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PO Box 472 Cavendish, VT 05142
802-226-7807 margocaulfield@icloud.com
Spring 2025 Vol. 20, Issue 2
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 10 (Saturday): April Showers Bring May Flowers Workshop. 10-noon at the Cavendish Library in Proctorsville. We had to cancel the April Paper Flower Workshop due to a snowstorm. The Easter projects have been replaced with patriotic flowers as well as bouquets for Moms. Lots of fun projects for all ages. This workshop was made possible in part thanks to a grant from the Cavendish Community Fund.
May 23 (Friday): Early bird plant sale 5-7 in front of the Museum
May 24 (Saturday): Annual Plant Sale at the Museum. 9-noon.
May 30 (Friday): Memorial Day activities at Cavendish Town Elementary School CTES
June 1 (Sunday): Museum open for the season 2-4 PM
June 15 (Sunday): Revolutionary Cemetery Talk and Tour. Meet at the Museum at 2 pm. If you wish to participate in the walk dress accordingly. It’s a bit of a hill to get up to the Revolutionary Cemetery
June 21 (Saturday): Cavendish Village Ghost Walk. Meet at the Museum at 8 pm. Wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight.
Sept 14 (Sunday): Annual Phineas Gage Walk and Talk. Begins at 2 pm at the Museum.
November: Proctorsville Ghost Walk
The Museum will be open during the Plant Sale on May 24th and will be open on Sundays, starting June 1, from 2-4 pm until Oct. 12. To schedule an appointment at another time use the contact information above.
PLANT SALE
If you are dividing plants, please consider donating some to the sale. We can help with pots and soil. We will once again have tomato plants (cherry, Sungold, and Early Girl) and the fabulous lettuce buckets. We’re keeping the prices at $10 per tomato plant and $15 for the salad buckets. You need to pre order as soon as possible if you’d like one of these special plants. Use the contact information above.
CHS YOUNG HISTORIANS
In 2009, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) launched the Young Historians program at CTES. It has grown by leaps and bounds, thanks in large part to the continual support of Ernestien van Schaik. Students have gone on some amazing field trips, including one to Plimoth Plantation, where some students saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Bruce and Betty McEnaney have supported the sixth grade field trip to Sturbridge Village for many years.
But it’s not just about the field trips, but also an opportunity to work side by side with archeologists, celebrate Constitution Day, and any number of “hands on history” activities that help to reinforce lessons. The program has branched out with “preserve and serve,” where our students learn how to be stewards of Cavendish by cleaning gravestones, clearing debris and invasive species in flood plains, raking neighbors leaves and more.
As we near our 15th anniversary of this program, we thought you might like hearing about four of our former young historians:
CTES 2024 grads, Aitana Seville and William Braucht are award winners. Aitana, now a 7th grader at Green Mountain Union High School (GMUHS), won first place in the Junior Division of the Vermont History Day as well as the Lost Mural and Little Jerusalem Prize for her paper "The Case of Mendez v. Westminster: How it Changed School Segregation and Civil Rights for Children of Mexican Descent.” Aitana heads to the National History Day competition in June. Aitana is shown here placing flags on veterans graves in the Revolutionary Cemetery as a 6th grader.
William, a seventh grader at Christ the King, took 2nd place at the National Civics Bee. He has progressed to the state level competition at the end of June which if can win, he will proceed as Vermont’s student representative (one student per state) to the national competition in Washington DC in November. Best of luck Aitana and William.
Emery Benoit was curious about whether she’d like a career in archeology. In the summer between her freshmen and sophomore year, we took her on her first dig. She went on to graduate with a degree in archeology from Vermont State University Castleton and has presented a paper at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the International Society for Landscape, Place & Material Culture and is now on a dig in Yosemite.
Lorien Strange, in 2021 created the Virtual Cavendish Escape Room based on Cavendish history. A home school student, she has helped to clean and prepare the Museum for summer visitors and periodically calls with interesting questions and comments. Lorien will be starting college this fall at Middlebury. In the meantime, you may recognize her name from her byline as she has been covering local news for both The Chester Telegraph and the Vermont Journal. Needless to say she is well on her way to a career as a writer and journalist.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR TIMELINE/CAVENDISH TIMELINE Part I: 1754-1774
The founding of the United States and the history of the settlement of Cavendish are intertwined. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and other events, CHS is providing a two part timeline. Part I includes the events leading up to the War, while Part II will cover the war years. Cavendish’s history appears in italics.
August 1754: The Johnson family, who lived outside of Fort 4 in Charlestown, NH, was kidnapped by members of one of the Abenaki nations. Mrs. Susanna Johnson was nine months pregnant. On the second day of their journey to Lake Champlain, they encamped in Reading, VT, when Mrs. Johnson went into labor. According to the Indian Stone markers on Rt 106, on the border of Reading and Cavendish, about a mile up the brook from where the stones are now, she delivered a child. The stone marker information would suggest that the first child of European descent born in Cavendish would have been Elizabeth “Captive” Johnson.
• French and Indian War (1754-1763): Lasting seven years, the war between Great Britain and France, ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, with France surrendering all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi to Britain. With significant war debt, British Parliament sought to tax their subjects in America to recoup costs and to better defend the colonies from future invasion. Parliament believed that they had the right to levy taxes upon all subjects within King George III’s dominions. Not represented in Parliament, British subjects living in America, while not against paying taxes, believed they should set them, not Parliament. Salmon Dutton, founder of what is today Cavendish Village, was a veteran of this war. He served under Captain Leonard Whiting, who also moved to Cavendish. However, Whiting would be a loyalist during the Revolution.)
1759: Crown Point Road is built by the British, linking Fort Number 4 in Charlestown, NH to Fort Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Major John Hawks and 250 rangers cleared a roughhewn road through the forest. A path was cut across the elevation in southeastern Cavendish, now called Hawks Mountain. Soldiers traveling along this section of the road soon complained of its roughness. Another route bypassing Hawks Mountain was laid out during the next spring. An encampment twenty miles from Charlestown on the road gave the tributary of the Black River its present name Twenty Mile Stream. The Crown Point Rd had originally been an Indian trail.
Cavendish had “squatters,” or “backwoods pioneers,” men who brought their families to make claim in isolated lands, stayed for a while and would have been forced to move on once land was being sold. When these people would have started arriving is unknown, though it is expected that both Charleston’s Fort # 4 (founded in 1735) and the building of the Crown Point Rd, would have made the area known to European settlers.
The marker on Brook Rd in Cavendish gives directions to the unknown soldier who died and is buried in Cavendish while working on the Crown Point Rd.
1761: Cavendish Charter signed by King George III of England on Oct. 12. The area of land includes what is today, Cavendish and Proctorsville villages and Baltimore, VT.
• Stamp Act (1765): Passed by Parliament, printed materials such as newspapers, playing cards, and legal documents, was taxed. This was the first time the British Parliament attempted to directly tax the colonies to raise revenue. Highly unpopular among colonists, as it was viewed as a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent or representation in Parliament. Colonist boycotts, protests and demonstrations resulted in the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. This is the origin of the phrase “No Taxation without representation.
• Townsend Acts (1767): After the failure of the Sugar and Stamp Acts, Parliament passes the Townshend Acts, which levies taxes on more products. Colonists continued to argue against taxation without representation. British troops were sent to protect customs employees in Boston in 1768.
1769: John and Susanna Coffeen and their children are the first legal European settlers in Cavendish. Their home was located on the Cavendish Reading Road, close to Brook Road. Not long after Coffeen settled in Cavendish, he and his wife set out for Charlestown, NH for supplies and grinding their grist. Due to a snow storm, the parents did not return for six weeks. During this time, one of the Coffeen children became ill and died. The other children kept the body in the house until the parents return, at which time, due to heavy snow, the body was buried across the road from the house. Coffeen decided that this would be the family’s cemetery.
• Boston Massacre (1770): Tensions increased significantly due to the presence of troops, leading to street fights. A small crowd gathered around a group of British soldiers who were reportedly being heckled and harassed by the colonists. The soldiers fired into the crowd, leading to the deaths of five colonists and sparking widespread outrage.
• Boston Tea Party (1773) On the night of 16 December 1773, 340 chests of tea were destroyed in Boston Harbor, known today as the Boston Tea Party. Those involved in the protest were against the British tax on tea in the Americas and the monopoly of the East India Company on tea
• Intolerable (Coercive) Acts (1774): A series of four laws were passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. The four acts were the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. The Quebec Act of 1774 is sometimes included as one of the Coercive Acts, although it was not related to the Boston Tea Party. These oppressive acts sparked strong colonial resistance, including the meeting of the First Continental Congress, which George Washington attended in September and October 1774.
• First Continental Congress (Sept 5-Oct 26, 1774): Delegates from twelve colonies met in 1774 in Philadelphia to discuss responses to increased British oppression. This convention, the First Continental Congress, formally declared that colonists should have the same rights as Englishmen; they also agreed to form the Continental Association, which called for the suspension of trade with Great Britain.
CAVENDISH PATRIOTS
Cavendish is the final resting place of many who served in the Revolutionary War. In the months to come, we will be including their history. This issue we start with three families that are viewed as the founders of Cavendish: Coffeens, the first legal settlers; Duttons, founder of what today is called Cavendish Village; and Proctors of Proctorsville.
Coffeens:
One of seven families living here at the start of the War. In 1775, the militia in Cumberland County of the New Hampshire Grants was organized and John was commissioned a Captain of the Cavendish Company on Aug. 3, 1775. His unit was a part of the Upper Regiment commanded by Col Joseph Marsh. They were involved in garrison duty, serving to transport prisoners to Canada for exchange. 
Coffeen Cemetery
- Lake and Michael Coffeen: Lake enlisted in April 1775 as a Minuteman, while Michael enlisted at 17 on May 10, 1776. Both fought at the battle of Bunker Hill and served “at the fence.” During the battle, the rail fence on the colonial side was a key defensive position that the British attacked. Michael went on to become part of the Green Mountain Boys and fought in the Hubbardton Battle.
Salmon Dutton: A minute-man under the command of Captain Sameul Stone in Colonel William Prescott’s regiment, he served at Lexington and Concord.
Captain Leonard Proctor: He served as the company’s Second Lieutenant on the Lexington Alarm of April 19, 1775 in Captain Minot’s Company, Col.James. Prescott’s Reg’t. The spring of 1776 took him to fight in New York and ultimately Philadelphia, where he served under General Washington. He was involved in the Monmouth campaign in June 1778. After he retired and returned home, he was given the assignment of recruiting soldiers for the Continental Army
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 __ Carmine Guica Young Historians
Donations are always welcome and can be designated as follows:
__ For general purposes __ Young Historians __Publications
__ Archaeological Activities _ Museum & Archival __ Special Events
__ Rankin Fund __ Williams Fund __ Solzhenitsyn Project
__ Other (please specify) __ Cemetery Restoration __ Preservation Projects
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