The Brattleboro Historical Society Podcast

Ben is the 6th generation to work at the Robb Farm. In 1907 his family moved to Ames Hill in West Brattleboro and began a farming operation. For many years the land supported a dairy herd, but in 2011 the family shifted its emphasis from milk production to raising beef and focusing on its maple sugar operation. Recently Brattleboro Area Middle School students spoke with Ben about maple sugaring. H...

Brattleboro Winter Carnival has been a local tradition since 1957. In this episode we highlight some of the events and participants from 60, 50 and 40 years ago.

The 1st Brattleboro Winter Carnival took place in 1957. In our archive collection we found a program from the inaugural carnival. In this podcast we share information from the program and a little background about what led up to the creation of the carnival...

The Bean's home stood adjacent to the covered bridge and Connecticut River on Bridge St. and was attached to the Brattleboro Gas Works. The company house was provided for the gas maker’s family. Charles Sr.'s job was to fill the huge round building with gas. Charles Jr'.s job was to run the East Eagle Distillery on the nearby island between Brattleboro and Hinsdale...here's the story...

On January 31, 1922 Evelyn and Fred Harris took the first trial jumps off the newly constructed ski hill. The jumping course was about 750 feet long with a drop of approximately 300 feet. A few days later the best male ski jumpers in the region competed in the Vermont State Amateur Ski Jumping Championship at what would become Harris Hill...

George Houghton was a local photographer who traveled with Vermont Civil War Regiments from 1861 to 1863. This is a little bit of his story...

T.W. Higginson knew abolitionist Lucy Stone, supported John Brown, edited Emily Dickinson, led an insurrection against the Fugitive Slave Law, and fought beside Harriet Tubman. Brattleboro historian, Mary Cabot, also said he was a good dancer...here's his story

Local historians Mary Cabot and Henry Burnham wrote that Francis Goodhue was the most influential merchant and developer in Brattleboro History. Here's his story...

In the final few moments of 1941 a secret train traveled south through Brattleboro as it headed to Washington, D.C. On board was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The train was somewhere in Vernon when the old year passed and 1942 arrived. Here's the story...

In 1945 Mrs. Amy Jones Rice spoke to the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. Her talk focused on the history behind the creation of BMH. This is the story she shared...

In 1934 the Vermont DAR purchased an historic farm property in Addison, Vermont. They dedicated the land to Florence Gray Estey, a charter member of the Brattleboro chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Here's the story...

Many scrapbooks have been donated to the historical society. Some are collections of newspaper articles, some are full of family memories, and some focus on a particular interest of the creator. Carrie Smith graduated from Brattleboro High School in 1889 and, for a time, taught at Canal Street School. Mrs. Smith’s scrapbook of newspaper clippings shows her interests in local and world events over...

Substance addictions have been part of our culture for a long time. In the late 1900's society began to look at substance addiction as a medical condition and some doctors began to treat it as such. The local branch of the Morrell Liquor Cure Institute of Vermont opened in Brattleboro in 1893. Here's the story...

This summer a Howard Street homeowner contacted the historical society about a contraption boxed up in an old barn. We investigated the device and researched the story. Not all inventions are successful...

This week’s local history is provided by Brattleboro Historical Society board member Carol Farrington. She remembers her days working at Dunham Brothers. The company came to Main Street in 1885 and moved to the old cotton mill in 1966. Here's Carol's story...

In the early 1800’s France and Great Britain were again at war with one another. The US traded with both countries and found itself drawn into the conflict. Enter John Henry, a spy lately from Vermont, who gets mixed up in the middle of political intrigue...

In 2015 the historical society received a package in the mail from a family in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The passing of one generation had caused the next generation to sort through boxes of “Dad’s stuff”. In one of the boxes were Brattleboro-related items that the family decided to donate to our organization. One of the items was William Whipple’s membership card in the Washington Benevolent So...

In the late 1970’s a section of the south side of Elliot Street was purchased by the town in order to build a small park. The park was part of a larger Elliot Street re-vitalization project that was funded through federal grants secured by the Brattleboro Community Development Office. Here's the story...

Governor Holbrook served as Governor for 2 years during the Civil War. He lived on Walnut Street, used the Brattleboro House for his executive offices and rented space in the American House for official correspondence, (the telegraph office was in the American House). He believed he had a warm, influential relationship with Abraham Lincoln...here's the story...

One hundred and sixty years ago the United States was in a major battle for its soul. The Civil War was a little over a year old and it was clear there would be no easy resolution. In 1861 Brattleboro's Frederick Holbrook was elected Vt. Governor. This begins his story...

During the 1940's more than 1,000,000 Spalding baseballs were sewn together in Brattleboro. Most of the work was done by women and young people not directly involved in the war effort.

The historical society accepts donations of local items of historical significance. These items are catalogued and stored in AB boxes. The AB is short for Artifact Box. This past weekend; while placing a newly donated item into an AB box for medals, pins, jewelry and other small artifacts, we decided to share stories attached to some of the items in the box. Here are stories about some of the cont...

Have you ever played the 1990's game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? In this edition we play a modified version known as Six Degrees of Fairbanks Moore. Moore was the first English colonizer to settle along the West River in the 1750's and we trace an early 1900's Harness Maker's sign to him in six steps...

In 1869 two days of heavy rain throughout New England caused floods along tributaries of major NE rivers and lakes. Water power was the main source of energy for factories and mills. A great deal of destruction and loss of life resulted from these freshets. This is the story of two families facing the consequences of a natural disaster...

In 1922 Charles Crane was commissioned to produce a series of booklets called, “With Interest”. These little booklets were put out every few months and were chock full of information and photos about Brattleboro and surrounding towns. The topics were diverse and included subjects like schools, railroads and local trees. The booklets were sponsored by Vermont National Bank and were published from J...