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.

Photographing a Waterford Barn: First Try, Harder Than It Looks

This is Donna Rae Heath's barn on Walsh Road, not far from Styles Pond. I thought it would be simple to photograph -- four sides and you're done! -- but found that capturing the "look" of this friendly old structure isn't that easy. I'll be interested in seeing how the rest of the team develops this skill, as we do the Waterford Barn Census this winter and spring.

Lee Farm

The Lee Farm includes another set of Waterford, Vermont, farm structures already documented; this group was described in a 1982 National Register of Historic Places nomination written by Deborah Noble. The nomination can be found here: http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V19-3.htm

Here is the paragraph that most intrigued me in the nomination:

The large farm complex alludes in its relative grandeur to the early days of what was then known as Waterford Hollow, when that village was formerly of "considerable importance, having a church, store, hotel, oil-mills and saw mill" and when the proximity of Stiles Pond "rendered the locality a pleasant summer retreat."(8) The Stiles family, who settled nearby, were developers of the various mills at the outlet of the pond. After business passed to nearby East St. Johnsbury and Concord, the village declined until now all that is left is the nearby cemetery and several farms bypassed by the newly constructed Interstate 93.

West View Farm

As we prepare to make lists of Waterford's most intriguing barns and outbuildings this week, I'm also looking for farm structures that have already been documented. West View Farm includes a round barn that was the last design of Northeast Kingdom architect Lambert Packard, and was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. For more information, look here: http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V19-49.htm

Here is a short excerpt from the nomination report:

The most notable feature of West View Farm is its round barn. It is the last known work of the distinguished Vermont architect, Lambert Packard (1832-1908). Packard created much of Victorian St. Johnsbury, located about one mile from the farm. In addition to stately homes, his commissions included the following structures in St. Johnsbury: the Fairbanks Museum; the North Congregational Church; the former Fairbanks scale factory; the Atheneum; and the Post Office block. The homes and public buildings he designed can be found across a wide area of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Round barns are rare in Vermont, as they are elsewhere. Twenty three round (as distinct from polygonal) barns were built in Vermont - all in the northern one-third of the State. Their era ended with the start of World War One. A survey done in 1971 determined that twelve of these true round barns remained; five had not survived the preceding five years. At present there are five in Vermont.

The West View Farm round barn was built in 1903 by Fred Quimby, an East Barnet carpenter who was noted for the precision of his work in general and his silos in particular. These skills help to explain why he was able to build the first Vermont round barn in 1899. He built one other round barn which has been moved to and rebuilt at the Shelburne Museum. The West View barn is the last and largest of the three.

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.

More Waterford, Vermont, Postmasters

I've already typed today the 150-years brochure from the Lower Waterford Post Office. In the same folder where this was found is another document, typed, with Marvel E. Denis, Oct 4, 1980, added at the end of the Lower Waterford list.

In addition, the following are in this stapled two-page typescript document, which appears to be a photocopy:

Waterford, Caledonia County, Vermont
Established as Waterford-Littleton (date not given)
Littleton dropped from office name (date not given)
Discontinued on February 28, 1935 (mail to Lower Waterford)

Postmasters                    Appointment Dates
                             Through February 28, 1935

Nathan Pike           *July 1, 1807
Luther Pike              April 28, 1808
Laban Hemingway     December 15, 1817
Charles Davis          November 24, 1819
Richard F. Rowell   September 4, 1826
Charles Davis           March 5, 1828
Robert Taggard        October 27, 1828
Ephraim C. Parks      September 1, 1829
Milo K. Parks           October 3, 1849
Luther P. Hosmer      February 11, 1856
Ebeneezer M. Wheeler   April 29, 1857
John C. Frye                July 20,  1860
Charles C. Moulton     June 18, 1861
Ephraim C. Parks       November 25, 1863
Harvey C. Kinne        November 21, 1881
Seth P. Moulton          August 24, 1885
Fred A. Watson          October 21, 1885
Niles G. Johnson       December 9, 1887
Hiram M. Parks         August 6, 1889
William H. Bailey     July 12, 1894
Wilfred Cleasby        September, 10, 1898
Clara E. Cleasby       February 19, 1901
Edward M. Brown     February 26, 1904
Myra P. Parker           February 26, 1906
Flora W. Wallace       April 9, 1907

West Waterford, Caledonia County, Vermont
Established on January 5, 1856
Discontinued on February 28, 1902 (mail to Saint Johnsburg) [sic]
Reestablished on April 8, 1902
Discontinued on June 30, 1905 (mail to Saint Johnsburg) [sic]

Postmasters                  Appointment Dates
                               Through June 30, 1905

Amos B. Carpenter      January 5, 1856
James W. Curtis           April 21, 1862
Amos B. Carpenter      October 31, 1862
Edwin L. Hovey          December 11, 1863
Amos B. Carpenter      August 25, 1864
Cosbi B. Carpenter      August 13, 1884
Cosbi B. Carpenter (Reappointed)    April 8, 1902
Mabel H. Carpenter       July 16, 1903

Gaskill, Caledonia County, Vermont
Established on March 9, 1894
Discontinued on December 31, 1901 (mail to Saint Johnsburg) [handwritten over final letter]

Only Postmasters           Appointment Dates

Fred M. Hovey             March 9, 1894
Frank E. Dexter            January 18, 1895


IN A SECOND FOLDER, a later list of Lower Waterford Post Office includes a column of titles, all of which are "Postmaster," until these final entries:

Name                                  Title                Date
                                                           Appointed

Mrs. Gertrude B. Curran    Acting Postmaster  09/01/1946
Mitchell J. Curran             Postmaster  01/30/1947
Mrs. Dorothy P. Morrison    Acting Postmaster  01/18/1955
Mrs. Dorothy P. Morrison   Postmaster  10/21/1955
Yvonne M. Raynor   Officer-in-Charge  06/13/1980
Mrs. Marvel E. Denis   Postmaster 09/20/1980
Denise Hindle    Officer-in-Charge  09/29/2003
Bruce A. Killian   Postmaster 05/29/2004
Nathan Morse  Officer-in-Charge 07/24/2012 [last line handwritten in ink]