March 25 Meeting: CANCELED for Community Health Concerns

Sorry to cancel the in-person gathering. BUT: Material from this presentation will be posted online soon -- keep an eye out!

What does a woman's right to vote mean in Vermont? Rural farm historian Donna Rae Heath reflects on how this right developed over the past century, and what it means to her today.

Thousands and Thousands of Sheep ... in Vermont in the 1800s

And there are still sheep in Vermont today. Farmer Elizabeth Everts of Barnet shared details of the many years when Vermont had more sheep than people -- and of her sheep-raising life today, complete with vibrant skeins of yarn. What a great speaker for the first regularly scheduled meeting of 2016 for the Waterford Historical Society! (In the photo, Elizabeth is on the left, with WHS president Donna Heath.)

Next adventure, a history hike on April 2, weather permitting, to some excavations for copper ore. Then, as the April 27 meeting, ace genealogist Nola Forbes brings us skills and techniques for hunting down family connections, present and past.

Calendar Alert: March 23, Sheep! At the Waterford Historical Society Meeting

Find a pencil or pen and mark your calendar for Wed. March 23 at 6:30 p.m., when market gardener and sheep breeder Elizabeth Everts of Too Little Farm, Barnet, comes to the monthly meeting of the Waterford Historical Society at the Davies Memorial Library in Lower Waterford.

Elizabeth will fill us in -- as she did for years at the Fairbanks Museum's Festival of Traditional Crafts -- on sheep raising over the years in our region, and the wool products that result from this.

Above, a sheep design from the February display of hooked rugs at the East Burke Community Library; below, Roberta Smith of Waterford works on her newest rug project, Donna Heath of Waterford practices hooking, and a display of other rugs, including Roberta's Fifteen Mile Falls rug that she designed and hooked for last year's centennial of the last long-log drive on the Connecticut River.

Creating an Accessible, Useful Archive of Waterford, Vermont, Information

Creating the new archive, Jan 24, 2015.

If you thought archiving was dull or boring, you've never seen the Waterford team in action! What a great session yesterday morning, organized by Helen-Chantal Pike and powered by curiosity and good details from an amazing team.

Sorry you missed this one? Watch for another session ... there's more to explore, and with each "sorting" of those stacks of paper and books that used to be bundled in the cupboard, there's more information about the town and residents to rediscover.

Bell atop the Davies Mem. Library

And if you were there -- thanks! and did you have a good time? I sure did!

Spring!!! Um, Not Really -- But We Can Meet in Waterford, Vermont, Anyway, Right?

Not too springlike yet, hmm?

Calling all Waterford, Vermont, historians! Tomorrow, Sat Jan 24, from 9 a.m. to noon, pitch in at the Davies Memorial Library as we sort, label, and file the wonderful written and photo materials on hand, creating the first organized archive for Waterford history.

A dream archive ... well, everyone needs a goal ...

And consider attending the February "Waterford History Group" meeting on Wed Feb 25, for a packed agenda of excitement: who made the newest nature trail in town and where is it?; a presentation on the history of Waterford Springs and Copenhagen; real butternuts to try cracking; organizing an official Waterford Historical Society; planning a Town Meeting exhibit and presentation; and more. Meet at 6:30 pm at the library -- for about an hour, with "visiting" afterward.

Fifteen-Mile Falls and Comerford Dam: Then and Now

The Waterford History group met Matt Lewis at the TransCanada garage parking lot on the Comerford Dam Road (the Barnet end of Lower Waterford Road) this morning to learn about uses of the area during the construction of the famous Connecticut River dam, starting in 1928 and set into action (by President Hoover, via remote switch) in September 1930.

The construction project required its own rail spur from East Barnet to the dam, and two thousand people or more -- of whom about 1700 lived at the construction site during those years -- took part in building the dam. For a few months, it was actually the largest power-generating dam in the United States (until the Hoover Dam went online). Our meeting and walk, planned and supported by Matt with plenty of maps, blueprint copies, and 1930s documents, reviewed where the "camp" of workers had stood.

Thanks to Matt's planning, we also were able to visit and enter the last standing cabin from those days (now a storage shed and home to many bats). Matt pointed out where the concrete works had been, as well as the original site of the high-voltage service segment of the dam that is now located across the river in New Hampshire. He also noted for us the old road toward the now-water-covered Waterford hamlet of Copenhagen; group members who live in the Waterford Springs part of town were already somewhat familiar with this route. Craig B. shared a photo of the Copenhagen district schoolhouse; Dr. C. E. Harris's history of town also says there was a sawmill in Copenhagen.

Other topics during and after the hike included when the planning for the dams that would cover Fifteen-Mile Falls began. Here is a snippet from Electrical World, October 21, 1909 (p. 1009):

LITTLETON, N. H.—Carl A. Ross, promoter of the power project at Fifteen-Mile Falls, on the Connecticut River, is reported to have sold his interests to Massachusetts capitalists, who are already making plans for the development of three large power plants, by which it is estimated that about 5000 hp would be generated. It is understood that work will commence on the plant next spring. Carl A. Ross will have charge of the project.

Plans for upcoming Waterford History meetings: August, guest speakers Garret Nelson (Lyndon State College library director) and Marjorie Strong (Vermont Historical Society librarian). September, pulling together our archives; there are also plans for a display of pre-archaeology materials at the library at the end of September.  October, geology of the region, with possible guest geologist. November-January, winter break. February, consolidating information about Copenhagen.