Carmine Guica Young Historians March 2023 Update

 

CGYHU for March 2023  

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

• To learn more about the various programs that CHS offers for students and community, as well as opportunities close to Cavendish, go to the Resource Page. 

• The CHS Cares Closet, located next to the steps of the Museum is free, open 24/7, and offers a wide array of things to do, read etc. for both children and adults.

 

The CHS Winter 2023 newsletter is now available on-line and contains the first part of the 1975 Bicentennial Jeep Tour. Fun project to do with kids. Could be an interesting walking tour just in the village of Proctorsville

 

March is both National Women’s History Month as well as Irish-American Heritage Month. This year St. Patrick’s Day, March 17^th, is on a Friday. If teachers want programs that day, please contact CHS ASAP. 

 

NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: This year’s theme is “Celebrating Women who Tell Our Stories.”  Throughout 2023, the National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) will encourage recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, and more. The timely theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art, pursuing truth, and reflecting the human condition decade after decade. 

 

For the most part, it’s been women that have written and recorded Cavendish’s history. These books are available from CHS and in  the Cavendish library:

• “Chubb Hill Farm and Cavendish Vermont: A Family and Town History” by Barbara B. Kingsbury (excellent resource document for Cavendish History

• “Cavendish Hillside Farm 1939 to 1957” by Sandra Stearns (suitable for all ages and enjoyable for younger ages as a read aloud book). 

• “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Writer Who Changed History” by Margo Caulfield (suitable for students in grades 4-7)

• “Cavendish Families: Volumes 1-4” by Linda Farr Welch (genealogy-note that volumes 3 and 4 are no longer available for purchase) 

 

In addition, Margo Caulfield, writes the weekly Cavendish Update, maintains the Cavendish VT Facebook page, keeps the Cavendish Historical Timeline current and writes the quarterly CHS newsletter. Sharon Huntley, who recently moved to Maine, was a reporter for the Vermont Journal for years, and prior to that owned the public relations firm, “Digital Flannel.” Shannon Devereux has been working with multi-media for many years and is currently the Instructional Technology Services Manager at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. 

 

Natalia Solzhenitsyn served as her husband’s editor and continues to deal with publishers, reporters and readers for Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s work.  Her mother,Yekaternia Svetlova, an aeronautical engineer in Russia, helped in preparing her son-in-law’s books for print by painstakingly turning English letters into Cyrillic script. Learn more this mother/daughter team at Cavendish Women You Should Know-N.Solzhenitsyn & Svetlova.

 

Another mother/daughter group of writers is Cecile Shapiro, and her daughters, Anna and Deborah. Anna, who spends a lot of time in Cavendish,  was a regular book reviewer for The New Yorker, and  has written about books for The New York Times, The Guardian (England), The Nation, and many other journals as well, and also published editorials. Her one volume of nonfiction is a collection of essays about fiction (Proust, Mann, Tolstoy) in which food is pivotal to the plot or as a central metaphor. Her sister Deborah Krasner has written a number of cookbooks.  Cecile wrote for various magazines, and even wrote a piece on fellow Cavendish resident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 

 

In the early 1900s, Fanny Bacon and Carrie. Spafford, job printers, started the monthly publication “The Scribbler.” This was a place where local writers could see their poetry, essays or short stories in print. 

 

While not a year round resident, Cornelia Otis Skinner, writer and actress, spent many summers in Cavendish at the family home, now the Golden Stage. She wrote for The New Yorker, as well as wrote screen plays (Our Hearts were Young and Gay) and the books Nuts in May, Dithers and Jitters, Excuse it Please! and The Ape in Me.

 

The CHS blog has been running a series for the last several years called Cavendish Women You Should Know and we will be adding to it this coming month. 

• March 8 (Wednesday): International Women’s Day: This year’s theme is  #Embrace Equity. 

• Download a free copy of Think Like a Girl: A Coloring Book of Women Pioneers in STEM 

• Women’s History Month: 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 join in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. 

• National Women’s History Museum The Museum offers free 30 minute electronic field trips for classes on a wide variety of historic topics, posters and much more for students and teachers. 

• VT’s Commission on Women 

 

IRISH-AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH: March, with St. Patrick’s Day, is a good time to talk about the influence of the Irish on Vermont and Cavendish. 

• National Archives Irish American Heritage Month 

• Samhain in Vermont from the Burlington Irish Heritage Festival. This  includes an hour long film including dance and music from Ireland performed by local 

• Pre-Famine Irish in Vermont, 1815–1844 Vermont History 74 (Summer/Fall 2006): 101–126.© 2006 by the Vermont Historical Society. 

 

HISTORICAL DATES FOR MARCH

• March 5,1770: The Boston Massacre The first man killed was Crispus Attucks, an African American.

• March 10, 1862 - The first issue of U.S. government paper money occurred as $5, $10 and $20 bills began circulation. 

• March 11, 1918: The 'Spanish' influenza first reached America as 107 soldiers become sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. One quarter of the U.S. population eventually became ill from the deadly virus, resulting in 500,000 deaths. The death toll worldwide approached 22 million by the end of 1920.

• March 17: Happy St. Patrick’s Day. 

            1776 – During the American Revolution the British completed their evacuation of Boston following a successful siege conducted by Patriots. The event is still commemorated in Boston as Evacuation Day.

• March 29, 1974 : After having been expelled from Russia, the Nobel Prize winner and Soviet dissident, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, was reunited with his wife and family after a six week exile in Switzerland. The family would ultimately settle in Cavendish in 1976. Read an account of his arrival from the New York Times 

• March 31, 1933 - The Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, was founded. Unemployed men and youths were organized into quasi-military formations and worked outdoors in national parks and forests. One of the CCC camps was located in the Proctor Forest in Proctorsville. There is a hiking trail that goes by the sites. If there is interest, CHS can arrange for a walking tour there in the spring. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scribbler II: Winter 2023

                                   THE SCRIBBLER II

The Cavendish Historical Society Newsletter

www.cavendishhistoricalsocietynews.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/PhineasGageCavendish

www.pinterest.com/cavendishvt/historical-cavendish/

www.thewriterwhochangedhistory.com

 

PO Box 472 Cavendish, VT 05142

 

802-226-7807     margocaulfield@icloud.com

Winter 2023  Vol. 17, Issue 1

 

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

May 26 (Friday): Early bird plant sale, 5-7 pm in front of the Museum

May 27 (Saturday): Plant Sale 9-noon in front of the Museum

May 28 (Sunday): Museum opens for the season, 2-4 pm

June 17 (Saturday): Cavendish Village Ghost Walk, Meet at the Museum at 8 pm, wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight

July 29 (Saturday): Town Wide Tag Sale. The Cavendish Historical Society (CHS)  booth will be at the Gazebo on the Proctorsville Green.

Sept.10 (Sunday): Annual Phineas Gage Walk & Talk, 2pm begins at the Museum with the talk. It’s about ¾ of a mile to the accident site. Please wear comfortable shoes.

Oct. 8 (Sunday): Last day Museum is open

 

More programs will be added through the season. The CHS Museum is open on Sundays from Memorial Weekend through Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend from 2-4 pm. Other times for visits can be arranged by using the contact information above. 

 

REMEMBERING DAN CHURCHILL

 

It is with sadness that we report the passing of CHS president and treasurer Daniel (Dan) Churchill. 

 

Born and raised in Proctorsville, at the age of 14 Dan became a “teenage pharmacist.” He worked for the Pollard’s store, until 1964,  coming home on weekends from college to fill and compound prescriptions.  While he would have liked to make pharmacy his career, the family finances were such that he focused on his second love, electricity.

 

Dan talked of his fascination as a child, and how he followed the technician from room to room as his parents’ home was being wired for electricity. Like many of his age, he built his first radio-a crystal set. Working for General Radio for four years while studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this led to his being an engineer at RCA for 25 years. 

 

In 1970, he started the business Commercial Radio Company to provide specialized expertise to companies, universities, and individuals in need of service for radio transmitters and other apparatus. Purchasing the old Duttonsville School in Cavendish, he refurbished the building to be his home and business. 

 

Upon returning to Cavendish, Dan became very involved in a variety of civic duties, including being a member of the Cavendish Select Board, Planning Commission,  Board of Civil Authorities, as well as the town’s representative on the boards of the Black River Senior Center and the area Agency on Aging. He was one of the founding members of CHS, as well as a member of the Masons. 

 

One of Dan’s great interests was dowsing and spiritual healing. He attended classes at Lily Dale and was a member of the American Society of Dowsers. Dan often did readings for community members and around the state. 

 

A man with many talents and interests, one person described Dan as a “one of a kind eccentric genius and very kind.”

 

His memorial will be Sunday, June 4 at his home/business. The family requests donations  be made to the Cavendish Historical Society, PO Box 472, Cavendish VT 05142.

 

Our condolences to his daughter Centura, his brother Winston and to his nephews, their children and to his many friends. 

 

NEW FOR WINTER 2023/ Fireside history chats

 

In response to various people asking if we’d repeat different talks/programs at times that were better suited for them, CHS is introducing “Fireside History Chats” this winter. You pick the topic, the time and the place. Invite up to 10 other people, and CHS will bring the program to you, provided it’s within the Okemo Valley. It can be at someone’s home or a central meeting place. 

 

 While we can arrange for a particular topic, some talks you might be interested in include:

• Captive Johnson: The story behind “Calico Captive”

• Reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Pick a book, prose poems etc.

• “Columbian Exchange,” refers to the transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, disease and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492.

• Phineas Gage

• The eerie side of Cavendish

• The first peoples of Cavendish

 

We’re happy to run these talks year round if there is interest. What’s not to like about bonfire history chats?

 

BICENTENNIAL JEEP TOUR 1975: Part 1

 

This winter we’re doing a major inventory and assessment of CHS’s archives. We’re finding all sorts of treasures. One such find is the “Bicentennial Jeep Ride 1975.” According to Sandy Stearns, author of Cavendish Hillside Farm 1939-1957, there was a committee of eight people working on the Jeep Ride. She thought they ended up doing about four or five of the rides, though she had never been on one. These events were often followed by a Chicken Pie Supper at the Cavendish Baptist Church.  

We have what appears to be drafts of the tour, with a variety of notations about what should be included or left out. As Sandy noted, there was probably a fair amount of disagreement about certain spots and information being included. 

 

We’ve spent some time trying to learn more about the tour itself, as well as the “spots” listed. Along with the various books and booklets that CHS has published, we were pleased to find that Howard (Speedy) Merritt’s project  that built on the information contained in CHS’s “Cavendish Heritage and Homes,” and the 1973 Historical Survey by the State of Vermont,  is available on-line.

 

Below, in bold, are the stops/directions, followed by current information. It appears that there would be a stop and various places would be discussed. For example, the tour would have parked on the Cavendish Gulf Rd and participants would have walked down to see where the Fittonsville Mill once stood and continued on the path to see the Gorge. The tour, as drafted with 51 spots, was a solid afternoon of exploring. 

 

Because of the length of the draft tour, we only have space to do the first page and will include the remainder  in the spring edition of the Scribbler II. We will consolidate this into a PDF format for summer bike rides, hikes or “Jeeps.” If it’s of interest, CHS would be happy to hold a “jeep tour” this summer. 

 

If you have information about the tours, please forward to CHS using the contact information on the first page of the newsletter. 

 

Start: Cavendish Museum 1833 1^st Baptist Church; Town Hall 1875-1960: The building burned in 1875, just after a major renovation. The Baptist Church relocated and the town purchased the building for $500.

 

        Turn right out of the Museum and head East on 131 where the following were located: 

 

1. First Cavendish Academy 1792-1813: Was a store for many years. Located on the corner of 131 and High St. Currently  for sale. 

 

2. Old Stone Mill 1832: Gay’’s Mill 1886 (The Gay Brothers operated a Mill there until 1951   when it was sold to F.C. Hyuck and Sons, which renamed it  “Kenwood Mills.” Operational until 1958, the building was purchased by Mack Molding in 1961.

 

3. Store-George Franklin Davis & Daniel H. Wheeler 1844 Now Health Clinic Located on 131 facing Mill St. The store was built in 1839; became a drug store in 1870; and sold in 1891. By 1902 it was known as the Eliot Hotel, which burned in 1908. A boarding house in 1912, it was purchased by the Gays and used initially for storage. In 1928 Leased as the Cavendish Inn, it operated for the next 20 years catering to Mill workers and teachers. In 1956, Kenwood Mills donated the stone building to create the Black River Health Center. From 1957-1988, Dr. Eugene Bont was the family physician for the area. While various primary care practices were attempted, it has never again served as a health center. 

 

4. Dutton House 1782-was taken to Shelburne Museum in 1950: Marker on town green notes where the house once stood.

 

5. Store-Robbins & White—on left corner 1815 (Otis Robbins)

 

6. Store Ava Pierce Alvah Pierce took over Robbins store on the corner of 131 and Mill St. 

 

The tour turns right onto Mill Street and then on to the Cavendish Gulf Rd 

 

7. Fittonsville 1869 Woolen Mill: This is accessed by taking the left hand path by the railroad tracks. The area contains stone walls and the cellar hole for the boarding house

 

8. Cavendish Gorge: Just beyond the old Fittonsville Mill site. This was at one time a popular place to hike and picnic. The land is now owned by Green Mountain Power. 

 

9. Dutton Hill-Green Mountain Turnpike Road. Toll Road from Boston 180: Follows the Cavendish Gulf Rd.

                      

          The tour then heads to Proctorsville, most likely via the Proctor/Piper Rd

 

10. Proctor-Piper Boy Scout Campgrounds: Same area as the old CCC campground, located off the Proctor Piper Rd. There is a parking lot at the Pratt Hill trail head making it possible to hike from Proctorsville to the Cavendish Water Tower and to see the remains of the CCC camps. 

 

11. Gun Shop-where Grace cook lived-Amasa Piper: 145 Depot St. Amasa Piper was the name of the gunsmith. 

 

12.  Woolen Mill -Hayward, Taft & Co. 1836 Over the years has had various owners and uses, with the last being Proctor Reel. A fire in 1982 resulted in part of the area becoming the Proctorsville Green, (Svec Park), Murdock’s Restaurant and Outer Limits Brewery.

 

13. Eagle Hotel: Located on 131 facing Depot St., the building has been modified for many uses over the years. The main building still stands and is home to the Village Clipper and multiple apartments.

 

14. Store-Abel Gilson & William Smith 1844—later Pollard Bros.: On the corner of Depot St. and Rt 131, the Pollard Store closed in 1964. It was the home of various bakeries-Baba Lou’s and Crows Corner. Today it is the site of DG Body Works

 

15. First Proctorsville School 1830 Mary Parker Emerson Benoit: A number of homes and the old school were removed to build the current Cavendish Town Elementary School on Rt 131

 

16. Proctor House-Donald Goodrich ca 1790: The first home built by Capt. Leonard Proctor. The house stood where the present highway runs. Part of the house was moved, and then torn down to make way for the elementary school. The remaining part of the house was moved to the current location and became known as the Page House. CHS “Heritage and Homes.”

 

17. Methodist Church Parsonage-First Jail Kept there: This became a private home, which was destroyed by fire in 2014. The grounds were turned into a school parking lot and park. It’s home to the Gene Bont Memorial Garden

 

18. Jenne House 1787: Next to the school park on 131, the “Sunset Tavern” as it was fist called, later the “Town House” or the “Jenne House,” this Georgian style home was built in 1787 by Capt. Proctor. He spent the last 30 years of his life and died there in 1827. CHS “Heritage and Homes.”

 

19. Zaccheus Blood Saddlery shop-brick house on High Street Corner: High St. is now called Maple St. The brick house still stands and is a private home.

 

20. Old Brick Steamer Coffin Shop: Located on Route 131, the house is one of the few with no yard. It is currently a family home. 

 

21.  Store-William Smith-early 1840 Grange Hall Corner Twenty Mile Stream: No longer the Grange Hall, the building has been converted into apartments. 

 

The tour turns on to Twenty Mile Stream (TMS) with various locations either on Twenty Mile Stream or just off of it.

 

22. Marble Quarry Verde Antique Green-Boston Post Office: Located off of Quarry Rd., this quarry has provided the marble for various buildings, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. 

 

23. Stone House built by Zephanish Ordway in 1850s (on left) & 24. Stone House built by David Ordway in __. He had a grist mill and Otis Spaulding had a blacksmith shop on this road. To the left was an old road that came out by the Ludlow Fairgrounds. Interestingly, number 24 was marked as “leave out.”  Located at 1902 Twenty Mile Stream. CHS  “Heritage and Homes.”

 

25. The next place was a Tavern 1811-known as the Haven Place. Then Parker Green built the next house. An old cheese factory was up soon: This would be in the area near the TMS Cemetery. 

 

26. TMS Cemetery—David Ordway Monument.—had funeral sermon preached ten years before he died. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

CHS Briefs February 2023

The February Brief is also available at the Cavendish Historical Society blog. If you have questions, would like to volunteer with CHS, or have items for the CHS Cares Closet please e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com or call 802-226-7807.

 

2023 has started off on a sad note as we report the passing of Dan Churchill, CHS President and Treasurer on January 18^th.

 

REMEMBERING DAN CHURCHILL: Born and raised in Proctorsville, at the age of 14 Dan became a “teenage pharmacist.” He worked for the Pollard’s store, until 1964, coming home on weekends from college to fill and compound prescriptions.  While he would have liked to make pharmacy his career, the family finances were such that he focused on his second love, electricity.

 

He remembered vividly when, as a young child, his house was wired. He found it fascinating and followed the technician from room to room. This ultimately resulted in his working for General Radio for four years while studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which led to his being an engineer at RCA for 25 years. 

 

In 1970, he started Commercial Radio Company to provide specialized expertise companies, universities, and individuals in need of service for radio transmitters and other apparatuses. Purchasing the old Duttonsville School in Cavendish, he refurbished the building to be his home and business. 

 

Upon returning to Cavendish, Dan became very involved in a variety of civic duties, including being a member of the Cavendish Select Board, Planning Commission,  Board of Civil Authorities, as well as the town’s representative on the boards of the Black River Senior Center and the area Agency on Aging. He was one of the founding members of CHS, as well as a member of the Masons. 

 

Among  Dan’s interests was dowsing and spiritual healing. He attended classes at Lily Dale and was a member of the American Society of Dowsers. Dan often did readings for community members as well as around the state. 

 

A man with many talents and interests, one person described Dan as “one of a kind eccentric genius and very kind.”

 

A memorial is being planned for Sunday, June 4, 2 pm at his home/business in Cavendish. The family requests donations  be made to the Cavendish Historical Society, PO Box 472, Cavendish VT 05142.

 

Our condolences to his daughter Centura, his brother Winston and to his nephews, their children and to his many friends.

 

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Cavendish has a strong abolitionist history. The Rev. Skinner, who was responsible for the Cavendish Stone Universalist Church, was a leader as were many others in town. Below are links that you may find interesting. 

• Peter Tumbo/Tumber: Revolutionary War Veteran, Abolitionist & Former Slave: Dying in 1832 at the age of 106 (we doubt the age), Peter Tumbo lived in Cavendish for almost 40 years. We believe the name Tumbo reflects where he came from in W. Africa versus what his actual name was. It’s a fascinating piece of our history, which we are still working on. 

• Safe at Last in Cavendish: Includes information on John Brown, Rev Skinner and the abolitionist movement in town. It’s a story based on an oral history, that ended up leading us to a far more interesting aspect of town history. 

• John Brown in Cavendish 

• A letter regarding John Brown’s stay in Proctorsville

 

INTERESTED IN ARCHIVAL WORK? We’ve been working in our archives since the start of the new year and discovering all sorts of new aspects of town history, some of which will be in the upcoming winter newsletter. If you like detective work, you’ll appreciate time spent sorting through files and new donations. It’s very interesting work and you’ll learn a lot. Interested? Contact us at 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com

 

WHAT’S NEW AT THE CHS BLOG

February Carmine Guica Young Historians Update