Fall 2020 Scribbler

 

NEW PROJECTS

 

To support our community, as well as exploring new ways to share our history in the time of COVID, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) has started several new projects.

 

Cares Cabinet: With special thanks to Dave Gallagher and Ana, they have built a cabinet from recycled objects. Open the doors and pick up a mask (cloth or surgical), books (children and adult), DVDs, CDs and information. Lift the chest lid for puzzles, games, hands on history projects, craft supplies, toys and more. Installed next to the steps of the Museum, everything is free for the taking. A few ground rules:  Please close all doors and the lid of the chest after use. Do not leave anything there. If you have something you wish to donate, please e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com or call 802-226-7807. Be Covid smart and use hand sanitizer before and after using the Cabinet.

 

Hands on History Kits: CHS is working closely with both in-school and home learners. Depending on the time of year, CHS is preparing “hands on history kits,” which people can order and pick up from the Cabinet. October’s kit includes lots of ways to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

 

BETWEEN TWO MILLSTONES: BOOK 2

 

Many residents, as well as those who visit the Museum, wonder what the Russian novelist and Nobel Prize winner thought of Cavendish and/or how he spent his time while here (1976-1994). His memoir Between Two Millstones, Book 2: Exile in America 1978-1994 has been translated into English and will be published on Nov. 15. It can be purchased from Amazon. Below is an excerpt,

 

 In June 1976, I found my way to the freely chosen solitude I desired, this time in Vermont. And I never ceased to be surprised and grateful…Now I was no longer compelled to write in code, hide things, distribute pieces of writing among my friends. I could keep all my materials open to view, all in one place, and all my manuscripts out on capacious tables.

 

I seem to have no sense of the passage of time: I’ve now already spent over 2,000 days following the same regimen, always in profound tranquility—something I’d feverishly dreamed of throughout my Soviet life. There’s no telephone in the house where I work, no television, I’m always in fresh air (following the Swiss custom, the bedroom windows are kept open, even in freezing weather), living on healthy American provincial food, never once having been to the doctor for anything serious, plunging headfirst into the icy pond at the age of 63.

 

For six months, I revel in my work in a spacious, high-ceilinged office with “arrow” beams—cold in winter, it’s true—with big windows, skylights, and ample tables where I spread out my quantities of little notes. But for the other half of the year, the summer months, I decamp to the little house by the pond and derive a new rush of energy from this change of workplace: Something new flows into me, some kind of expanded creative capacity.

 

Here, nature is so close all around us that it even becomes a curse: Chipmunks dart in and out under your feet, several of them at a time, little snakes occasionally slip past you through the grass and a raccoon rustles along, heaving a sigh, beneath our floorboards; at dawn every day, squirrels bombard our metal roof with the pine-cones they’ve picked, and red flying squirrels with wings like bats move into the attic of the big house for the winter, and start romping around there at random times of the day and night. But the ones I dearly love are the coyotes: In the winter, they often roam our land, coming right up to the house and emitting their intricate, inimitable cry. I won’t attempt to describe it, but I am very fond of it.

 

THANKSGIVING ORIGIN STORIES

As we continue to work with many students through CHS’s Carmine Guica Young Historian’s Program (CGYHP), we are preparing a variety of seasonal resources. One question that has been asked is what are the origins of the American Thanksgiving? Was there really a feast?

 

Since 2020 is the 400^th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower, we thought this was a good time to answer these questions.  

 

The “first Thanksgiving” supposedly took place in 1621, making this year the 399^th anniversary of that tradition, or is it?   Is this the reason President Abraham Lincoln called for an official Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 26, 1863?

 

For starters, there are at least four other states that claim bragging rights for the first Thanksgiving. Florida, Texas, Maine and Virginia each declare itself the site of the First Thanksgiving and historical documents support the various claims. Spanish explorers and other English Colonists celebrated religious services of thanksgiving years before Mayflower arrived. However, few people knew about these events until the 20th century. They were isolated celebrations, forgotten long before the establishment of the American holiday, and they played no role in the evolution of Thanksgiving. Plimoth Plantation

 

The reason Lincoln called for a national day of Thanksgiving was two-fold. First he was expressing gratitude for a pivotal win of the Union Army at Gettysburg. The speech, written by Secretary of State William Seward, declared the 4^th Thursday of every November thereafter to be the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving.  The proclamation encouraged all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”

 

This was not the first administration to honor such a holiday as George Washington in his first term called for an official “day of public thanksgiving and prayer.” However, President Thomas Jefferson, thought it inappropriate given that the nation was based in part on the separation of church and state. Presidents that followed agreed with him, until Lincoln.

 

Neither Lincoln nor his successors, however, made the holiday a fixed annual event. A President still had to proclaim Thanksgiving each year, and the last Thursday in November became the customary date. In 1939, with an eye towards adding Christmas shopping days, and improving the economy battling the Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt, moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November. However, this was overruled by Congress in 1941 and ever since Thanksgiving has remained on the 4^th Thursday.

 

And the second reason? Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and editor of Godey’s Lady Book, one of the most influential periodicals in the country. Born in New Hampshire, Hale grew up celebrating an annual Thanksgiving Holiday, as was popular in many parts of the country. In 1827, she published Northwood: A Tale of New England, that included a chapter about the fall tradition. Believing that Thanksgiving could be a unifying measure for a divided country, she lobbied state and federal officials to pass legislation for a fixed national day of thanks. By 1854, more than 30 states and US territories had a Thanksgiving celebration.

 

During the Civil War, both sides called for Thanksgivings as a way to celebrate battle victories. However, it was celebrated long before the war started. In 1841, The North American and Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia, PA), noted on Dec. 10, Thanksgiving was held in New York and New Jersey yesterday. It has been celebrated all over New England. Even Savannah, this year, held this public festival. We do not understand why Pennsylvania should decline this religious and social holiday. Surely the people have the same causes for gratitude, and the motives for its exercise exist with the same force here as elsewhere. In fact, there is such an infusion of eastern population into every profession and employment and order of society here, that it is matter of surprise the custom should not have secured a foothold long since in Pennsylvania.

Thanksgiving in the 1800s was about church and food. In 1858, a statistician decided to figure out the costs of Thanksgiving for the 23 States that celebrated it. One million turkeys, 12,000,000 chickens, 30,000,000 pounds of pork, 30,000,000 pounds of beef, 6,000,000 pounds of raisins, 30,000,000 pounds of flour, 30,000,000 pounds of sugar, &c. The turkeys placed three feet apart in a straight line would reach from Massachusetts to Indiana. The chickens, one foot apart, would reach from New York to California. The pies, side by side, would reach across the Atlantic Ocean. It would require 25,000 cattle and 50,000 swine to furnish the beef and pork. The raisins would cost nearly a million of dollars, and the flour quite that sum. The sugar would cost about three millions, and the whole value of the items we have named would exceed $18,000,000! Our estimate gives one turkey to three families, four chickens to each family, also ten pies, ten pounds each of pork and beef, two pounds of raisins, ten pounds of flour and ten of sugar. The eggs, spices, lard, butter and ‘fixins’ generally, of which we have made no account, would raise the sum total to nearly twenty-five millions of dollars. Lowell Daily Citizen and News (Lowell, MA), December 4, 1858

 

So where do the Pilgrims/Indians fit into this? Why did they become central to this story?

 

The only proof of an event between the English settlers and the Wampanoag Indians in November of 1621 are pretty sketchy and come from a letter from Edward Winslow who wrote about a week long harvest celebration that included a three day celebration with Massasoit and 90 Wampanoag men, “so we might after a more special manner rejoice together.” Note the emphasis on men.

 

It’s estimated that just over 50 colonists attended the event-22 men, 4 married women and more than 25 children and teenagers. Close to 78% of the women who arrived on the Mayflower died during the first winter. The Wompanoag outnumbered the settlers, potentially by as much as 2 to 1.

 

Giving thanks was part of both cultures. For the Indians it was a routine part of daily life. Every time anybody went hunting or fishing or picked a plant, they would offer a prayer or acknowledgment. The settlers gave thanks daily before and after each meal.

 

There is no information that any type of harvest gathering continued. In 1841, the writer Alexander Young discovered Winslow’s letter and made it famous in his 1841 book, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers.

 

In addition to Winslow’s letter, William Bradford, Plymouth’s governor in 1621, wrote briefly of the event in Of Plymouth Plantation, approximately 20 years after the feast.

 

The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag were not particularly identified with Thanksgiving until about 1900. Starting in 1890, there was considerable anxiety over immigration, with white protestants fearful of the influx of European Catholics and Jews. This mythmaking was also impacted by the racial politics of the late 19th century. The Indian Wars were coming to a close and that was an opportune time to have Indians included in a national founding myth. You couldn’t have done that when people were reading newspaper accounts on a regular basis of atrocious violence between white Americans and Native people in the West. What’s more, during Reconstruction, that Thanksgiving myth allowed New Englanders to create this idea that bloodless colonialism in their region was the origin of the country, having nothing to do with the Indian Wars and slavery. Americans could feel good about their colonial past without having to confront the really dark characteristics of it. The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue Smithsonian Magazine 11/26/19

 

Today’s Thanksgiving is uniquely American, combining Native foods along with European “Harvest Home” traditions.

 

THE ACADEMCY BUILDING

 

Recently we came across a copy of the Vermont Tribune from January 14, 1965, which featured the article, “Former Cavendish Academy, Vermont Educational Landmark, Overlooks Cavendish Park.” The building was almost torn down in 1965 when majority voters from Proctorsville turned down a proposal to buy the building for removal for a parking lot, the and one half story Cavendish Academy building is for sale for $2500. It is the fifth oldest academy in the state of Vermont having been incorporated October 26, 1792 at a session of the Vermont Legislature in Rutland. It is also the 24^th oldest academy in New England. …The students roomed in the area…..Four terms were scheduled during the year, the Winter Term commencing on the second Wednesday of December; the Spring Term on the second Wednesday of March; Summer term, second Wednesday of June and the Fall Term, second Wednesday of September.

 

The Vermont Historical Society provided a catalogue of classes for the fall term of 1833. The courses of study contrast sharply with the current college preparatory programs at area high school. The catalogue says ‘The course of study adopted in this Institution is designed to be both liberal and thorough. Students wishing to prepare for College, for teaching, or for business, may expect to find here every facility for prosecuting their studies, afforded by any similar institution. In addition English education courses such as Latin and Greek, instruction was also provided in Mathematics, Bookkeeping,  botany, geology, moral and intellectual philosophy, drawing, painting and calisthenics, French, Spanish and Italian.

 

In 1834, the enrollment at the Academy was 91 gentlemen and 56 ladies. However the school was closed in the 1850s and has served multiple purposes throughout the years including as a drill hall during the Civil War, Perkin’s Store, Masonic Lodge, the Cavendish Partnership (architectural firm) and RB Marketing. 

 

It’s been a gorgeous fall in Cavendish, and we like the view of the Museum from Bonts Hill.

 

 

 

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