CAVENDISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING

Due to a snowstorm, the Cavendish Historical Society Annual Meeting, originally scheduled for Feb. 24, was cancelled and has been rescheduled for April 14 (Sunday), 5pm at Gethsemane Episcopal Church Parish Hall, off of Depot Street in Proctorsville. There will be a potluck supper, short meeting, and the film “The Homecoming” will be shown.  Documenting the two-month train journey across Russia, under taken by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn upon his return home, Solzhenitsyn lived in exile for 20 years, including 18 years in Cavendish, VT. Solzhenitsyn, the man who experienced and revealed to the world the full horror of the Soviet gulag, is recognized throughout Russia as 'the conscience of the nation'. But despite the triumphant and emotional homecoming, this is no easy ride for Solzhenitsyn, his wife and American sons. Instead, they abandon their refuge in America to find their trans-Siberian trip from Vladivostok to Moscow dogged by the KGB, the Russian Mafia, old-style communist bosses, the tragic plight of ordinary Russians and the echoes of its even more terrible past.

Solzhenitsyn Exhibit

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, soviet dissident and Nobel Laureate for literature lived in Cavendish from 1976 to 1994. During this time, he wrote the “Red Wheel.” Because of the interest in his time in the United States, in 2012, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) began working with Solzhenitsyn’s family on a three-fold project:

• Maintain a permanent exhibit, whose primarily focus is the 18 years Solzhenitsyn lived in Cavendish VT.

• Obtain oral histories, archives and documentation pertaining to his life in Cavendish

• Outreach to community, including schools and organizations, in order to promote an understanding of Solzhenitsyn’s work and the role life in Cavendish played in it.

The future home of the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit is the Cavendish Universalist “Stone” Church.

Under the leadership of Rev. Warren Skinner, a well-known abolitionist, the building was completed and dedicated in 1844. The construction was snicked ashlar. This technique refers to walls constructed with exterior and interior surfaces composed of mortared stone slabs arranged vertically on edge, tied together with smaller horizontal slabs called "snecks." The space between the wall surfaces was filled with rubblestone. Oral tradition indicates that Scottish stonemasons working in Canada were responsible for introducing the technique into Vermont. Buildings of this type date from 1832 to 1860. The stones used for the church came from local quarries.

While much of the interior of the church remains as built, it was equipped with power sometime after 1908. “New” wood burning stoves were added in the early 1900’s but it appears that the Church was primarily used in the summer months starting in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Decommissioned as a church in 1960, it was leased to the Cavendish Historical Society in the 1970’s and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

On March 4, 2013, the citizens of the Town of Cavendish voted to accept the deed of the Church from the Vermont Quebec Universalist Unitarian Convention, which will be given to the town on May 11, 2013. 

CHS is working with the Preservation Trust of Vermont on the restoration of the building. 

Those wishing to help support this Solzhenitsyn Exhibit can do so by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Cavendish Historical Society and send to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. CHS is a 501 © 3 non-profit.

For more information about CHS, the Solzhenitsyn Exhibit or ways to become involved please call 802-226-7807, e-mail margoc@tds.net or mail PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142.

Please check back for updates on the restoration of the church and the Solzhenitsyn Exhibit. 

Thank you Cavendish Voters

The voters at Cavendish Town Meeting on March 4, overwhelming voted in favor of accepting the gift of the historic Universalist Stone Church from the Universalist Unitarian Convention of Vermont and Quebec. The building will have a multi purpose use-the home of the permanent Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit and a small venue for plays, concerts, lectures etc.

Solzhenitsyn Videos Available On-Line

 Updated July 25, 2017

The following videos are in English or have English subtitles.

Videos about Solzhenitsyn

Farewell to Cavendish (58.50 minutes): Includes his address to Cavendish Town Meeting March 1994. 

Great Souls: Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn (56.44 Minutes) 

Great Writers (48.41 minutes): Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Presents the story of the writer’s life, as well as examines the social and political events that influenced their works. This program includes insightful commentary as well as archival documents and rare interviews. 

One Word of Truth (27.15 minutes) Nobel Prize acceptance speech  

Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature (8:07 minutes): Although awarded in 1970, Solzhenitsyn could not claim it in person until 1974 

The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (19 part series in 10 minute lengths): Alexandre Sokourov  interviews Alexandre Solzhenitsyn 

 The Freedom of Evil in America 

Trilogy by Sergei Miroshnichenko Russian with English subtitles

Trilogy I: Live Not by Lies (56.09 Minutes) 2001 

 Trilogy II: On the Final Stretch (45.25 Minutes)

 Trilogy III: The Word (57.44 minutes): 2009 Includes scenes from Solzhenitsyn’s funeral and his widow’s reflections. 

Videos/Films of Sozhenitsyn’s Books

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963 47.17 minutes) Bob Hope Presents Chrysler Theater

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1970 1:39:20 Minutes) 

In the First Circle (2007) Screenplay written by Solzhenitsyn. Last major work before his death, this is an eight part series. 

Other

“Solzhenitsyn Reader” Book Launch 2006 (53.21 minutes) 

Ignat Solzhenitsyn’s Lecture on "The Red Wheel: and Life in Cavendish

One Minute Per Day: Solzhenitsyn's Television program in Russia

Cavendish Universalist “Stone” Church

At Town Meeting on March 4, voters will decide on the following article To see if the voters will accept the gift of the historic Universalist Stone Church property located at 2295 Main Street, Cavendish, Vermont 05142 from the Universalist Unitarian Convention of Vermont and Quebec. This building would be owned by the Town of Cavendish and leased to the Cavendish Historical Society for use as museum and exhibit space.

Background

Built in 1844, the Cavendish Stone Church is a recognized landmark and appears on both the state and national historic registries. The church was decommissioned in the 1960’s and was leased to the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) in the 1970’s. While work has been done to maintain the building, it is in need of repairs. Without grant funding, it will be difficult to make these repairs, and without the town owning the building, grant funds will not be forthcoming. 

The Universalist Unitarian Convention of Vermont and Quebec has agreed to deed the building to the town of Cavendish on May 11, 2013

The town does not tax the building, and this will not change when the deed is transferred to the town.

Intended Purpose

• CHS plans to use the building to house the permanent Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit as well as turn it into a small venue space suitable for concerts, lectures, theater etc.

• Occupancy would be limited to 49 people, as there is only one way in and out.

Implementation Process

• A committee has been formed to oversee the restoration and use of this building. The members of this committee include: Margo Caulfield, Dan Churchill, April Hensil, Mike Pember, Rich Svec and Rolf Van Schaik.

• A Master Facilities Plan will be developed and updated yearly.

Initial Recommendations by Preservation Trust of Vermont

• On February 26, a field representative of the Trust site visited the building and met with the Restoration Committee. The building is in “remarkable” shape and can continue to be used while repairs are made.

• The major work on the exterior of the building will be the cupola. As it appears this is the original paint and wallpaper, this should be maintained as much as possible. Insulation and heating it during the winter months is not recommended. Instead, it should function as other buildings of this nature in the state, from Memorial Day to Columbus Day.

• The Trust will work the town’s committee to help: identify funds, write the Master Facilities Plan and select qualified restorers to work on the building.  

Other than paying for insurance, there is no cost to the taxpayer for this project.

Solzhenitsyn's Addresses Cavendish Town Meeting 2/28/1977

Thirty six years ago, on February 28, 1977, Alexksandr Solzhenitsyn addressed his neighbors at the Cavendish Town Meeting.

Monday, February 28, 1977

                                                                                                                       

Citizens of Cavendish!  Dear neighbors!

I have come here today to say hello to you and to greet you.

I will be turning sixty soon; yet in all my life I have never had any definite permanent place to live, much less my own home.  Not knowing the conditions of Soviet life, you can barely imagine that people in the Soviet Union are not allowed to live where they choose.  I did not have the opportunity to live in those places where my work dictated that I should be; at times, I was not even permitted to live with my own family.  Finally, the Soviet authorities would no longer tolerate me at all, and deported me from the USSR.

God determined that every man should live among his own people, in the land of his birth.  As a mature tree takes poorly to replanting, sickens, and sometimes dies in its new place, so too a man cannot always bear exile, and literally falls ill.  I would like to hope that none of you will ever have to experience this bitter fate of forced exile.  Nothing seems the same in a foreign land; nothing seems yours.  You feel a constant anguish in those conditions under which everyone else lives normally — and you are seen as a stranger.

It so happened that among you, in Cavendish, Vermont, I was able to find my first home and my first permanent residence.  I am no fan of big cities with their bustling way of life; but I like very much your simple way of life, similar to that of our Russian peasants, except that they, of course, live much poorer than you.  I like the landscape that surrounds you, and I like very much your climate, with its long snowy winters which remind me of Russia.

I like it here, but I hope that my presence will not turn out to be unpleasant for you.  I have read in the papers that some of you feel unhappy, or even insulted, that I have put up a fence around my property.  I would like to explain this now.  My life consists of work, and this work demands that it not be interrupted.  An interruption of one's work is enough to ruin it.  I have come here from Switzerland, where I first lived after being expelled from the Soviet Union.  There, I lived in an easily accessible place.  And thus, hundreds of strangers from around the world kept coming to see me, never asking for my agreement or for an invitation, but deciding that their wish to see me and talk to me was reason enough to come.  Furthermore, I have often been visited by reporters — also uninvited — who believe that my life is part of the public domain, and that they have the right and obligation to relate every petty detail of my life in the press, or to keep pressing me for new photographs.  Over and above all that, I am sometimes visited by Soviet agents — in other words, ill-meaning individuals sent by the hostile Soviet authorities.  They have already managed to come here; they have sent letters through the mail and even left notes at the gate, threatening to kill me or my family.  I understand, of course, that my fence is not a protection from Soviet agents (such a fence would do little against them); but as for the reporters and the idle types — from them, this fence protects well, and gives me the quiet necessary for my work.  Some of these people have already disturbed my neighbors, and you can judge for yourselves what it is like to meet with anyone who chances to come.  I would like to bring my apologies to those of my neighbors who have been annoyed and disturbed by these unbidden guests.  I would like to apologize even more to the snowmobilers and hunters across whose usual paths the fence now stands.  I think that you will understand, now, that this is an essential condition for my work, and hence for my life.  I could not have done otherwise.

Taking the opportunity of our meeting today, I would like to add a couple of words — to ask you not to misconstrue, not to succumb to the misinterpretation of the word "Russian," as it is used in the press.  Two words are being confused here: "Russian" and "Soviet."  You are told that Russian tanks entered Prague, and that Russian missiles are aimed threateningly at the United States.  I would ask you to keep in mind that, in fact, Soviet tanks entered Prague, and Soviet missiles threaten the United States.  "Russian" is to "Soviet" as "man" is to "disease."  We do not call someone afflicted with cancer—"Cancer," or someone with the plague—"Plague," for we understand that their disease, their severe trial, is not their fault.  The Communist system is a disease, a plague that has been spreading across the earth for many years already, and it is impossible to predict what peoples will yet be forced to experience this disease firsthand.  My people, the Russians, have been suffering from it for sixty years already; they long to be healed.  And the day will come when they are indeed healed of this Soviet disease.  On that day I will thank you for being good friends and neighbors, and will go back to my homeland.

[trans. by Stephan Solzhenitsyn]

Annual Meeting Cancelled for 2/24/13

Given the winter weather advisory for this afternoon and evening, the Cavendish Historical Society is postponing their annual meeting until April.