The Realities and Relationships at 1st Contacts Conference on September 25th at the Vergennes Opera House was a resounding success! Approximately 250 people of all ages and intersts enjoyed a cast of gifted speakers talk about the relationships between Indigenous people and the early Europeans in eastern North America. Over 30 high school and college students enjoyed the day and were inspired by what they heard and the speakers. John Peterson's class from Rutland High School wore terrific 17th & 18th century period dress based on original accounts and drawings. Some of the speakers also wore period dress.

Jamestowne Re-Discovery archeologist William Kelso joined Nancy Marie Brown, author of The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman, University of Vermont ethno-botanist Kit Anderson, Abenaki artist and activist Jeanne Brink, University of Vermont archeologist John Crock, Vermont Historian Elsa Gilbertson, University of Vermont New France specialist Andre Senecal, University of Vermont anthropologist Cameron Wesson, and Johnson State College Professor of Humanities and Abenaki scholar Fred Wiseman for a day long learning "fest." Abenaki scholar and performer Marge Bruchac arrived late due to unforeseen circumstances and gave an intimate presentation to the 25 attendees who were relaxing and enjoying a small feast of Cabot Cheese, homemade goodies, and cider at the end of day. University of Maine archeologist Ellie Cowie was unable to join us due to an unexpected medical issue. VT State Archeologist Giovanna Peebles, conference organizer, was Master of Ceremonies in a great 18th century dress, handmade in 1991 for the VT Bicentennial by Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, Nancy Boone. Elsa Gilbertson and Alison Gee from the Chimney Point State Historic Site kept everyone well-snacked and hydrated throughout the day. This amazing day resulted from a lot of work by many people.

We thank our fantastic speakers, Jackson Evans for his Av genius and for hosting us at the Vergennes Opera House, Elsa Gilbertson and Alison Gee for their logistics and other support, Diane McInerney of the VT Division for Historic Preservation for her help with the conference details and Kris Peterson-Ishaq and Kelly Dutra from the University of Vermont's Center for Research for their help with registration. See below for a few select comments from conference-goers.

This conference was possible because of many enthusiastic partners. Thank you to our many wonderful and generous Sponsors and Supporters!

For lots of interesting "Additional Readings and Sources for More Information" related to the day's presentations go to this link.

View these links for detailed Conference program, short speaker biographies and summaries of conference presentations.



A few comments from conference goers:

I feel I had more than my 10 dollars worth just thinking about attending this conference, but with the beautiful day, the nice ride to Vergennes and then the extraordinary agenda, I am without words enough of appreciation for this wonderful event! Thank you! The Vergennes Opera House was a perfect venue for the conference and the drinks an d treats were also very well done. I had to leave, regrettable, at 3 pm for a volunteer commitment back in Ticonderoga, so I missed the reception. I'm sure it would have put me over the top!!

The topics, the people, the audience, all of it worked together beautifully. I appreciated your personal connections with everyone and how you tied each one to the theme of the conference.

What a diverse cast of characters.

I just wanted to say that I had a wonderful time and learned lots at yesterday's conference in Vergennes (a great place to hold it, too)! I can only imagine how much energy, creative thought and coordination (and, probably worry) you put into pulling off this very cool and significant event. I also appreciated the multiple constituencies you recruited to be (a) on stage and (b) in the audience. I had wondered beforehand how the presenters would do at reaching professionals, teachers, Native people, and the general public all at once, and I think you/they succeeded admirable.

The conference was marvelous - filled out the evaluation at the end of the morning, then was blown away by the afternoon! So much to learn!!!! Our heads are spinning!

You put a great program together and the attendance was super with a great mix of folks and importantly, lots of new faces.