Addison

CHIMNEY POINT
ROUTES 17 & 125 AT CHAMPLAIN BRIDGE
This strategic point on Lake Champlain was occupied by Native Americans for thousands of years. In 1690 Jacobus deWarm build a small stone fort here. The French build a wooden stockade in 1731, erecting Fort St. Frederic across the lake in 1734. After the 1759 French retreat to Canada, the houses were burned, leaving only the chimneys and the name—Chimney Point. The British built a military road in 1759 to connect Fort No. 4 (Charlestown, NH) to their new fort at Crown Point, NY; the road ended two miles to the south. They also built earthworks at Chimney Point, as did American Revolutionary forces in 1776. The tavern, built in the 1780s, was visited in 1791 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In the early 1900s it was a summer resort.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2003
[For more information, visit www.HistoricVermont.org/ChimneyPoint]

DAR JOHN STRONG MANSION
ROUTE 17 AT THE JOHN STRONG MANSION
General John Strong was a Revolutionary War patriot and a prominent early citizen of Addison County. He served as a judge, state legislator and represented Addison at the State Convention, which adopted the Constitution of the United States and approved admission of Vermont to the Union as the 14th State. Five generations of the Strong family lived in this stately Federal-style home built ca. 1796. The Vermont State Society Daughters of the American Revolution now maintains the home as a museum to help preserve and tell the story of life on the Vermont frontier.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation – 2006

Arlington

DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER
(1879-1958)
ARLINGTON VILLAGE ON ROUTE 7A, IN FRONT OF THE CANFIELD LIBRARY
Known for her depiction of rural life in Vermont, Fisher was a popular novelist and proponent of education. She introduced the Montessori teaching method to American readers and helped found the Adult Education Association in the U.S. Born in Lawrence, Kansas, she received a Ph.D. from Columbia University and lived most of her life in Arlington at the Canfield family home. After publication of The Brimming Cup in 1921, Fisher became one of the nation’s most popular novelists. She served as the first woman appointed to the Vermont Board of Education and on the selection committee for the Book-of-the-Month Club (1926-1951). In her activities, she supported life-long learning, equal education and job training for women, and racial equality.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2002

GOVERNOR CHITTENDEN’S HOME
U.S. ROUTE 7, EAST ARLINGTON ROAD
Oldest frame building one block east, built by Jehiel Hawley, 1764, was home of Thomas Chittenden, Vermont’s first Governor. Legend says the western vista, with its great pine, became the State Seal in 1779. Ethan and Ira Allen lived nearby.

STATE SEAL PINE TREE
NORTH OF ROUTE 313 & WEST OF 7
This ancient tree was already a monarch of the forest in 1778. Visable then from the Arlington home of Thomas Chittenden, first Governor of Vermont, it is believed to have inspired Ira Allen in designing Vermont’s Great Seal. Note the similarity between the tree and its stylized portrayal in Seal atop this marker.

Barnard

DOROTHY THOMPSON MEMORIAL COMMON
ROUTE 12, SOUTH OF THE GENERAL STORE
The Dorothy Thompson Memorial Common was established in 2001 by the
Barnard Silver Lake Association, a non-profit organization, in memory of
the renowned journalist and one of Barnard's outstanding citizens in the
years 1928-1962. The Common offers an open space in the center of
Barnard where residents and visitors can stroll, relax and enjoy the
view of the lake. During the winter, the Common is used for sledding and
tobogganing and affords snowmobilers access to the lake. The Barnard
Silver Lake Association maintains the Common.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2002

Barnet

The Connecticut River, starting at the International Boundary, flows 380 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. In its course the river falls 1640 feet.  In 1928, the New England Power Association started a two-year project to build one of the largest hydroelectric developments in the country.  The dam is located in the towns of Monroe, NH and Barnet, VT and is 275 miles above the river’s mouth.  When dedicated on September 30, 1930 President Herbert Hoover pressed a button at the White House to start the first of four generating units.

This marker commemorates 75 years of continual operation of this project and is dedicated to the builders, operators, and neighbors of this first Fifteen Mile Falls Development.

(Text continued on other side)

The dam has earth embankments, a concrete gravity spillway and intake section, steel penstocks, and powerhouse. The reservoir has a surface area of 1093 acres at elevation of 650 feet above sea level and extends seven miles upstream.  The dam is 2,253 feet long with a maximum height of 170 feet. The dam can pass flows through hydraulic operated sluice gates, flash boards, and stanchion bays as well as the turbines.  The discharge capacity at full pond would be 99,000 cubic feet of water per second.

The powerhouse contains four turbines, at a combined rating 216,800 horse power and the 162,300 kilowatts is enough to power 162,300 homes. At the present time hydroelectricity accounts for five percent of New England's power needs.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2006

HENRY STEVENS
1743 US ROUTE 5 SOUTH AT THE TOWN OFFICE

Born in Barnet on December 13, 1791, and educated at Peacham Academy, Henry Stevens was at various times a farmer, innkeeper, mill owner, legislator, postmaster, temperance leader, stage line proprietor, and operator of the Passumpsic Turnpike.  A dedicated antiquarian who assembled Vermont's first great collection of historical materials, in 1838 he became a founder and the first president of the Vermont Historical Society.  Stevens died on July 30, 1867, and is buried in the Stevens Cemetery. 
(see other side of marker)

HENRY STEVENS, JR.

Born in Barnet on August 24, 1819, Henry Stevens, Jr. inherited a love of books and historical research from his father.  In 1845 he went to England, where he became his generation's greatest antiquarian book dealer, helping to build the Americana holdings of the British Museum, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and such eminent collectors as James Lenox and John Carter Brown.  Fond of signing his letters "G. M. B." for "Green Mountain Boy," Stevens died in 1886 and is buried in London under a monument made of Barre granite that bears the inscription "Lover of Books." 
 
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation 2007

Barton

HENRY M. LELAND: Designer of Cadillac and Lincoln Cars
JUNCTION OF ROUTE 5 & 16
Born in Barton on February 16, 1843 to a hard working farm family, Henry Leland carried into his life the strength and quality of his family’s work ethic adding to it his gift and love for precision. By 1890, Leland was in Detroit where he had become chief engineer at Cadillac. Known as one of the world’s foremost automobile engineers, he won the Dewar Trophy twice:1909 for the concept of interchangeable parts; in 1914, with C.F. Kettering, for the automobile self-starter. At 74, he formed the Lincoln Motor Company to build aircraft engines for use in World War I. In 1919 he developed the Lincoln automobile. Henry Leland died March 26, 1932.

Bellows Falls

BELLOWS FALLS CANAL
ON BRIDGE STREET
Here first Canal in United States was built in 1802. The British-owned Company, which was chartered to render the Connecticut River navigable here in 1791, was 10 years building the 9 locks and dam around the Great Falls, 52 ft. high. After the railroad came in 1849, river traffic declined and the canal was used for water power only.

Belvidere

GEORGE WASHINGTON HENDERSON
ROUTE 109 AT BELVIDERE CEMETERY
Born in Virginia in 1850, Henderson was employed as a servant by Henry Carpenter, adjutant in the Eighth Vermont Regiment in the Civil War. In 1865 he accompanied Carpenter to his home in Belvidere and began "to learn his letters." After study with Oscar Atwood in Underhill and at Barre Academy, he entered the University of Vermont and graduated at the top of his class in 1877. He taught in schools in Jericho, Craftsbury, and Newport. After graduating in 1883 from Yale Divinity School, he went south in 1888 to serve as Congregational minister in New Orleans. He was author, in 1894, of the first formal protest against lynching in the U.S. From 1890 to 1932 he taught theology and classical languages in Straight (now Dillard), Fisk, and Wilberforce Universities. He died in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1936.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 1999

Bennington

VERMONT WEST GATEWAY: Molly Stark Trail and Historic Old Bennington
ROUTE 9, N.Y. STATE LINE
State Highway 9 traverses scenic Hogback Mt. to the Connecticut River Valley. Old Bennington, site of the Battle Monument and Historical Museum, was the meeting place of the Green Mountain Boys. It was the first town chartered by Governor Benning Wentworth of N.H. in 1749.

BENNINGTON BATTLE MONUMENT
ON THE OLD BENNINGTON VILLAGE GREEN
On August 16, 1777, British forces sent by General Burgoyne to seize supplies at Bennington were turned back by New Englanders under General John Stark and Vermont’s Col. Seth Warner. This 306 ft. commemorative shaft, planned 100 years later, was dedicated in 1891. In 1953 it was taken over, restored and an elevator installed by the VT Historic Sites Commission which now administers it for the State.
[For more information, visit www.HistoricVermont.org/Bennington]

THE"CORKSCREW" RAILROAD
AT THE BENNINGTON MUSEUM ON ROUTE 9
When wealthy North Bennington resident Trenor Park purchased the Bennington-Rutland Railroad, he found that the railroad "barons" of the Troy and Boston Railroad refused him access to their New York lines. Rather than fight this monopoly, Park built a rail line from Bennington to Lebanon Springs, NY, where he could transfer his trains to southbound rails while bypassing Troy. The dozens of tight turns over 40 miles of hilly terrain gave this stretch of railroad the name "Corkscrew." Passenger service was canceled in 1931 and the line was officially abandoned in 1953. Remnants of the old rail bed can be seen where it crossed the highway at this point.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2003

PARK-McCULLOUGH HOUSE
PARK AND WEST STREETS, NORTH BENNINGTON
Built as a summer cottage in 1865 for lawyer-entrepreneur-philanthropist Trenor Park and his wife Laura, the mansion was financed with a fortune amassed in California in the aftermath of the California Gold Rush. It was designed by the New York architectural firm of Diaper and Dudley and is considered one of the finest and best-preserved Victorian houses and one of the earliest French Second Empire residences in the U.S. In 1891 President Benjamin Harrison was a guest here during the festivities surrounding the celebration of the centennial of Vermont statehood and the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument. Former residents include two Vermont governors: Hiland Hall, Mrs. Park's father, and John G. McCullough, the Parks' son-in-law.

VERMONT IS A STATE I LOVE
150 DEPOT STREET, BENNINGTON

"I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington, Mansfield, and Equinox without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me. It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride; here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our everlasting hills. I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all, because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish from other parts of the union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont." President Calvin Coolidge, 1928

President Coolidge ended a two-day inspection of Vermont's 1927 flood recovery as his train arrived here about 7 p.m. Sept. 21, 1928. Five thousand people greeted Coolidge and wife Grace with loud applause as they appeared on the rear coach platform. After quieting the crowd, the president began, "Fellow Vermonters, for two days we have traveled through the state of Vermont..." He thanked Vermonters for their hospitality and great response to the flood. Continuing without notes, he said, "Vermont is a state I love…" A reporter heard Coolidge's voice "quivering with emotion." Applause was lengthy. Mrs. Coolidge asked if reporters had written down the words, lest they be lost. "Vermont is a State I Love" remains Coolidge's best-known tribute to his native state.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2003
[For more information, visit www.HistoricVermont.org/Coolidge]

Bradford

BRADFORD: Home of Maker of First Globes; Birthplace of Adm. Clark
U.S. ROUTE 5, NO. MAIN STREET
Home of Maker of First Globes and Birthplace of Adm. ClarkHome of Maker of First Globes and Birthplace of Adm. ClarkJames Wilson, a Bradford farmer and self-taught engraver, in early 1800’s made and sold the first geographical globes in the U.S. Adm. Chas. Clark, born here in 1843, was Captain of the "Oregon" which sailed around Cape Horn to defeat Spanish at Santiago Bay in 1898.

JAMES WILSON, GLOBE MAKER
I-91 REST AREA IN BRADFORD
100 yards behind this marker is the site where James Wilson had his home and workshop. Between 1808 and 1810 Wilson made and sold the first terrestrial and celestial globes in North America. Wilson was a farmer and blacksmith b. 1736 in Londonderry N.H. who moved to Bradford in 1795. He taught himself astronomy and geography, studied with Amos Doolittle in CT to learn engraving, skills he needed to make globes. Wilson died in Bradford in 1855 at the age of 92.

Brandon

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS: Opponent of Abraham Lincoln
U.S. ROUTE 7, IN VILLAGE
The ‘little giant’ of national politics, born in Brandon in 1813, moved to Middlebury to learn cabinetmaking. Returning to Brandon, he attended the Academy. Moving to Illinois in 1833, his career merged with the stream of national politics, reaching the height in his famous debates with Abraham Lincoln in 1858. Lincoln’s opponent during the campaign, he nonetheless supported the Union until his death in June, 1861.

BRANDON TRAINING SCHOOL
ROUTE 7 NORTH OF THE VILLAGE
Established in 1915, the program served Vermonters with mental retardation and developmental disabilities continuously until 1993. Founded as the Brandon State School for Feebleminded Children, the name was changed to the Brandon Training School. Begun as a working farm, many original structures still exist, including remnants of a horse racetrack visible from Route 7. The campus grew to include over 30 buildings and 400 acres, and served over 650 persons at its peak in 1968. In the 1980s the population of the facility declined as persons were served in community based programs. The Brandon Training School maintained a proud tradition of quality care and active training throughout its history. Dept of Mental Health and Mental Retardation - 1993

FOREST DALE IRONWORKS
ROUTE 73 N.E. OF FOREST DALEROUTE 73 N.E. OF FOREST DALEROUTE 73 N.E. OF FOREST DALE
Ironworking began at Forest Dale in 1810 using local ore, and by 1823 a blast furnace was producing pig iron and a variety of ornamental iron. The Green Mountain Iron Co. later acquired the site and the mainstay of production was parlor stoves. An attempt to refit the furnace to burn coal instead of scarce charcoal failed during the 1850s depression. The Brandon Iron Works, the last owner to operate the site, shut down the forges and furnace in 1865.

Brattleboro

‘NAULAHKA’: Rudyard Kipling’s home
U.S. ROUTE 5, NORTH OF BRATTLEBORO
Rudyard Kipling’s home near Brattleboro for 4 years after marriage to the American, Caroline Balestier, and after visiting her home, famed British writer built isolated ‘Naulahka’. Here he wrote the ‘Jungle Books’ and other stories, and two daughters were born. In 1896 the Kiplings returned to England.

SITE OF FORT DUMMER
NEAR RAILROAD STATION
One and one-half miles south on Route 142 is the marker for Fort Dummer, built in 1724, becoming Vermont’s oldest permanent white settlement. The actual site is now flooded by the water from the Vernon Dam.

ESTEY ORGAN COMPANY
CANAL STREET U.S. ROUTE 5 OPPOSITE END OF BIRGE STREET
Here, in Brattleboro, was located the world’s largest manufacturer of reed organs. For more than a century, reed and pipe organs made in Brattleboro were sold to homes and churches around the world. The unusual slate-sided factory complex on Birge Street and the adjacent Esteyville neighborhood were developed in he early 1870s. Philanthropic and civic-minded, the Estey Company patented many manufacturing improvements and was a pioneer in equal pay for women.

Brownington

OLD STONE HOUSE
AT THE BROWNINGTON CHURCH
Historical Society Museum - In 1836, Rev. Alexander Twilight, schoolmaster of the Orleans County Grammar School, on a main stage route to Canada, built this structure, Athenian Hall, as a dormitory for his pupils. Open to the public, it holds the collection of the County Historical Society.

Burke

MOUNTAIN VIEW FARM
DARLING HILL
Established in 1883 by Elmer A. Darling (1848-1931), native of East Burke. He became part owner/manager of the world famous Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. After the hotel closed in 1908, Mr. Darling retired to the life of a gentleman farmer, raised prize-winning Morgan horses and Jersey cattle. The farm also produced the choice ‘Darling’ brand of cheeses and butter. At its zenith, his prosperous Mountain View Farm included Burke Mountain and extended over 7,000 acres. The farm’s monumental barns and distinctive colonial yellow and white-trimmed farmhouses line Darling Hill Road. Elmer Darling studied architecture at M.I.T., and with the assistance of Jardine, Kent and Jardine, architects, designed his magnificent neo-Georgian residence, Burklyn Hall, built in 1905-1908 on knoll astride the Burke/Lyndon town line. Mr. Darling was a public-spirited citizen whose philanthropic generosity includes the Colonial Revival style Burke Mountain Club, built in East Burke in 1919.

Burlington

GRACE GOODHUE COOLIDGE
312 MAPLE STREET
On Oct. 4, 1905, at 2:05 p.m. in front of the bay window in the parlor of this house, Grace Goodhue married Calvin Coolidge of Plymouth Notch, VT. Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States; Grace served as First lady from 1923-1929. Built in 1899, the house at 312 Maple Street was the family home of Capt. Andrew Goodhue, his wife Lemira, and their only child Grace Anna. Capt. Goodhue was federal steamboat inspector for the Lake Champlain Transport Co. The Goodhue family moved here while Grace was a student at the University of Vermont. Grace was a founding member of the VT Chapter of Pi Beta Phi, the first national college fraternity for women. The house was restored in 1993 by Champlain College.

STEAMER ‘VERMONT’: Launched Here in 1808.
AT FOOT OF KING STREET
John and James Winans built here the second successful steamboat to operate commercially only two years after Robert Fulton made his historic trip up the Hudson on the ‘Clermont’ The Champlain Transportation Co. was one of the oldest steamboat companies when it suspended operation in 1932.

Major Cross-State Route to the Connecticut River
From this point, where the Winans launched their steamer ‘Vermont’ in 1808, travelers drive eastward on Route US 2, cutting through the Green Mountain Range at Bolton to the Capitol at Montpelier, to Barre - ‘granite center of the world’- and to St. Johnsbury, ‘maple sugar city’.

FORT FREDERICK
AT WINOOSKI RIVER BRIDGE
In 1773, Ira Allen and Remember Baker built a two-storied block fort at these falls to protect their lands from New York State claimants. With Ethan Allen and two other brothers they formed the Onion River Co. to sell Winooski lands.

BURIAL PLACE OF GENERAL ETHAN ALLEN: BORN 1738-DIED 1789
ON COLCHESTER AVENUE
The mortal remains of Ethan Allen, fighter, writer, statesman and philosopher, lie in this cemetery beneath the marble statue. His spirit is in Vermont now.

ETHAN ALLEN FARM
ON NORTH AVENUE
The park is the site of a farm owned by the Hero of Ticonderoga. Putting behind him the martial deeds of a hero, Ethan came here in 1787 to till the soil as a peaceful farmer. On Feb. 12, 1789, he died here after a trip across the ice to South Hero. Memorial Tower was built on Indian Rock, traditional Algonquin look-out.

BATTERY PARK: Scene of British Attack in War of 1812
AT BATTERY PARK
Here in June 1813, a Vermonter, Trent Churchill, and men built a parapet and set up a battery. On August 3 a British gunboat and 2 sloops, 12 miles offshore, began a cannonade. This attack was repulsed in 20 minutes by 2 of Commodore Macdonough’s armed scows.

JOHN DEWEY: Philosopher and Pioneer in Modern Education
186 SOUTH WILLARD STREET
Born here on Oct. 20, 1859, John Dewey attended local schools and in 1879 graduated from the University of Vermont. Dewey was world-renowned as a philosopher and author of many books. Ideas drawn from his educational doctrines profoundly influenced American education. John Dewey died June 1, 1952; his ashes are buried near Ira Allen Chapel at UVM. Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2004

GENERAL WILLIAM WELLS (1837-1892)
DR. H. NELSON JACKSON (1872-1955)
(one marker with different text on each side)
158 SOUTH WILLARD STREET (corner of South Willard and Main Streets)

In 1861 William Wells joined the First Vermont Cavalry as a Private and rose to the rank of Brevet Major-General. Promoted more times than any other Vermonter during the American Civil War, he participated in over 70 cavalry battles and skirmishes. For “conspicuous gallantry” at Gettysburg, Wells was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. This French Second Empire mansion was built for General Wells in 1877 by A. B. Fisher from a drawing in G. B. Croft’s “Progressive American Architecture.” After the Civil War, Wells was prominent in politics and business and was a partner in Wells, Richardson & Co. of Burlington, makers of Paine's Celery Compound. He married and had two children. Daughter Bertha married Dr. H. N. Jackson. See other side of marker. Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2005

Inspired by a bet Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, son-in-law of General William Wells and a University of Vermont medical alumnus, Sewall K. Crocker, and "Bud" the dog set out in May of 1903 from San Francisco for New York City. In a Winton car, christened "The Vermont," the trio completed their journey in two months and nine days. They are credited with making the first cross-country trip in a motor car. Jackson became a successful businessman upon returning to Burlington: bank president, newspaper publisher, and owner of the first radio station in town. Despite his age he joined the army in WWI, earning the Distinguished Service Cross, and was one of the founders of the American Legion. He died at 82. See other side of marker. Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2005

CENTENNIAL FIELD
CENTENNIAL FIELD, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
Named to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the University of Vermont’s first graduating class, Centennial Field has been the home of UVM athletics since 1906. The three ballparks that have stood on this site have hosted semi-professional and minor league baseball, as well as exhibitions by visiting Major League and Negro League ballclubs. The current grandstand, constructed in 1922, is one of the oldest still in use. Among the outstanding players who have graced Centennial’s diamond are Larry Gardner, Ray Collins, Tris Speaker, Jesse Hubbard, Robin Roberts, Kirk McCaskill, Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey, Jr.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 1997

MARY MARTHA FLETCHER (1830 – 1885)
177 North Prospect Street
Mary Fletcher, born in Jericho, Vermont, moved here with her family at age 20. Following her father’s death, the family established Fletcher Free Library (1873). Mary Fletcher continued her parents’ benefactions. She founded Mary Fletcher Hospital (1879), the first general hospital in Vermont, and Training School for Nurses (1882). Mary Fletcher Hospital later became Fletcher Allen Health Care, Vermont’s academic health center. Mary herself suffered ill health and lived simply and privately. She died of tuberculosis in the hospital she founded. The Burlington Friends Meeting (Quakers) began to hold worship here in 1959.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2007

Calais

HISTORIC KENT TAVERN
KENTS CORNERS
This brick tavern was built by Abdiel Kent between 1833 and 1837. It served as his home, and from 1837 to 1846 was a stagecoach stop on the road from Montpelier to Canada. The Kent family settled in Calais in 1798 and this section of town is known as Kents Corners. One of Abdiel’s six brothers, Ira Kent, lived in the white clapboard house across the street. Together from 1837 until 1860 they operated I&A Kent Store in the two story wooden addition on the tavern.
-continued on back side of marker-
The Kent family owned the property until 1916 and at various times and places in town made and sold shoes and boots, ran a brickyard and sawmill, and farmed. The barn is the only survivor of the several outbuildings that stood on this property. Louise Andrews Kent, the best selling author of the ‘Mrs. Appleyard’ series of books, convinced her cousin, A. Atwater Kent, the radio inventor and magnate, to purchase his great uncle’s home and restore it as a museum in 1930.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 1997

Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION BRIDGE
CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION ROAD
This bridge was built in 1887 by George W. Holmes in order to access an important railroad junction and the surrounding village of Cambridge Junction. The Burr Arch structure has a clear span of 135 feet, making it one of the longest spans of its type in the United States. The bridge is also known as the “Poland Bridge” after the retired judge who led a lawsuit against the Town of Cambridge that resulted in the bridge’s construction. The bridge was rehabilitated in 2003-04 with funds from the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Act, which was authored by Vermont Senator James Jeffords.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2004

SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH: Forbidden Trade with Canada Passed Through Here, 1808-14
ROUTE 108 AT NOTCH
The Notch gained its name after Jefferson’s Embargo Acts of 1808 and the War of 1812, when cattle were driven north and Canadian goods were smuggled into New England through this picturesque gap beside majestic Mt. Mansfield, remote from revenue officers.

Castleton

FORT WARREN
U.S. ROUTE 4, AT HUBBARDTON ROAD
Battle of Hubbardton Seven miles north directly east is the elevation of Fort Warren, built in 1779 for defense of the northern frontier. The road from the north was the route of American retreat before Burgoyne, protected by Col. Seth Warner’s rear-guard action at the Battle of Hubbardton, July 7 ,1777.

EDWIN L. DRAKE, 1819-1880: Founder of the Oil Industry
U.S. ROUTE 4, WEST OF VILLAGE
Drilling the first modern oil well in the United States on August 27, 1859, at Titusville, Pennsylvania, Drake struck oil at 69 feet and launched one of the world’s great industries. On farm on Drake Road, near this spot, he lived as a boy and attended the local schools.

‘VERMONT’S FIRST COLLEGE’
VT RTE. 4A IN FRONT OF TOWN LIBRARY
On this site Castleton State College, Vermont’s first college and the eighteenth oldest in the nation, was first established as the County Grammar School, chartered by the General Assembly of the Republic of Vermont on October 15, 1787. The College moved to its present campus in 1833.

THE ‘OLD CHAPEL’, CASTLETON MEDICAL COLLEGE, 1818-1862
SEMINARY ST. NEAR COLLEGE ENTRANCE
Castleton Medical College was the first such college in Vermont. This structure, built in 1821, was originally located on Main Street west of the present town library. In 1864 a leading citizen presented the building to Harriet Haskell, Principal of Castleton Seminary. It has served the College as dormitory, classrooms, and chapel and is a reminder of traditions which date back to the College’s founding in 1787. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1787 - CASTLETON - 1987
SOUTH STREET ON COLLEGE CAMPUS
Castleton is the oldest institution of higher learning in Vermont and the eighteenth oldest in the nation. It began as the Rutland County Grammar School, chartered by the Republic of Vermont in October, 1787. It evolved to become, in turn, Vermont Classical High School, Castleton Academy, Castleton Seminary, Castleton Normal School, Castleton State Teachers College and, since 1961, a comprehensive state college. In recognizing the Bicentennial of the College, this plaque commemorates that rich tradition of service and accomplishment as Castleton enters its third century.

Charlotte

THE CHARLOTTE WHALE: Vermont’s State Fossil
N.E. CORNER OF THE INTERSECTION OF THOMPSON'S POINT RD. AND THE VT RAILROAD
In 1849 an 11,000 year old Beluga Whale was found north of this site in what had been the Champlain Sea. Resident J.G. Thorp collected the bones, and naturalist Zadock Thompson assembled the skeleton now displayed in the Perkins Museum of Geology at UVM.
Charlotte Historical Society - 1993

Clarendon

KINGLSEY GRIST MILL
2964 East Street
The last of a dozen mills that dotted Mill River during the 18th & 19th century, stands just upstream of the Town lattice truss covered bridge. Kingsley’s Mill, the only mill ever designed and built by nationally known Vermont covered bridge builder Nicholas M. Powers of Clarendon, served Vermont’s grain production needs from 1882 until 1935.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2005

Colchester

RAY W. COLLINS
ROUTE 7, 2 MILES SOUTH OF CHIMNEY CORNERS
A descendant of one of Burlington’s original settlers, Ray Williston Collins was born on this farm on February 11, 1887. After graduating from Burlington High School and the University of Vermont, Collins joined the Boston Red Sox in 1909 and soon established himself as one of the best left-handed pitchers in the American League. In 1913-14 he won a combined 39 games for the Red Sox, and his lifetime ERA is an impressive 2.51. When his career was cut short by an injury in 1915, Collins returned to this farm and for 35 years struggled to make a living as a dairy farmer. He was active in community affairs; among other things, he represented Colchester in the Vermont Legislature from 1941-43 and served as a University of Vermont trustee in the 1950s. Ray Collins still lived on this farm when he died on January 9, 1970.
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation

Concord

FIRST NORMAL SCHOOL: Pioneer in Teacher Training
U.S. ROUTE 2, AT CONCORD CORNER ROAD
The first recognized school in America for the purpose of training teachers was conducted near here by the Rev. Samuel Read Hall, 1823-25. Practice teaching was employed with ‘Lectures on Schoolkeeping’ which became in 1829, the first professional book for teachers 2.4 miles south at Concord Corner.

GEORGE LANSING FOX: One of the four Dorchester Chaplains.
AT METHODIST CHURCH IN EAST CONCORD
Called from his Gilman parish to serve as a Chaplain in World War II, First Lieutenant Fox died when the Dorchester was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. Giving his life jacket to a soldier, he perished with 3 other chaplains, in one of the most heroic acts of the War.

Danby

PEARL S. BUCK: June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973
MAIN STREET
Mother, wife, writer, humanitarian, and civil rights activist, Pearl Buck was the first American woman to receive the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes for literature. A visionary, she worked to cross political and cultural barriers to further understanding among all peoples of the world. Her own perspective was fostered by a life lived equally in China and America and by extensive world travels. She established Welcome House, the first adoption agency specializing in multi-racial adoptions, and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation to aid thousands of children fathered by American servicemen overseas. In 1950 she purchased property in Winhall, VT, and in 1969 moved to Danby, finding an American town she loved, helped restore, and where she died in 1973.

Danville

THADDEUS STEVENS
U.S. ROUTE 2, ON THE COMMON
Born crippled and poor in Danville in 1792, Stevens was schooled by his mother, Sally Morrill Stevens, and at nearby Caledonia County Grammar School, graduating from Dartmouth College in 1814.  He became a brilliant lawyer committed to racial equality.  As an abolitionist Congressman from his adopted state of Pennsylvania and as Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, he worked to finance the Civil War.  He was recognized as the father of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U. S. Constitution and architect of the Reconstruction of the South.  He was both renowned and reviled for his eloquent call for the abolition of slavery. Vermont Division for Historic Preservation - 2006

Derby Line

VERMONT CANADA GATEWAY
AT THE DERBY LINE TOWN HALL
Orleans County Route Derby Line demonstrates the goodwill between Canada and the United States with its International Rotary Club and Haskell Library and Opera House built astride the boundary line. Southward in Orleans County lie two of the New England’s most beautiful lakes, Memphremagog and Willoughby.

Dorset

DORSET: Here New Hampshire Grants First Voted Independence.
ROUTE 30, AT VILLAGE GREEN
At Cephas Kent’s Tavern on the West Road, four Conventions were held, 1775-76, where finally the vote to form a ‘separate District’ was passed by the delegates from the East and West sides without one dissenting vote.

FIRST MARBLE QUARRY: Oldest Quarry in U.S. 1785
U.S. ROUTE 7, SOUTH OF VILLAGE
Westerly near Mt. Aeolus, Isaac Underhill opened the first marble quarry in 1785. Dorset quarries were most active in early 1800s when small slabs were used for hearths, doorsills and headstones. With better transportation and saws, larger blocks were quarried.

Birthplace of WM GRIFFITH WILSON, 1895-1971: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
VILLAGE STREET
Bill Wilson was born November 26, 1895, in a room behind the bar at the Wilson House Hotel. From age 11 until entering the Army, he lived at the Griffith House across the church yard from his birthplace. Will W. wrote the book recovery program for alcoholics. Through this program, a multitude of lives have been saved. Other programs, based on the original 12 steps, exist worldwide for healing individuals and families.
Wilson House Board of Directors - 1995