The Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) Museum opens on Sunday, May 30. As part of its 1940’s exhibit, CHS is inviting the community to share items from this era. All materials will be returned at the end of the season.
The new exhibit includes items from various people who served during WWII. There is a list of Cavendish residents who served in the war. This list is more extensive than the one that appears on the War Memorial outside of the Museum, as it reflects members of the community who moved here after the war. We are trying to compile as much information as possible about these individuals. If you are visiting the Museum, please don’t hesitate to fill in information you might have. This summer’s exhibit will be expanding with each week, so visit often and share your knowledge. Future generations will benefit.
If you have relevant items you would like to display at the Museum, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Upcoming Events: Gage Walking Tour/Grave Marker Cleaning Day
The Cavendish Historical Society is sponsoring the following events in May:
May 23 (Sunday): To mark the 150th anniversary of Phineas Gage's death, CHS is holding a walking tour of sites relating to his accident. Meet at the Museum, Main Street Cavendish, at 2 pm. The tour will take about two hours and will visit the accident site where Gage had the tamping rod go through his head; and the locations of the home and surgery of Dr. Harlow; the boarding house where Gage was taken and the carpentar's shop, which built the coffin that he ended up not needing. Please read more about Gage in the previous post to this blog. If you would like copies of the walking tour guide, you can pick them up at the Cavendish Town Office or the Cavendish Library. You can obtain an PDF copy by e-mailing margoc@tds.net and writing "directions for Phinease Gage tour" in the subject heading.
May 29 (Saturday): Cemetery Grave Marker Cleaning Day. 9 am at Hillcrest Cemetery in Proctorsville (see article below)
May 30 (Sunday): The Museum opens for the season. The Museum is open from 2-4 pm.
For more information about any of these events, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807.
Grave Marker Cleaning Day in Proctorsville
In keeping with Memorial Day, many people will be going to local cemeteries to lay flowers on graves. There are many gravestones that have no one to remember them and are left to weather the best they can. Many of our oldest markers show signs of aging and disrepair. In an effort to preserve our history, and to honor those who have gone before us, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) will be holding its first annual Cemetery Grave Marker Cleaning Day on May 29 (Saturday) from 9-noon at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Proctorsville.
While CHS will have volunteers on hand to teach the proper way to clean the gravestones, the following simple tips can be followed by anyone interested in cleaning a gravestone.
- Do no harm. Don’t do anything that will remove or damage the original surface of the stone.
- Start from the bottom up and work up, as this avoids streaking.
- Keep the stone very wet.
- Use a soft brush (nylon or natural)-do not use wire brushes. Brush in a random circular motion. Clean with fresh water as you go. Test a small patch at the bottom of the stone to make sure you wont damage the stone.
- For lichen-soak with water and scrape with a wooden or plastic scraper (no metal)
- Lots and lots of water. Hoses are fine, but no power washing.
- NO BLEACH Stones are composed of minerals and salts. Adding bleach or other corrosive solvents may make the stone look white, but will shorten the life of the marker considerably. You can get a lot done with just water. If you want to use a cleaner, use a non-ionic one.
- If you are cleaning a modern stone, check with the company for cleaning instructions.
CHS’s “Monument Cleaning” handout is available at the Cavendish Library, the Cavendish Historical Society Museum in Cavendish, and at the Cavendish Town Office. Copies will be distributed on May 29. While CHS will have sprayers and brushes on site, it’s recommended that you bring a clean brush. For more information, please call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margoc@tds.net
May 23 (Sunday): To mark the 150th anniversary of Phineas Gage's death, CHS is holding a walking tour of sites relating to his accident. Meet at the Museum, Main Street Cavendish, at 2 pm. The tour will take about two hours and will visit the accident site where Gage had the tamping rod go through his head; and the locations of the home and surgery of Dr. Harlow; the boarding house where Gage was taken and the carpentar's shop, which built the coffin that he ended up not needing. Please read more about Gage in the previous post to this blog. If you would like copies of the walking tour guide, you can pick them up at the Cavendish Town Office or the Cavendish Library. You can obtain an PDF copy by e-mailing margoc@tds.net and writing "directions for Phinease Gage tour" in the subject heading.
May 29 (Saturday): Cemetery Grave Marker Cleaning Day. 9 am at Hillcrest Cemetery in Proctorsville (see article below)
May 30 (Sunday): The Museum opens for the season. The Museum is open from 2-4 pm.
For more information about any of these events, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807.
Grave Marker Cleaning Day in Proctorsville
In keeping with Memorial Day, many people will be going to local cemeteries to lay flowers on graves. There are many gravestones that have no one to remember them and are left to weather the best they can. Many of our oldest markers show signs of aging and disrepair. In an effort to preserve our history, and to honor those who have gone before us, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) will be holding its first annual Cemetery Grave Marker Cleaning Day on May 29 (Saturday) from 9-noon at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Proctorsville.
While CHS will have volunteers on hand to teach the proper way to clean the gravestones, the following simple tips can be followed by anyone interested in cleaning a gravestone.
- Do no harm. Don’t do anything that will remove or damage the original surface of the stone.
- Start from the bottom up and work up, as this avoids streaking.
- Keep the stone very wet.
- Use a soft brush (nylon or natural)-do not use wire brushes. Brush in a random circular motion. Clean with fresh water as you go. Test a small patch at the bottom of the stone to make sure you wont damage the stone.
- For lichen-soak with water and scrape with a wooden or plastic scraper (no metal)
- Lots and lots of water. Hoses are fine, but no power washing.
- NO BLEACH Stones are composed of minerals and salts. Adding bleach or other corrosive solvents may make the stone look white, but will shorten the life of the marker considerably. You can get a lot done with just water. If you want to use a cleaner, use a non-ionic one.
- If you are cleaning a modern stone, check with the company for cleaning instructions.
CHS’s “Monument Cleaning” handout is available at the Cavendish Library, the Cavendish Historical Society Museum in Cavendish, and at the Cavendish Town Office. Copies will be distributed on May 29. While CHS will have sprayers and brushes on site, it’s recommended that you bring a clean brush. For more information, please call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margoc@tds.net
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Newsletter: Spring 2010
150th Anniversary of Phineas Gage’s Death
Horrible Accident: As Phineas P. Gage, a foreman on the railroad in Cavendish, was yesterday engaged in tamping -for a blast, the powder exploded, carrying an iron instrument through his head an inch and a fourth in circumference, and three feet and eight inches in length, which he was using at the time. The iron centered on the side of his face, shattering the upper jaw and passing back of the left eye and out at the top of the head.
The most singular circumstance connected with this melancholy affair is that he was alive at two o’clock this afternoon, and in full possession of his reason, and free from pain. Ludlow Vt. Free Soil Union Sept. 14, 1848
On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage, a foreman, was working with his crew excavating rocks in preparing the bed for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Cavendish. An accidental explosion of a charge he had set blew his tamping iron through his head. It entered under the left cheekbone and exited through the top of the head. The rod, covered with brains and blood, was found approximately 30 yards from the site of the accident.
Sitting on the back of an ox cart, Gage was brought back to the boarding house he was staying in on Main Street in Cavendish. Dr. John Harlow treated his wounds, along with Dr. Edward H. Williams. The large wound at the top of his head was closed with adhesive straps and a wet compress covered the opening. No surgery was involved.
Within days of the accident, an infection developed and Gage lapsed into a semi comatose state. Fearing that he was about to die, a local carpenter prepared a coffin for him. Two weeks after the accident, Harlow released 8 fluid ounces of pus from an abscess under Gage’s scalp. By January 1, 1849 (approximately 4 months) Gage was functional.
It is remarkable that Gage survived this accident, let alone lived for almost 12 more years. Fortunately Dr. Harlow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, a professor of surgery at Harvard University, tracked Gage as much possible, thereby documenting one of the first cases of traumatic brain injury in medical science.
It was the first understanding that parts of the brain have different functions and effects on personality. With this knowledge, the first brain tumor removal operation became possible in 1885. After studying what had happened to Gage, the operating physician concluded that lesions or tumors located in the frontal lobes of the brain didn't affect the brain's ability to take in sense information. Nor did they have an impact on physical movements or speech. However, such localized lesions or tumors did produce highly characteristic and unusual personality changes like Gage's. In 1894, that same surgeon removed a tumor from a patient's left frontal lobe. The patient had complained his thinking was becoming increasingly slow and dull. Seeing the similarities between this patient's mental faculties and Gage's, the doctor successfully removed the tumor that lay, just as he expected, in the left frontal lobes of the brain.
According to Gage’s family and friends, his behavior was significantly altered by the accident. In 1868, Harlow wrote in the “Bulletin of the Massachusetts Medical Society” His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinent, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.”
Not able to work as a foreman, Gage held a variety of jobs. He worked in the livery stable at what is now known as the Hanover Inn in New Hampshire. He drove coaches and cared for horses in Valparaiso, Chile. Around 1859, after his health began to fail he went to San Francisco to live with his mother. While there, he worked on a farm in Santa Clara County. In February 1860, he began to have epileptic seizures and ultimately died May 21, 1860.
Rumors circulated that Gage appeared at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. It would take another Cavendish doctor, Dr. Gene Bont, more than 150 years later to find proof that Gage did in fact exhibit himself as a curiosity. Bont found a poster advertising Gage as “The World’s Wonder.” For 12 1•2 Cents, “to be had at the door,” you could see Phineas Gage at Rumford Hall where he will exhibit to them, in his own person, one of the greatest wonders of the world! Nothing less than a man who has had a huge iron bar, which he will exhibit, forced through his head from chin to crown; has had, in fact his brains blown out!”
One of the least talked about people connected with the Gage accident is Dr. Williams. He was an engineer, who went to medical school when ill health kept him from working outside. Since he did not have a busy medical practice, Williams spent considerable time in various forms of engineering. In fact, he knew Gage prior to his accident. He was the first doctor on the scene but would have differed to Dr. Harlow as he was a surgeon. Not long after the incident, Williams returned to engineering full time and started the oldest engineering society in the United States, Tau Beta Pi.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of Gage’s death, The Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) has developed a Phineas Gage Walking Tour, which highlights the approximate area Gage was injured, the homes of Drs. Harlow and Williams, and the locations of the boarding house and the carpenter who had prepared the coffin.
Copies of the tour guide are available at the Cavendish Historical Society Museum, the Cavendish Town Office and the Cavendish Library in Proctorsville. In addition, on May 23 (Sunday), CHS will conduct a walking tour. The tour will begin at the Museum, Main Street Cavendish, at 2 pm. For more information, please call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margoc@tds.net
Hawks Mountain Cannon
There are many stories that have been told over the years about a cannon from the French and Indian War period that was abandoned, buried or lost on Hawks Mountain near the Baltimore Cavendish line. This spring, CHS has been collecting information about the cannon, and has already sponsored one hike to have a better sense if there might be any truth to this local legend. Bruce McEnaney, CHS board member and archivist, started off very skeptical. In fact, at the beginning of the recent hike he said that if the cannon turns up, he will don nothing but a Speedo bathing suit and stroll through Cavendish on January 10. Now that’s a challenge we just couldn’t pass up. If anyone has information about the cannon, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807.
Restoration of Cavendish Cemetery Markers: Volunteers Needed
During the summer months, many people come to Cavendish to research their ancestors. Seeing the grave of a great grandparent can be a very moving experience. It can also provide new information, such as what middle initial might have stood for, or the exact date of a birth. Some people, by walking through a plot, have learned of family members they never knew about.
Grave markers also offer important clues to a town’s history. It is easy to track outbreaks of epidemics, the sentiments of a particular area, who served in what wars and a lot more.
Cavendish has cemeteries with very old grave markers, including the Revolutionary War and before. While our Cemetery Commission does an excellent job with marginal funds, a number of stones are in need of care. In order to restore them, so they can be read by future generations, as well as honor those who went before us, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) is launching a community wide Marker Cleaning Day the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend.
We are working with the Vermont Old Cemetery Association (VOCA) and the Cavendish Cemetery Commission to clean and repair the grave markers in the seven Cavendish cemeteries. The students at the Cavendish Town Elementary School are also going to be involved in helping with this project.
CHS is seeking volunteers who would like to assist in the various aspects of restoration. Volunteers will be taught and equipped to clean markers. In return we will ask them to be responsible for cleaning certain areas and to help train others.
If interested in being part of this project, please contact Margo Caulfield at 802-226-7807 or e-mail margoc@tds.net Your donations can now be used to help with the grave marker project. Just select Cemetery Project on the donation sheet.
Cavendish Historical Society Board
Dan Churchill
Jen Harper
Cheryl Leiner
Gloria Leven
Bruce McEnaney
Mike Pember
Gail Woods
Upcoming Events
Please be advised that events are subject to change, so please call ahead. You can also check the CHS Blog www.cavendishhistoricalsocietynews.blogspot.com for up to date information. The Museum opens for the season on Sunday, May 30 from 2-4 pm. Other times by appointment.
May 23 (Sunday): Phineas Gage Walking Tour. Meet at the Museum on Main Street at 2 pm.
May 29 (Saturday): Grave Marker Cleaning Day, 9-12, Hillcrest Cemetery in Proctorsville
May 30 (Sunday): Museum opens for the season. 2-4 pm, Main Street Cavendish.
July 3 (Saturday): Old Home Day . Quilt Show at the Stone Church
July 4 (Sunday): Quilt Show continues at the Stone Church
August 22 (Sunday): Duttonsville Reunion BBQ: We need volunteers to help organize this event. If you are interested, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807
September: Walking Tour of Proctorsville
October 10: Annual Cemetery Tour
October 17: Annual Meeting and Polish Heritage Dinner
November 27: Holiday Fair
Cavendish Quilt Show
As part of Old Home Day weekend, July 3-4, CHS is hosting a “Cavendish Quilt Show” as the annual art show in the Stone Church. CHS is seeking quilts, of any era, that have been made and/or used in Cavendish. We welcome all types and styles of quilts. The show will be mounted on July 2 and does not require the owner/quilter be present during the show. We do want a brief description of the quilt, who made it and other relevant information. If you have a quilt(s) you would like to display, please contact margoc@tds.net or call 226-7807.
Cavendish Business Directory
In the 1869 Beers Atlas, there were 53 businesses listed in the “Town of Cavendish Business Directory,” which included Proctorsville. In the April 2010 edition, compiled by CHS, there are 127 businesses. In both, home-based business, or self-employed, was the norm. However, in 1869, there were 21 farms versus the two listed in the most recent edition. Jobs such as tanners, carriage maker, blacksmith, wheelwright do not appear on our current list. The woolen industry, with four related businesses, is still present today in the form of Six Loose Ladies, fiber shop in Ludlow and several fiber artists. Interestingly, no artists appeared in the 1869 version, but Cavendish boosts a growing number of them.
Copies of the 2010 Cavendish Business Directory are available at the Town Office, Cavendish Library, CHS and by e-mailing margoc@tds.net for a PDF version.
Horrible Accident: As Phineas P. Gage, a foreman on the railroad in Cavendish, was yesterday engaged in tamping -for a blast, the powder exploded, carrying an iron instrument through his head an inch and a fourth in circumference, and three feet and eight inches in length, which he was using at the time. The iron centered on the side of his face, shattering the upper jaw and passing back of the left eye and out at the top of the head.
The most singular circumstance connected with this melancholy affair is that he was alive at two o’clock this afternoon, and in full possession of his reason, and free from pain. Ludlow Vt. Free Soil Union Sept. 14, 1848
On September 13, 1848 Phineas Gage, a foreman, was working with his crew excavating rocks in preparing the bed for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Cavendish. An accidental explosion of a charge he had set blew his tamping iron through his head. It entered under the left cheekbone and exited through the top of the head. The rod, covered with brains and blood, was found approximately 30 yards from the site of the accident.
Sitting on the back of an ox cart, Gage was brought back to the boarding house he was staying in on Main Street in Cavendish. Dr. John Harlow treated his wounds, along with Dr. Edward H. Williams. The large wound at the top of his head was closed with adhesive straps and a wet compress covered the opening. No surgery was involved.
Within days of the accident, an infection developed and Gage lapsed into a semi comatose state. Fearing that he was about to die, a local carpenter prepared a coffin for him. Two weeks after the accident, Harlow released 8 fluid ounces of pus from an abscess under Gage’s scalp. By January 1, 1849 (approximately 4 months) Gage was functional.
It is remarkable that Gage survived this accident, let alone lived for almost 12 more years. Fortunately Dr. Harlow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, a professor of surgery at Harvard University, tracked Gage as much possible, thereby documenting one of the first cases of traumatic brain injury in medical science.
It was the first understanding that parts of the brain have different functions and effects on personality. With this knowledge, the first brain tumor removal operation became possible in 1885. After studying what had happened to Gage, the operating physician concluded that lesions or tumors located in the frontal lobes of the brain didn't affect the brain's ability to take in sense information. Nor did they have an impact on physical movements or speech. However, such localized lesions or tumors did produce highly characteristic and unusual personality changes like Gage's. In 1894, that same surgeon removed a tumor from a patient's left frontal lobe. The patient had complained his thinking was becoming increasingly slow and dull. Seeing the similarities between this patient's mental faculties and Gage's, the doctor successfully removed the tumor that lay, just as he expected, in the left frontal lobes of the brain.
According to Gage’s family and friends, his behavior was significantly altered by the accident. In 1868, Harlow wrote in the “Bulletin of the Massachusetts Medical Society” His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinent, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.”
Not able to work as a foreman, Gage held a variety of jobs. He worked in the livery stable at what is now known as the Hanover Inn in New Hampshire. He drove coaches and cared for horses in Valparaiso, Chile. Around 1859, after his health began to fail he went to San Francisco to live with his mother. While there, he worked on a farm in Santa Clara County. In February 1860, he began to have epileptic seizures and ultimately died May 21, 1860.
Rumors circulated that Gage appeared at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. It would take another Cavendish doctor, Dr. Gene Bont, more than 150 years later to find proof that Gage did in fact exhibit himself as a curiosity. Bont found a poster advertising Gage as “The World’s Wonder.” For 12 1•2 Cents, “to be had at the door,” you could see Phineas Gage at Rumford Hall where he will exhibit to them, in his own person, one of the greatest wonders of the world! Nothing less than a man who has had a huge iron bar, which he will exhibit, forced through his head from chin to crown; has had, in fact his brains blown out!”
One of the least talked about people connected with the Gage accident is Dr. Williams. He was an engineer, who went to medical school when ill health kept him from working outside. Since he did not have a busy medical practice, Williams spent considerable time in various forms of engineering. In fact, he knew Gage prior to his accident. He was the first doctor on the scene but would have differed to Dr. Harlow as he was a surgeon. Not long after the incident, Williams returned to engineering full time and started the oldest engineering society in the United States, Tau Beta Pi.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of Gage’s death, The Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) has developed a Phineas Gage Walking Tour, which highlights the approximate area Gage was injured, the homes of Drs. Harlow and Williams, and the locations of the boarding house and the carpenter who had prepared the coffin.
Copies of the tour guide are available at the Cavendish Historical Society Museum, the Cavendish Town Office and the Cavendish Library in Proctorsville. In addition, on May 23 (Sunday), CHS will conduct a walking tour. The tour will begin at the Museum, Main Street Cavendish, at 2 pm. For more information, please call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margoc@tds.net
Hawks Mountain Cannon
There are many stories that have been told over the years about a cannon from the French and Indian War period that was abandoned, buried or lost on Hawks Mountain near the Baltimore Cavendish line. This spring, CHS has been collecting information about the cannon, and has already sponsored one hike to have a better sense if there might be any truth to this local legend. Bruce McEnaney, CHS board member and archivist, started off very skeptical. In fact, at the beginning of the recent hike he said that if the cannon turns up, he will don nothing but a Speedo bathing suit and stroll through Cavendish on January 10. Now that’s a challenge we just couldn’t pass up. If anyone has information about the cannon, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807.
Restoration of Cavendish Cemetery Markers: Volunteers Needed
During the summer months, many people come to Cavendish to research their ancestors. Seeing the grave of a great grandparent can be a very moving experience. It can also provide new information, such as what middle initial might have stood for, or the exact date of a birth. Some people, by walking through a plot, have learned of family members they never knew about.
Grave markers also offer important clues to a town’s history. It is easy to track outbreaks of epidemics, the sentiments of a particular area, who served in what wars and a lot more.
Cavendish has cemeteries with very old grave markers, including the Revolutionary War and before. While our Cemetery Commission does an excellent job with marginal funds, a number of stones are in need of care. In order to restore them, so they can be read by future generations, as well as honor those who went before us, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) is launching a community wide Marker Cleaning Day the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend.
We are working with the Vermont Old Cemetery Association (VOCA) and the Cavendish Cemetery Commission to clean and repair the grave markers in the seven Cavendish cemeteries. The students at the Cavendish Town Elementary School are also going to be involved in helping with this project.
CHS is seeking volunteers who would like to assist in the various aspects of restoration. Volunteers will be taught and equipped to clean markers. In return we will ask them to be responsible for cleaning certain areas and to help train others.
If interested in being part of this project, please contact Margo Caulfield at 802-226-7807 or e-mail margoc@tds.net Your donations can now be used to help with the grave marker project. Just select Cemetery Project on the donation sheet.
Cavendish Historical Society Board
Dan Churchill
Jen Harper
Cheryl Leiner
Gloria Leven
Bruce McEnaney
Mike Pember
Gail Woods
Upcoming Events
Please be advised that events are subject to change, so please call ahead. You can also check the CHS Blog www.cavendishhistoricalsocietynews.blogspot.com for up to date information. The Museum opens for the season on Sunday, May 30 from 2-4 pm. Other times by appointment.
May 23 (Sunday): Phineas Gage Walking Tour. Meet at the Museum on Main Street at 2 pm.
May 29 (Saturday): Grave Marker Cleaning Day, 9-12, Hillcrest Cemetery in Proctorsville
May 30 (Sunday): Museum opens for the season. 2-4 pm, Main Street Cavendish.
July 3 (Saturday): Old Home Day . Quilt Show at the Stone Church
July 4 (Sunday): Quilt Show continues at the Stone Church
August 22 (Sunday): Duttonsville Reunion BBQ: We need volunteers to help organize this event. If you are interested, please e-mail margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807
September: Walking Tour of Proctorsville
October 10: Annual Cemetery Tour
October 17: Annual Meeting and Polish Heritage Dinner
November 27: Holiday Fair
Cavendish Quilt Show
As part of Old Home Day weekend, July 3-4, CHS is hosting a “Cavendish Quilt Show” as the annual art show in the Stone Church. CHS is seeking quilts, of any era, that have been made and/or used in Cavendish. We welcome all types and styles of quilts. The show will be mounted on July 2 and does not require the owner/quilter be present during the show. We do want a brief description of the quilt, who made it and other relevant information. If you have a quilt(s) you would like to display, please contact margoc@tds.net or call 226-7807.
Cavendish Business Directory
In the 1869 Beers Atlas, there were 53 businesses listed in the “Town of Cavendish Business Directory,” which included Proctorsville. In the April 2010 edition, compiled by CHS, there are 127 businesses. In both, home-based business, or self-employed, was the norm. However, in 1869, there were 21 farms versus the two listed in the most recent edition. Jobs such as tanners, carriage maker, blacksmith, wheelwright do not appear on our current list. The woolen industry, with four related businesses, is still present today in the form of Six Loose Ladies, fiber shop in Ludlow and several fiber artists. Interestingly, no artists appeared in the 1869 version, but Cavendish boosts a growing number of them.
Copies of the 2010 Cavendish Business Directory are available at the Town Office, Cavendish Library, CHS and by e-mailing margoc@tds.net for a PDF version.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Young Historians: Easter and 1939
During the 1930’s, children dyed eggs. Many kids in Cavendish would have used homemade dyes. Eggs would be placed in a pot with red onionskins and boiled. They would also use red cabbage leaves, spinach leaves, as well as strong brewed coffee. There were egg dye kits, similar to the PAAS dyes of today, some featured Mickey Mouse.
Because jellybeans looked like bird eggs, they were added to Easter baskets in the 1930s. We will be making paper baskets for your jellybeans. If you want the directions for the basket, go to http://www.giddygreetings.com/2010/02/easy-paper-basket.html
Our History Timeline is now up to 1939. On Easter Sunday of that year, the African American singer Marian Anderson wasn’t allowed to sing at Constitution Hall. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) owned the Hall. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, quit the DAR in protest. She supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in an Easter Sunday concert at the Lincoln Memorial. You can see a video of her singing “My Country Tis of Thee” that day. The concert was attended by 75,000 people and was listened to by millions via the radio.
Other events in 1939 included:
• The movie of the year was “The Wizard of Oz.” Also very popular that year were “Gone with the Wind” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
• Popular songs included: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow;” “Tuxedo Junction,” Three Little Fishes and “I Got Rhythm.”
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck is published. This book tells the story of an “Oakie” family who leaves the “dust bowl” and heads to California.
• German troops are marching in to European countries, including Poland. London, England prepares for war. London children are sent to the country.
• The New York World’s Fair begins and includes the first exhibition of television
• The first regular transatlantic passenger air service begins when PanAm flies 22 passengers from New York to Portugal.
• “Yearling” by Marjorie Rawlins wins the Pulitzer Prize.
• Nylon stockings are sold for the first time in the United States.
• The World Series is won by the New York Yankees. Lou Gehrig makes his famous speech, letting his fans know that he is sick. As a result, the disease ALS is more commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
• In October, President Roosevelt closes all US ports to submarines.
• The NFL championship is won by the Green Bay Packers.
Because jellybeans looked like bird eggs, they were added to Easter baskets in the 1930s. We will be making paper baskets for your jellybeans. If you want the directions for the basket, go to http://www.giddygreetings.com/2010/02/easy-paper-basket.html
Our History Timeline is now up to 1939. On Easter Sunday of that year, the African American singer Marian Anderson wasn’t allowed to sing at Constitution Hall. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) owned the Hall. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, quit the DAR in protest. She supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in an Easter Sunday concert at the Lincoln Memorial. You can see a video of her singing “My Country Tis of Thee” that day. The concert was attended by 75,000 people and was listened to by millions via the radio.
Other events in 1939 included:
• The movie of the year was “The Wizard of Oz.” Also very popular that year were “Gone with the Wind” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
• Popular songs included: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow;” “Tuxedo Junction,” Three Little Fishes and “I Got Rhythm.”
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck is published. This book tells the story of an “Oakie” family who leaves the “dust bowl” and heads to California.
• German troops are marching in to European countries, including Poland. London, England prepares for war. London children are sent to the country.
• The New York World’s Fair begins and includes the first exhibition of television
• The first regular transatlantic passenger air service begins when PanAm flies 22 passengers from New York to Portugal.
• “Yearling” by Marjorie Rawlins wins the Pulitzer Prize.
• Nylon stockings are sold for the first time in the United States.
• The World Series is won by the New York Yankees. Lou Gehrig makes his famous speech, letting his fans know that he is sick. As a result, the disease ALS is more commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
• In October, President Roosevelt closes all US ports to submarines.
• The NFL championship is won by the Green Bay Packers.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Young Historians: Street/Outside Games 1930s
Spring is here! We want to celebrate with games that children of the 1930s played outside. They had names like “Mother May I;” SPUD or HALT; “Red Light, Green Light;” “Swinging Statues and “Run Sheepie Run.” Gloria Leven will talk about the
games from her childhood.
Not long ago, Gloria told us she was seven years old when the 1930’s started. Our history time line is now up to 1938. Gloria would have been 15. These are some of the things that happened that year:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the most popular film that year.
• Edward R. Murrow gave his first CBS radio “News Roundup.”
• Blood tests were required before you could get married.
• Benny Goodman and The Andrew Sisters were very popular on the radio. Songs included: Stompin’ at the Savoy; I Got Rhythm and Flat Foot Floggie with the FloyFloy.
• The House Committee on Un-American Activities established. Its task was to investigate Socialists, Communists, and other individuals deemed un-American.
• The Pulitzer Prize went to Thornton Wilder for “Our Town.”
• The President raises minimum wage from .25¢ to .40¢
• The first Action Comic book appears with Superman on the cover.
• Howard Hughes flies around world in 3 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes and 10 seconds.
• Popular books that year included: The Yearling; Rebecca and Dale Carnegie’s How to
Win Friends and Influence Enemies.
• Hellzapoppin opens on Broadway and is the biggest hit of the 1930’s.
• The New York Yankees win the World Series.
• The radio program “War of the Worlds” is aired causing people to panic, as they believe aliens from another planet have landed in New Jersey.
• Irving Berlin releases “God Bless America,” which is sung by Kate Smith
• Kristallancht (Night of the Broken Glass) takes place in Germany and Austria. America comes out against these activities.
• American Pearl S. Buck wins the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature for her books on China.
games from her childhood.
Not long ago, Gloria told us she was seven years old when the 1930’s started. Our history time line is now up to 1938. Gloria would have been 15. These are some of the things that happened that year:
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the most popular film that year.
• Edward R. Murrow gave his first CBS radio “News Roundup.”
• Blood tests were required before you could get married.
• Benny Goodman and The Andrew Sisters were very popular on the radio. Songs included: Stompin’ at the Savoy; I Got Rhythm and Flat Foot Floggie with the FloyFloy.
• The House Committee on Un-American Activities established. Its task was to investigate Socialists, Communists, and other individuals deemed un-American.
• The Pulitzer Prize went to Thornton Wilder for “Our Town.”
• The President raises minimum wage from .25¢ to .40¢
• The first Action Comic book appears with Superman on the cover.
• Howard Hughes flies around world in 3 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes and 10 seconds.
• Popular books that year included: The Yearling; Rebecca and Dale Carnegie’s How to
Win Friends and Influence Enemies.
• Hellzapoppin opens on Broadway and is the biggest hit of the 1930’s.
• The New York Yankees win the World Series.
• The radio program “War of the Worlds” is aired causing people to panic, as they believe aliens from another planet have landed in New Jersey.
• Irving Berlin releases “God Bless America,” which is sung by Kate Smith
• Kristallancht (Night of the Broken Glass) takes place in Germany and Austria. America comes out against these activities.
• American Pearl S. Buck wins the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature for her books on China.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Young Historians: The Irish in Cavendish
Happy St. Patrick's Day
The Young Historians will be learning about the Irish in Cavendish, who started coming in the 1840s as a result of the "potato famine." A second wave in the 1860s was due to the work available in the mills. The Irish were considered the lowest of the low, and were given only menial jobs. It was the Irish men who built the Vermont railroads and it was the Irish women who worked in the mills and on the farms.
The Irish in Cavendish established the Catholic Church in Proctorsville. Prior to the church, a traveling priest would say mass in their homes.
To celebrate the Irish in Cavendish, the Young Historians will taste Irish Soda Bread. The recipe was given as follows:
BRENDA' S MOTHER'S COUNTY CORK AND HENCE TRULY IRISH SODA BREAD
Must do 2 pans worth--in other words, half the recipe in each pan
4 Cups any decent white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 Cup sugar
Blend the above. Then cut in till small lumps are created the following:
1 and 1/2 sticks butter
Then add 1 cup currants plus 1 and1/2 Cups buttermilk (or milk soured with 2 Tbsp vinegar)
Plus 1/4 cup caraway seeds
MIX THE ABOVE AND DIVIDE IN HALF. HENCE 2 PANS
Brush tops with mix of 1 egg yolk plus 2 Tblsp water
SPRINKLE WHITE SUGAR ON TOP BAKE @ 350 FOR 55-60 MINUTES
The Young Historians will participate in an "America Wake." When people were leaving Ireland for America, people realized they might never see them again and so they "waked" them much as they would as if they had died. Games, food, drink and stories were shared right up until it was time for the person(s) to depart. The students will be playing Jack's Alive and other "Wake" games.
The Young Historians will be learning about the Irish in Cavendish, who started coming in the 1840s as a result of the "potato famine." A second wave in the 1860s was due to the work available in the mills. The Irish were considered the lowest of the low, and were given only menial jobs. It was the Irish men who built the Vermont railroads and it was the Irish women who worked in the mills and on the farms.
The Irish in Cavendish established the Catholic Church in Proctorsville. Prior to the church, a traveling priest would say mass in their homes.
To celebrate the Irish in Cavendish, the Young Historians will taste Irish Soda Bread. The recipe was given as follows:
BRENDA' S MOTHER'S COUNTY CORK AND HENCE TRULY IRISH SODA BREAD
Must do 2 pans worth--in other words, half the recipe in each pan
4 Cups any decent white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 Cup sugar
Blend the above. Then cut in till small lumps are created the following:
1 and 1/2 sticks butter
Then add 1 cup currants plus 1 and1/2 Cups buttermilk (or milk soured with 2 Tbsp vinegar)
Plus 1/4 cup caraway seeds
MIX THE ABOVE AND DIVIDE IN HALF. HENCE 2 PANS
Brush tops with mix of 1 egg yolk plus 2 Tblsp water
SPRINKLE WHITE SUGAR ON TOP BAKE @ 350 FOR 55-60 MINUTES
The Young Historians will participate in an "America Wake." When people were leaving Ireland for America, people realized they might never see them again and so they "waked" them much as they would as if they had died. Games, food, drink and stories were shared right up until it was time for the person(s) to depart. The students will be playing Jack's Alive and other "Wake" games.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Young Historians: Town Meeting
In the 1930’s Vermont held Town Meeting Day the first Tuesday in March. Everyone had off from work and the schools were closed. Voters met all day to talk about town and school issues and to vote. Today, Cavendish Town Meeting is the first Monday evening of March. A “Warning” is sent to all voters at least two weeks before the meeting. This way they know what issues they will be voting on.
In keeping with this tradition, the Young Historians will meet on March 10 to have their own town meeting. Below is the Warning for this meeting.
Warning: Young Historian’s Town Meeting
March 10, 2010
The legal voters of the Cavendish Young Historians, of the Town of Cavendish, in the County of Windsor, are hereby notified and warned to meet at the Cavendish Town Elementary School in Proctorsville, Vermont at 11:35 am on Wednesday morning, the 10th of March 2010 to transact the following business.
Article 1. To see if the voters will approve the addition of orange juice and strawberry flavored milk at lunch time.
Article 2. To see if the voters will approve the carrying and using of cell phones during school hours.
Article 3. To see if the voters will adopt a policy of a 15 minute recess period once a day before lunch.
Article 4. To see if the voters will adopt a policy allowing hats to be warn in the 5 (fifth) and 6 (sixth) grade classrooms.
Article 5. To transact any other business legal and proper when met.
In keeping with this tradition, the Young Historians will meet on March 10 to have their own town meeting. Below is the Warning for this meeting.
Warning: Young Historian’s Town Meeting
March 10, 2010
The legal voters of the Cavendish Young Historians, of the Town of Cavendish, in the County of Windsor, are hereby notified and warned to meet at the Cavendish Town Elementary School in Proctorsville, Vermont at 11:35 am on Wednesday morning, the 10th of March 2010 to transact the following business.
Article 1. To see if the voters will approve the addition of orange juice and strawberry flavored milk at lunch time.
Article 2. To see if the voters will approve the carrying and using of cell phones during school hours.
Article 3. To see if the voters will adopt a policy of a 15 minute recess period once a day before lunch.
Article 4. To see if the voters will adopt a policy allowing hats to be warn in the 5 (fifth) and 6 (sixth) grade classrooms.
Article 5. To transact any other business legal and proper when met.
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