A Few Memories from Wayne Lewis

In August 2014, the Scouting award ribbons displayed on the wall of Waterford's town office were taken down in order to archive them out of damaging light. They are now in their own "Scouting" binder in the Waterford Historical Society archive cabinet, which stands in the lobby of the town office.

Examining them led Helen Pike to interview Wayne Lewis, a former Scouting leader, about the ribbons and Scouting in this town, on September 5, 2014.

Wayne began by describing Scouting in the 1960s and early 1970s as connecting to a time and place that was "more Vermont than it is now." He added as an example, "We did a five-mile hike from the race track [that is, the old Northeastern Speedway track on Route 18] to Shadow Lake [in neighboring Concord], through the woods, using only a compass and a topo map."

Another activity he told Helen about was camping: "In the winter we did camp-outs in the snow near a pond off the Cross Road and worked on our merit badges."

In those years, Boy Scout Troop 36 held its meetings in the Community Room on Maple Street, which was the space now occupied by the Waterford town office and Lower Waterford post office. The reason the town office and post office weren't yet in that space reflects a long town tradition of those functions taking place in the home or business of whoever was Town Clerk. At that time, the Town Clerk was Mrs. Dorothy Kimball, and she was the last in that role to have the municipal offices in her home.

However, the Scouts also went to see Mrs. Kimball at her house, which was on Old County Road South, known today as the historic Johnson-Powers farmhouse. [Today it's owned by Roberta and John Gillott, operating as Crooked Mile Farm, producing goat cheese.] Wayne pointed out, "We used to go to Mrs. Kimball's house to get our hunting license."

In those Scouting times, both the Champlain Valley Fairground in Burlington and the Mount Norris Boy Scout Reservation in Eden Mills used to hold annual one-week Scouting events where Boy Scouts could work on their merit badges.

But the ribbons archived in today's Waterford office were identified by Wayne as not related to the merit badges. Instead, they are from three other places and events: (1) There's a 1967 ribbon for "Camping" issued by the Wide World of Scouting. (2) A pair of ribbons from 1969 and 1971 represent participation in Ski-O-Ree, an event held at the Lyndon Outing Club (LOC) on Lily Pond Road, where there are still a ski slope and T-ball field. (3) The 1971 Forest & Stream Camporee took place at today's Caledonia Forest and Stream Club on Field and Stream Road off Route 5 (Memorial Drive) in St. Johnsbury. Today the club property includes a shooting range and clubhouse, with season passes that used to be sold at Caplan's Army Store on Railroad Street in downtown St. Johnsbury (see http://www.caledoniaforestandstream.com for current information on the club). Wayne did not discuss the 1972 Klondike Derby ribbon from the Long Trail Council, but a Klondike Derby is a traditional Boy Scouting event and the Scouts' Green Mountain Council was still announcing such events until the 2020 pandemic cut off such activities.

The Waterford Historical Society greatly appreciates Wayne's time and efforts in giving us this window into Scouting's past in our town.

Globe Stone Farm in the Westernmost Part of Waterford

by Helen-Chantal Pike

We here at the “tiny, but mighty” Waterford Historical Society always appreciate when folks reach out. We’re starting our sixth year, and with a variety of projects* anyone can participate in. We’re as committed as ever to discover Waterford history’s from those who lived it or even on it!

Recently, Kimberly McBey wanted to share photos of her ancestor, Tobias Lyster, and we were thrilled! Here was a part of Waterford where for a while the mail was delivered via the mail carrier for Summerville, a town and that no longer exists but was incorporated into St. Johnsbury (St. Johnsbury is using the term currently to refer to that section of town east of the railroad tracks.) This town border area is one that we’ve always been curious to know more about – and bet many residents who live across Waterford’s 40 square miles are, too.

Tobias emigrated south from Quebec Province in 1869 when he was about 20. After working various Waterford farms for five years, he bought the 325-acre spread previously owned by Joseph A. Gould on Hastings Road, a thoroughfare that once went by the more practical name of Road 11.

Photo courtesy of Kimberley McBey.

 

We were intrigued.

Kimberly cited her main source as “Successful Vermonters”  published in 1904, which profiled Tobias who, with his bride Ida Hall, worked diligently on what was described as good farm land. 

 

They started first with fruit trees and chickens, then branched out with cattle, both for dairy and meat. Finally, they diversified with White Chester pigs and shoats – young hogs that had been weaned. They called their thriving business Globe Stone Farm.  Anyone can read the full profile here because the enormous, and heavy, book has been digitized!

The couple’s farmhouse and original barn are no longer standing. But, at least one of Globe Stone Farm’s later barns still is.

Original farmhouse and barn. Photo courtesy of Kimberley McBey.

 

A later barn still stands.

*So here we pause briefly with a shout-out for new volunteers to help pick up where the core group of founding WHS members left off, entering the town’s historic barns in the state Barn Census. Great project for a pair of students interested in history! Terrific outdoors project. And a wonderful child-parent/grandparent  project to do together. We have forms! We have clipboards! Contact us!

Now, back to the Globe Stone Farm story!

Tobias’s grandson, Allen Lyster, carried the farming heritage into Fairground Garden on Route 5, near the Comfort Inn in St. Johnsbury, according to Kimberly. Writing us via Facebook email, she added “A lot of gardening in my family ... and to think where my home sits now ... has been in the family for this long.”

Well, we just had to mosey out that way where Hastings Road connects to Simpson Brook Road. 

View of the barn looking up Hastings Road.

Hastings Road.

 

And not just because of Kimberly’s comment.

We noticed this item [see newspaper clipping below] in the February issue of The North Star Monthly. We’ve only ever heard of horseback riders making their way along the length of Hastings Road, one of our town’s Ancient Roads that no longer goes through…but perhaps one day it will again.

In closing, we’d like to pay tribute to Tobias and Ida Hall Lyster who rest in Passumpsic Cemetery in Waterford. And to thank Kimberly McBey for reaching out. We hope to hear from you again.

 

Please contact Beth Kanell: bethpoet@gmail.com or Helen Pike at pikeprose@gmail.com if you want to participate in a Waterford Historical Society project. We have others! History never sleeps…

To browse more material on this blog, click here, and note the white search box at the top left corner. 

Waterford Archive Videos: Helen Pike Demonstrates the Waterford Vermont Archives

left to right: Harley Pike, Helen Pike, Robert Pike.

The Waterford Historical Society helps preserve local history through its archives. Here, Helen Chantal Pike explains how this works, and shares a treasure from her own family's past. Her father, Robert E. Pike, wrote Tall Trees and Tough Men and Spiked Boots, and other books that document and celebrate Vermont and New England history.

To watch Helen present the WHS archives, click on this short video.

Listen to Aunt Ida’s Diaries (1918-1951) on Wed. April 24

"Aunt Ida," Ida Richardson Caswell Pike, circa 1890 while she was Mrs. Caswell. She is sitting on the porch in Upper Waterford, a village of the town that vanished in the wake of the power dams.

 

WATERFORD, VT – For this riverfront community whose fate changed forever with the construction of Comerford and Moore Dams, finding evidence of how lives were lived is a challenge.

             On Wednesday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m., the Waterford Historical Society (WHS) will share entries from the diaries of Ida Richardson Caswell Pike, a descendant of one of Waterford’s founders from Royalston, MA, who lived most of her life in Upper Waterford until Moore Dam was built.

            The small, slim volumes, written in pencil, are among the ephemera inherited by WHS president/secretary Helen-Chantal Pike when her father, who was Ida Pike’s nephew, passed away. Robert E. Pike, who died in 1997, is best known for two books about the greater Connecticut River Valley’s logging history that are still in print, “Tall Trees, Tough Men” and “Spiked Boots: Sketches of the North Country.”

            From 1918 to 1951, the diaries span the final years of Ida’s first marriage to businessman Charles Caswell through her subsequent marriage to his partner, Harley E. Pike, an Upper Waterford farmer whose ancestors also helped settle Waterford after the American Revolution.

            Pike also served on the Waterford Select Board for 24 years, and some of his wife’s diary entries cover natural disasters, what residents did to raise money for the town’s one-room schoolhouses, and the 1934 construction of the Route 18 bridge linking Lower Waterford to West Littleton, NH, signaling the end of Upper Waterford as the town’s commercial crossroads between Portland, ME, and Burlington, VT.

            Free and open to the public, this program will take place in the sanctuary of the Congregational Church in Lower Waterford. In the foyer, visitors have the opportunity to view models and other objects relating to the town’s history and ask questions of the WHS, which is actively engaged in historical detective work, including family genealogies, to bring Waterford’s past to life. Sweet and savory refreshments also will be served.

        

  

"Aunt Ida" with her second husband, Harley Pike, 1956 in their new house in Littleton NH.

           

Farewell to Waterford's Friend, Robert Heath Goss

Waterford Historical Society board member Lynn Troy provides a rolled-up panoramic photo of the construction of the Comerford Dam to genealogist Bob Goss (center), who offered to have the photo professionally enhanced to show more details. At right is another WHS board member at the time, Charles McMahon. Photo taken at the Davies Memorial Library by Helen C. Pike.

 The Waterford Historical Society lost a good friend and researcher last month with the death of genealogist Bob (Robert Heath) Goss on March 20, 2017. Bob's retirement choices led him into genealogy and into preserving the records of cemeteries across Vermont. In particular, he took the records compiled for Waterford's cemeteries years ago by Eugenia (Genie) Powers, and updated them, adding more details and descriptions. His awareness of the town's past added to our discussions of place names like "Copenhagen" (near today's Waterford Springs), as well as changes that came from reshaping the Connecticut River with two major dams.

About three years ago, Bob Goss discovered that Waterford resident Lynn Troy had a stunning panoramic photograph of the construction of the Comerford Dam, which changed so much in Waterford during 1930-1931.  Lynn recalls, “Bob had the panorama picture of the Comerford Dam (which I had received from a friend and [in the photo here] am giving him rolled up) touched up by a professional photographer.  He then returned the much improved finished picture to me and I had it framed.  The final product is a gift to WHS from both of us.  It is in the library now waiting for a discussion with [library director] Jen as to where to hang it.” Lynn adds, “He was a delight to work with and I enjoyed knowing him for the brief time I did.”

Bob was born in Barnet, Vermont, in 1934. His parents were Dean Abbott Goss (1901-1957) and Della Maud (Heath) Goss. His mother's family does not appear to be connected to today's Waterford Heaths. However, his father's family goes back for generations to the years when Waterford was settled by nonindigenous people: Levi Goss, one of the first to settle here, was Bob's great-great-great-grandfather; subsequent generations were Locke, Francis, Charles, and Bob's father, Dean.

Almost any search of Waterford's cemetery records will turn up Bob's work for generations to come. His attentive documenting of our history and his clear joy in preserving it ensure that we will remember both his work, and his generous spirit.

As Vermont Archaeology Month Wraps Up ... Waterford's Two Events

The Waterford Historical Society hosted TWO of Vermont's 29 public events for Vermont Archaeology month -- what an exciting way to share our local history and to learn about statewide initiatives to bring archaeology into public view.

Dave Morrison, front, guiding the annual White Village walking tour.

On September 24, lifelong Waterford resident Dave Morrison led a walking tour of the "White Village" that was created by John W. Davies almost a century ago. Mr. Morrison shared his knowledge of families and events in the village, especially from the 1950s onward, including showing the four large structural models crafted by his grandfather, William J. Morrison, in the 1930s. He also showed how to use the oversize "photo painting" of the village, located on the wall of the town office's lobby, to track changes in the village. From rollerskating to a house fire, his anecdotes brought local history to life, for a group that included about 10 eager listeners.

Dr. Jess Robinson, Vt State Archaeologist, presenting his talk to the WHS. Photo by Helen C. Pike.

Then on September 28, WHS at the Davies Memorial Library welcomed Vermont State Archaeologist Dr. Jess Robinson, speaking on "Public Archaeology in the 21st Century." Using colorful examples from the Champlain Basin, especially around a change in Route 78 in St. Albans, he showed how modern archaeology investigates prehistoric and historic life in the region, making sure its evidence won't be lost as massive highway construction follows. The many ways that his projects engage local residents intrigued an audience of about two dozen, including guests from Barre, Hardwick, and Burlington.

Dr. Robinson wrapped up with praise for the archaeological survey work done by local resident Craig Brown, who investigated historical trace evidence at a site in the Waterford Springs (once known as Copenhagen District) region of town.

At front, an ox shoe; at center, ceramic pipe fragments; to rear, redware pottery, from investigation at Waterford Springs site. Photo by Helen C. Pike

Another view. Photo by Helen C. Pike

A Waterford Family's Music -- Renewed

Euclid I. Williams on fife (center); his son, Leo (right) on the bass drum, and Euclid's younger brother, John (left) on the snare drum.

What happens when a researcher (Helen C. Pike) with a flair for history re-discovers a local family band from the 1930s -- and finds an actual recording of their music? In Waterford, Vermont, that's reason to celebrate, and to renew that music with  today's bluegrass and folk band! Read on:

Welcome Home to Waterford Music

 

WATERFORD – The sounds of music new and old will reverberate in this Connecticut River town when the Waterford Historical Society and the Lower Waterford Congregational Church host a unique benefit concert on June 18.

            “Welcome Home to Waterford Music” features the harmonies of the UnCommon Folk Band, string musicians who chose the post-Revolutionary War settlement as their home base: Samantha Amey who plays upright bass and folk guitar; Paul Amey on guitar, fiddle viola, and mandolin, and Tom Bishop, who not only plays the upright bass and frailing banjo, but also the harmonica.  All three sing.

“We started out sitting around the woodstove just jamming on cold winter nights,” according Sam Amey who runs a sugaring operation with her husband. “After a while people started liking our sound, so we formed the band sometime in 2005 in order to play at a variety show... The rest is history!”

Performing a mix of folk and bluegrass, UnCommon Folk is popular at First Night in St. Johnsbury, the Cabin Fever Reliever series in Guildhall, and at open-air festivals throughout the North Country.

Their repertoire of old-time music was exactly what the historical society and the Ladies Social Circle at church were looking for this past winter when they began brainstorming about their third joint production.

            The intersection of community interests with broad appeal occurred with the discovery of Helen Hartness Flanders’ 1933 recording of country fiddler Euclid I. Williams, a Waterford dairy farmer and church member. Flanders, daughter of a Vermont governor and wife of a U.S. senator, was internationally recognized as a ballad collector and authority on New England and British folk music.

Her 4,500 field recordings, transcriptions and analyses are housed as the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College, including the wax cylinders she used to record Williams when she visited Waterford. Those recordings have since been digitally converted, but the sound quality is poor.

Remembering the Band from Farming Days

 

Geneva Powers Wright of Waterford who is in her mid-90s recalled, as a child, listening to Williams and his family playing music when they came in from their fields at lunchtime. The Powers dairy farm was the nearest neighbor in an era of rolling pastureland with no trees to stop the sound.

“We could hear their music floating down,” Wright said of their fellow hill farmers.

In all, there were nine tunes that Flanders recorded.  To recreate the sound of the Williams Family and make new memories that come from music, the UnCommon Folk Band will include the slightly bawdy “Tim Finnegan’s Wake” in its playlist for the evening.

The historical society will mount a captioned display of Williams family photographs taken at Highland View Farm, today owned by Dr. Clare Wilmot and her husband, poet Peter Goreau.  A true hill farm, the historic homestead stands on Old County Road South with views of the Connecticut River valley and the spires and rooftops of Lower Waterford. The display will reference Euclid and Jennie’s son, Leo, who also played music, and his wife, Bertha, a member of the Congregational Church’s Ladies Social Circle.

Collaboration of Historic Church and Historical Society

 

The June 18^th event is the third joint fund raiser between the church and the history group.  Members of the mid-19^th century church are redoubling their efforts for contributions, both in-kind and financial, that will help restore the iconic edifice.

One of the three main village structures that give Waterford both its civic and historic identity, the church was built in 1859 using repurposed timbers from an 1818 meetinghouse on Old County Road South. Earlier fund raisers intended for the sanctuary’s interior were diverted to repair a leaky steeple and part of a rotting foundation on the building’s southwest side believed to have been constructed with beams from that meetinghouse.

For its part, Vermont’s newest historical society is asking for contributions that will help it continue to record Waterford’s early to mid-20^th century history by those who lived it. Monies raised at the first joint benefit with the church, “Barn to Table”, were used to buy a secure archives cabinet and materials needed to organize family and business histories. Last year’s hugely successful combined fund raiser, “The Waterford Historic House & Garden Tour & Rhubarb Café”, enabled the society to pay its non-profit incorporation fees.

The church is located on Lower Waterford Road, between Route 18 and Maple Street. Church doors open at 6 p.m.  on Saturday, June 18. The concert is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. The historical society is providing light refreshments during intermission.

Admission is at the door: $10, adults; $5, children 12 and younger, kids under five, free. Anyone who cannot make it, but would like to make a donation to either organization’s projects is welcomed to mail a gift to the church: P.O. Box 111, Lower Waterford 05848 or the historical society: P.O. Box 56, Lower Waterford 05848. (article by Helen C. Pike)

Waterford's Part at the 100-Year Celebration of Long Log Drives on the Connecticut River

Canaan Historical Society

Spiked boots (worn by river loggers) and logging chain.

One hundred years ago, in 1915, Waterford schoolchildren and families probably stood along the Connecticut River, like people along about a hundred miles at a time, marveling at the last long log drive organized by the Connecticut Valley Lumber Company, the C.V.L. Co. -- there would be some other log drives, but in 1930 the river would close entirely to this, as the Comerford Dam rose into place here. It would be the first dam on this river to NOT have a sluice gate for logs to pass through.

Helen and Beth at WHS table.

On August 1, the Waterford Historical Society took part in a celebration of the river logging days, hosted by the Barnet Historical Society and organized by Dylan Ford and Bobby Farlice-Rubio. Also on hand was the Canaan Historical Society -- which brought many C.V.L.-related artifacts, and where Waterford resident Walter Dodge donated a pair of snowshoes that belonged to noted logger Winfield Schoppe. Many members of Win Schoppe's descendants shared the stage for renditions of logging tales related to his life, as written and published by Robert E. Pike.

Helen Pike visits with a couple who used to host her father as he wrote his books.

And Waterford's Helen Chantal Pike -- a historian and author herself, and daughter of author Robert E. Pike -- narrated the life and adventures of Ruth Park, one of the few women to leave a record of her own efforts in timber harvesting, managing the operation, as well as setting in motion forest conservation for future generations.

Helen Pike on stage.

A stunning hooked rug designed and hooked by Roberta Smith of Waterford hung at the center of the event space. And storyteller Beth Kanell (yours truly), also of Waterford, shared tales of logging magnate George Van Dyke of the C.V.L., as recorded by Robert E. Pike and added to with more details from her research.

Roberta Smith and her hooked rug.

What an event! Some 400 people attended, making it clear that the history of the logging days is a lively and engaging topic that continues to be an active part of our heritage.

(Photos by Lynn Troy and Beth Kanell.)

The Last CVL Long Log Drive, 100 Years Ago: Celebration in Barnet, Vermont, August 1

One more wonderful image from the 1929-1931 construction of Comerford Dam surfaced recently. This dam was the first on the Connecticut River to be built WITHOUT a sluice gate for logs -- thus marking the physical end to the log drives on the river.

But the practical end happened in 1915, when the Connecticut Valley Lumber Company held its final long log drive. And the emotional end ... well, that's a story of George Van Dyke. You can here it on Saturday August 1 in Barnet, Vermont, at the grand 100-year celebration, held at Maplemont Farm, just south of Barnet Village on Route 5.

Here's the schedule -- hope to see you there!

8am- 10am : Barnet Preservation group lumberjack breakfast at the Barnet Congregation church

10:00- Festival start time Aden Marcotte opens with his log drive song
Tables: Helen Pike, Paul Keenan, Green Mountain books, Barnet Historical Society (also selling pies), Barnet Library booksale, Waterford Historical Society, St.Johnsbury History & Heritage Center with Tools, Blacksmith Craig Marcotte, Canaan Historical Society

10:30 1st Lumberjack Demo 
10:30 Beth Kanell tells stories of George Van Dyke, “lumber king of McIndoes” 
11:00 Helen Pike reads from Ruth Park
12:00 Aden Marcotte performs log drive song #2
12:00 Barnet trailblazers providing lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers, cole slaw (?)and baked beans.
12:15 : Grinner Schoppe Tribute by Schoppe descendants
12:30: Bayley Hazen Boys begin with Gary Moore reading from Robert Pike’s books
12:45: 2nd Lumberjack demos
1:00 Beth Kanell tells stories of George Van Dyke, “lumber king of McIndoes”
1:25 Gary Moore reading from Robert Pike's books
1:45: 3rd lumberjack demo
2:00 Gary Moore reading from Robert Pike's books
2: 30 : Bayley Hazen ends
2:30 : Grinner Schoppe tribute #2
3:00 Helen Pike reads Ruth Park,
3:30 Beth Kanell tells stories of George Van Dyke, “lumber king of McIndoes”

Homecoming, Waterford and Concord, Vermont

I love the fall for Miles' very reason: it's homecoming time like no other season on the calendar! The Waterford History Group has a terrific line-up for its September meeting (Wed. Sept. 26 at 6 pm at the Davies Memorial Library): Come one! Come all! Plus, we'll be finalizing the details for Waterford's participation in the annual Concord (VT) Historical Society's Open House 9/29 and 9/30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the original Town Hall on Route 2! There's a Family History Table worth checking out.

Posted August 25, 2012, from aWaterford, VT, author Helen-Chantal Pike  -- see her introduction to the 4th edition of SPIKED BOOTS by her father Robert Pike!