one of them noted. The CGYHP makes a real difference.

Solzhenitsyn Program: In spite of a chilly Museum, we’ve had a number of Russian visitors this month including a group of five journalists. We’re gearing up for 2018’s 100^th anniversary of his birth and we’re booking various speaking engagements. Have any ideas on what would make a nice T shirt design to celebrate this anniversary?

Brief History of Cavendish: CHS has provided the Cavendish Planning Commission with a brief history of Cavendish, which you can read on-line.

Newsletter: The Fall Scribbler II is now available on-line.  If you haven’t had a chance to read it, there is a special feature on the First People of Cavendish.

Appeal Campaign: CHS’s Annual Appeal letter has been sent.  It reads as follows: 

While 2017 has been an exceptional growth year, particularly for our Carmine Guica Young Historians Program, it’s the important anniversaries of 2018 that we’d like to draw your attention to. It will be the 100^th birthday of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s as well as the 170^th anniversary of Phineas Gage’s accident.

As different as they may appear, these two historic figures have much in common as they both highlight thriving in the face of adversity-Solzhenitsyn survived the Gulag, Russian labor camp, and exile, while Gage recovered from a massive traumatic brain injury and led a productive life. Solzhenitsyn helped to rewrite the course of history with his books, while Gage’s experience changed the world’s understanding of the brain and ushered in the field of neuroscience.  We are a better and richer world thanks to these men and it’s important that CHS honors them in 2018.

We can’t do this without your help. You can play an integral part by

• Donating to the annual appeal campaign (see attached form), specifying how you want your contribution to be used.

• Renewing your annual membership.

• Volunteering to help with our various programs, including fundraising and the planning committees being established on Gage and Solzhenitsyn

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN DECEMBER?

Christmas Spirits: We’re collecting Cavendish Christmas stories. If you have some you’d like to share, please e-mail them to margocaulfield@icloud.com

Polish Christmas at CTES: We’re working on a day long program of workshops and food for the students of Cavendish Town Elementary School as part of learning about the Polish people who settled in Cavendish. This program takes place on Dec. 21.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you can help with any of the following, please contact CHS margocaulfield@icloud.com; 802-226-7807 or PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142

• Have Polish traditions you’d like to share with the school children as part of the special holiday program? We’re looking for craft ideas, foods etc.

• CHS is looking for new board members as well as volunteers who can help with various activities.