Barn Survey Continues: Remick/Green Barns

Many thanks to Mary Florio for sharing so much information about the barns built by Lorenzo Green, eventually becoming part of the Rufus W., Harry E., and then Henry E. Remick dairy farm. A lot of the information on these barns will be in the 2013 Waterford Town Report, as part of a longer exploration of the barn survey by local historian Helen-Chantal Pike. For now, I'll just mention a small story that goes with the farm:

Teachers at the neighboring Green School (named for the Green family) usually boarded at the farmhouse. In the farm's earliest years, several of the seven Green sons married teachers because of this. Teacher spouses also abound in the Remick family, and today the farm owner has retired from the Waterford School, after a career as an actively teaching librarian. (Do you think it's something in the water? Smile.)

REMINDER: Waterford Historical Group meets on the 4th Wed. of each month, at the Davies Mem. Library, 6 pm; as I write this, that's TOMORROW. Come talk barns.

Barn Survey: Waterford Historical Starts New Project

At right, speaker Joshua Phillips.

Attentive audience!

Joshua Phillips brought his Vermont barn expertise to the October meeting of the Waterford Historical group, and taught about English-style barns, bank barns, roofs, why round barns were designed, and much more. Handouts on barn details and terminology and a dynamic "PowerPoint" slide show kept us all eager and the conversations afterward were full of enthusiasm.

So -- it looks like our Nov 28 meeting (at the Davies Memorial Library, 6 pm) will focus on who's going to survey which structures (or areas), and setting some priorities. Mr. Phillips suggested that November and April are the best months for taking unobstructed photos of all four sides of a barn or other farm-related building (yes, sugarhouses count!).

For copies of the handouts, look here:

http://www.uvm.edu/~barn/get_ready.html

And if you can't be at the November meeting but you're interested in working on this, or want to suggest some agricultural buildings in town, please do leave a message at the library and one of us will get back to you.

Oh yes -- why do this? Because it will help preserve our barns! The Barn Census is step one in making sure that state and private preservation groups pay attention, and direct some funds, toward the fascinating structures and history that we have right here.

Waterford District Schools: Help Identify These, Please?

Beth here. I took the camera out today and snapped the location where, if I have it right, the Graves School used to be -- is this correct?

And here is the little schoolhouse across from Union Baptist Church on Route 5. Which school was this? Someone is taking very good care of it.

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!

School Days! Now and Then ...

The season is turning, and along with a few red leaves (we're nowhere near what this photo shows, yet!), the school buses are tuning up and there are new outfits for school, new books to explore. At the Waterford Historical group, we've enjoyed listening to stories of school days at the district schools -- which stopped being used after the town's central school opened in 1957.

More stories tonight (Wed. Aug. 22, at 6 pm); hope you'll be there.

Meanwhile, just for the record, here's a discovery I made today: Mrs. Vida Nina (Watson) Fitchett's 2009 obituary, in the Caledonian-Record, specifically mentioned the Wood School, one of the last four district schools of the town. Here's the link: http://caledonianrecord.com/Main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=144&ArticleID=43777

Waterford Historical Group (Met on June 27)

Love maps? If so, you missed about a dozen good ones from 1756 to 2003, if you didn't attend the June meeting of the Waterford Historical group at the Davies Memorial Library. More copies are still available.

Next meetings: July 25 and August 22. Invited guests who attended Waterford's district schools, before the current unified school was built, will help us learn what "school days" were like in the 1940s and 1950s. Come for the stories (and good company, and some cookies). Always at 6 pm in the Davies Memorial Library, Waterford, VT.