National Register Farm in Waterford: The Barn Story

The Caledonian-Record today (October 27, 2018) printed a column by Peggy Pearl that looks at the construction of this Waterford barn from fresh angles. It's called West View Farm in its National Register listing and our town barn census. Here is Peggy Pearl's commentary:

Voices from an Earlier Time in Waterford, Vermont: Dorothy Morrison, Gordon Fleming

This was once the Fleming home, on their dairy farm.

Dorothy Morrison. Gordon Fleming. If you're a Waterford long-time resident, you may have heard their names; if this is your first time noticing them, welcome to the pleasures of local history, where treasures emerge unexpectedly and there's often someone around to add a good story!

This week, on Wed. October 24, the Waterford Historical Society is excited to share newly rediscovered recordings from Mrs. Morrison and Mr. Fleming, thanks to both Diane Willson and Helen Chantal Pike.

Mrs. Morrison was a long-time postmaster, running the post office on Maple Street. You can read more about her post office here. Her parents were Bertha and Lester Pease, and she was born in Center Strafford, New Hampshire, in 1911. She died at home in 2003.

Mr. Fleming, a farmer and dairyman, owned and operated the Fleming Dairy, from the farm more recently known at the Turek home. He was born in the same year as Mrs. Morrison, 1911, in St. Johnsbury Center, to Matthew and Jessie Fleming; he died in 1989. Read more about the homestead that became the Fleming farm, here.

Although this seems like "recent history," times have changed dramatically since 1911. Listen to these two Waterford residents tell about their lives from recordings, and enjoy the insights of other community members, at the Davies Memorial Library in Lower Waterford on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Accessible entry; some stairs to restroom. Refreshments will be served.

Google Earth aerial photo of Lower Waterford, Vermont. Can you locate the post office - today's, and the one that Dorothy Morrison ran for so many years?

The Slade and Fleming and Turek Home, Waterford, Vermont

The North Star Monthly published in 2016 this article on the home built by Waterford settler Benton Slade, and since the Waterford Historical Society presents this week the recorded voice of dairy farmer Gordon Fleming, who also lived there, it might be nice to look back at the article. Many thanks to the North Star Monthly, which allows this kind of use. (Consider a subscription to see more articles as they are published!)

Waterford's Graves School, 1914–1924, via Albert and Andy Dussault

We appreciate very much these photos sent by Andy Dussault, now of St. Johnsbury. Andy's father Albert Peter Dussault (1909-1985) is one of the students in these photos of the Graves School, during the period 1914-1924 when he attended there.

Who are the other students? It would be terrific to figure this out!

The Graves School is no longer standing:  It was Waterford's District #6 school and stood about where Vermont Highway 18 now crosses Interstate 93 (southbound ramp), and was probably removed during the interstate highway construction.

In 1924, Albert Dussault began to attend St. Gabriel's School in St. Johnsbury. After driving horses and oxen and working in the woods as a youth, Albert discovered his heart's desire, driving trucks, which he continued in various ways until retirement. His autobiography tells of the many jobs and employers he worked with.

But for today -- consider the Graves School, where Lottie Hill taught. She was almost surely of the Hill family that had the nearby lands now part of the Gingue farm. Check back for more details as we put them together. And if you have even a guess at some of the other students, the Waterford Historical Society would really like to hear from you.

Waterford's Northeastern Speedway and Paul Bellefeuille

Waterford history made the front page of the Caledonian-Record, our regional newspaper, on October 12, 2018, as the rebuilt site was adopted onto Vermont's State Registry of Historic Places.

Digging into History, with Waterford's Kids and Coaches

Surveying the barnyard.

Waterford Historical Society Kids’ Presentation 
Wednesday, September 26, 6:30 pm
Community Room, downstairs in the Lower Waterford Congregational Church (next to the library and across from the Rabbit Hill Inn)
Lower Waterford, Vermont
*Free*

A week-long coached "dig" by kids in the barnyard of a historic barn yielded evidence of the farm's past uses, and lit interest in archaeology for grades 4-8 students in Waterford. See their discoveries and hear about this community collaboration.

Learning about Waterford's past.

This presentation the regularly scheduled Waterford Historical Society meeting, and also part of Vermont Archaeology Month.

How do archaeologists do this part?

Are you curious about what the students found? It was part of the local school's summer adventure camp, and was a big success! Each day the students gathered at "Base Camp" in the community room of the Lower Waterford Congregational Church, did some thinking and brainstorming with coaches like Helen Chantal Pike, Craig Brown, and Donna Heath, then walked the mile down the road to the farm.

Sifting the soil and hay -- what's in there?

Base Camp!

[Photos courtesy of Donna Heath and Helen Pike -- thank you!]

A Waterford VT and Monroe NH Farm Business: Pete and Gerry's Eggs

In the Caledonian-Record of August 4, 2018, this supplement was included -- and astute history readers will notice a brief history of Pete and Gerry's Eggs on the page. To be protective of the chickens, as well as to encourage use in other regions, the Monroe NH family-run company hosts poultry barns in many locations.

Monroe is one of two New Hampshire towns that border Waterford, VT (the other is Littleton). The region's shared history continues to be important!