As part of the Carmine Guica Young Historians (CGYH) program, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) provides teachers, students, families and the community with information on town, state and national history for the month ahead.
GENERAL INFORMATION
• If you have questions, want to arrange for a program or need more information, call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com
• If you want to know more about the various programs that CHS offers for students and community, as well as opportunities close to Cavendish, go to the Resource Page.
• Covid: CHS staff and volunteers are all vaccinated. We follow the VT Agency on Education (AOE) guidance, school districts as well as Centers for Disease Controls & Prevention (CDC). At this time, anyone coming to the Museum must wear a mask.
• The CHS Cares Closet is located next to the steps of the Museum. We include history kits, masks, arts and crafts supplies, books, puzzles, games etc. This is open 24/7 and everything is free. If you have items you’d like to donate, or are looking for specific items, please contact us at the above numbers.
FOR CAVENDISH HOME LEARNERS
If you would like to have your child participate in programs CHS offers at CTES, please contact the office to fill out paperwork for emergency purposes. FMI: 802-875-7758.
The third grade
will be visiting Coolidge on Sept. 30. We are scheduling a variety of trips and
activities so recommend that If you have a home school student, please check
with the teachers connected with the various grade levels by going to the CTES
teachers page on the school’s website.
Susannah Johnson
SHARE THE
SUSANNAH JOHNSON STORY
Mrs. Johnson gave birth to the first child of European descent, Captive,” in Cavendish in 1757. She wrote about her experience, “A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson.” CHS has a copy of the original, which is bound in wood. Johnson erected stones to mark this event, which have been relocated to route 106 in Reading. The birth took place off Tarbell Hill Rd.
In her book, Johnson provides a very interesting perspective about how they were treated by the Abenaki (much better than the French or English). Interestingly, we have researched the path the family took and it’s close to the same path we take to the archeological dig at the Bruckner Preserve (Poultney and Lake Champlain intersect).
A timeline of this event is at the CHS blog.
“CalicoCaptive” by Elizabeth George Speare is a historical fiction children’s book that is heavily based on the diary, The book should be available from the Cavendish Library or Fletcher Community Library in Ludlow. If there is interest, we can do a reading group and visit both the site of the stones as well the birth place.
OCTOBER DATES/EVENTS
National Hispanic American Heritage Month (Sept 15-Oct. 15): Honors the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino Americans
• Resources from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Oct. 5, 1829: Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, was born in Fairfield, Vermont. Arthur was vice-president under President Garfield and became president when Garfield was assassinated in 1881.
Oct. 7, 1827: Abby Maria Hemenway, the compiler of the
Vermont Historical Gazetteer, was born in Ludlow.
Hemenway had been a schoolteacher, but decided to ask "a reliable person
in every town in Vermont" to write down all he or she could about the
town's history. She worked for thirty years and finally published four thick
volumes. Learn more about Hemenway.
Oct. 11 (Monday): Indigenous Peoples Day in Vermont (formerly Columbus Day)
• “BeforeColumbus” by Charles C. Mann. The children’s version of Mann’s award winning book “1491.” Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called human’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand.
• What Really Happen: While a cartoon and quite short, it accurately depicts Columbus and his activities. May not be appropriate for younger students. A great navigator he may have been, but he was no humanitarian. He was actively involved in the slave trade.
• There are four bands of the Abenaki in Vermont. The Elnu is the tribe who covers the territory where we live. Visit their website to learn more about them.
• Timeline for first peoples in VT
• Native Knowledge 360 Education Initiative from the National Museum of the American Indian. This is an excellence resource.
Oct. 14 (Wednesday): Cavendish Charter signed by King George in 1761. Capt. John Coffeen, Cavendish’s first legal settler helped to draft the VT Constitution, which he signed on July 8, 1777. There is a good article in VT Digger about Gov. Wentworth and how he illegally sold off Vermont land.
Oct. 19, 1864: Civil War comes to VT. A small group of Confederate soldiers brought the Civil War home to Vermont by raiding St. Albans and robbing three banks. After killing one man and wounding others, they escaped into Canada.
Oct. 20, 1859: John Dewey, educator, philosopher, and reformer, was born in Burlington. Dewey believed that children learn best by doing. He changed the way school was taught in America and around the world.
Oct. 22, 1790: Should VT become the 14th state? On the motion of Stephen R. Bradley of Westminster, the general assembly calls a convention to decide whether Vermont should ratify the United States Constitution and join the Union as the fourteenth state.
Oct. 31 (Sunday): Halloween & Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) is a cross quarter day,” marking the midway point between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. Called Samhain (“sow-win”), or summer’s end, in Ireland, this is a Gaelic festival marketing the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year.
This is the day that barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down, allowing more interaction between humans and those who have passed. It was expected that ancestors might cross over during this time as well, and Celts would dress as animals and monsters so that fairies were not tempted to kidnap them. Eventually, Oct. 31 became known as All Hallows Eve or Halloween, and many of the customs adopted in 19th century America came from Irish immigrants.
Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated throughout South America, though it is most associated with Mexico. The traditions mix Christian influence with ancient Indian (Mayan, Aztecs, Incas, Kichwa ) practices. Like the Irish and other cultures, they believe this is the time when the veil between this world and the next is lowered. Many parts of South America celebrate the day by remembering loved ones who have died by making altars (ofrendas) with special flowers, food and drink, pictures and special objects associated with a departed friend or family member. It is a positive honoring of the dead and it involves going to church, cleaning cemeteries and visiting with friends and family. In Guatemala, giant kites are constructed and flown in the cemeteries.
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