Hope Cemetery

Barre is the Granite Capital of the World. One of the interesting features of Vermont is its cemeteries. We've been fascinated by them. They're very old and, often, right in the middle of town. As you can imagine, they are filled with granite headstones, but none moreso than Hope Cemetery which is considered a tourist attraction. It is one of the showplaces for Rock of Ages. Enjoy some of what we found on our recent visit.







I hope you can enlarge these and see the details. They are truly amazing. The last is a very recent addition to the cemetery--the intended occupants are still living.
It certainly gives you pause to look through this huge cemetery and wonder if the rich weren't just trying to out sculpt their neighbors. This is Vermont.

Vermont Country Store

Many of you may receive flyers from the Vermont Country Store in Weston, VT. They advertise as purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find. They've been in business since 1942. Just a few weeks after we'd arrived, my sister received a catalog and her husband thought maybe we'd signed them up. That peaked my curiosity. The catalog alone is a trip through time. On Saturday, we decided to go visit the store for ourselves. What a kick!





We wandered around for over an hour looking at everything from soup to nuts. We found Garth's favorite gum Beeman's as well as Blackjack and every kind of candy you can remember. They had all the kitchen gadgets that were in your grandmother's kitchen. I heard one young girl ask her mother what an egg beater was. We found Ovaltine and old-fashioned flannel nightgowns. We found the old cat clock with the tail as the chime. It was just a real kick. The store is high on a mountain in the Bromley ski area and we didn't think there would be many people there--the place was so packed that we couldn't get many pictures. We ate in a lovely restaurant--a converted Victorian home--among the rich and famous. It was an interesting and delicious meal. And the scenery to and from was absolutely gorgeous. There was just a dusting of snow in the higher elevations.



You can see me wearing my coat in front of the main entrance, but it was actually a beautiful day. Vermont is experiencing unseasonably warm weather right now, but a snow storm is forecast for the 16th. Whenever someone hears that I don't like winter, they cluck their tongues and say, "Then you probably won't like Vermont for the next four months!" I'm as prepared as I'll ever be.
We're so grateful to all of you for your friendship. We've forged new friendships here and are sorry to see our good friends, the Longhursts, leaving so soon. We were brought to tears (at least I was) by a wonderful "missionary" box from the Royal First Ward. Thank you dear friends. We've been on hiatus for a week because of construction at the Archives, but are hoping to be back to work on Thursday. This is Vermont.

Ellie's 32nd Annual Great Green Mountain Pumpkin Show

Even though Garth wasn’t quite recovered from his ear problems, we decided to go to see an event we’d heard about. The owner of a small produce stand in Northfield Falls, VT has decorated the hillside near her stand with carved pumpkins for 32 years. We went on Friday night but there were a ton of people everywhere and it was pouring down rain so we didn’t want to brave the downpour. On Halloween night, we went early enough to appreciate the pumpkins in the daylight and stayed until it was dark. We just couldn’t get over the over 1,000 pumpkins which were carved and placed all over the hillside. We didn’t get a good picture of the hillside in the dark, but it was interesting.





















This was just a fun event to attend. We were astounded at the beautiful carving and funny sayings on the pumpkins. Every single pumpkin had a candle in it and was lighted by hand. This is Vermont.

Bennington--magical

Perhaps you remember this obelisk from April. It is a monument in Bennington, VT, commemorating a Revolutionary War battle fought in nearby NY, but the munitions were stored in Bennington. Bennington was our first city in Vermont when we came and we toured the monument. Recently we returned to Bennington on a magical, fall day. The drive was absolutely beautiful.

This waterfall is a favorite spot for leaf peepers. Nearby is a maple syrup stand. Our friend Connie says the guy has had the stand there for years.
Our purpose in going to Bennington was to visit the probate court clerk to offer assistance in transferring records from Bennington to Middlesex. We were lucky enough to also meet the probate judge for the county. We had a wonderful visit and both ladies were very gracious. After our business was done, we went to the Bennington Museum which houses some lovely displays which we weren’t allowed to photograph including an endearing display of the art work and personal memorabilia of Grandma Moses as well as many, many Vermont artifacts and this car—a WASP which was a gift of long ago actor Douglas Fairbanks to his wife Mary Astor.

Also in the museum was a quilt I had been waiting for months to see. This quilt was made during the Civil War by Jane Stickle while she waited for her husband to return from the war. Every stitch was done by hand. There are 169 4 1/2” blocks—none repeated. The triangles in the border are not repeated either. It is a masterpiece. Many quilters are currently duplicating the Dear Jane quilt as it is called. It is only displayed in the museum once a year for a month because of its fragile condition.


We returned to the John Stark obelisk and saw this beside it. Apparently a fund raiser because we saw these moose everywhere.

Then we rode the elevator to the turrets in the obelisk—about 20 stories up. Not a thrilling ride for me, but the view was worth it. We could see Massachusetts and NY from up there.

On our way home, we stopped by Whitington, VT, the birthplace of another special person.

Bennington was a wonderful experience for us. The museum was well worth the visit as was the monument. Our visit to the court will result in records being sent and we feel we were blessed to meet Judge Buchanan—a genealogy and history buff whose most famous ancestor was Benedict Arnold. We hope to return to Bennington and visit their famous pottery works. This is Vermont.

FALL FOLIAGE

Make a Smilebox greeting

We have absolutely loved the fall foliage. If you turned you head around 360 degrees there is a picture at every minute turn. Now where there are hundreds of trees, you'd expect millions of leaves, but there haven't been millions falling yet. This little smilebox will give you a small idea of what we've seen.

Make a Smilebox photobook

I haven't blogged in awhile because our lives seem so routine. We spend our weekdays on the "busyness" of our mission duties and weekends exploring, cleaning our apartment. The last Smilebox was just too easy so I created another one.
The fall foliage is wonderful. We took some pictures today during the break in the rain which I'll post later this week.
Life is good in Vermont. We're still enjoying each other, our mission and this beautiful state. We were able to enjoy Conference this weekend and were inspired and uplifted.

Our Maine Adventure

For Labor Day, we traveled to the beautiful state of Maine. We drove Highway 1 to Acadia National Park and across the central part of the state home. I just can't describe the beauty that we saw. I wish I were a better photographer! This smilebox is new for me. Hope it works.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Little Brown Jug

Don’t worry we haven’t gotten a bottle from some moonshiner in the Vermont hills! Our friend in all things Vermont, Connie, gave us this jug of liquid gold—maple syrup. We’d been commenting that maple syrup was terribly high priced--$65 a gallon. She brought this to us saying that her boyfriend who, ironically enough considering my title, just retired as a state inspector for the liquor control board buys syrup from friends to help them in hard times. They had 9 gallons of maple syrup. She’s going to bring us more when we’re ready to leave. (By the way the two hangers you see are gifts from my sister. Aren’t they cute?) Connie, whose wit is classic, explained that she likes Mrs. Butterworth’s better.

I wanted to say one more thing about inventories. When we visited Calvin Coolidge’s homestead we were greeted by a very chatty docent who has a very cushy job. The Coolidge’s housekeeper preserved the house until well into the fifties when it was donated to the state of Vermont. Everything is pretty much intact. Her job for which she will have two or three assistants is to inventory over the next two years every item in the Coolidge estate—every fork, every shoe everything. Guess where her salary will come from—stimulus money! Don’t you love it?
This is Vermont.

Thoughts about inventories

At a ward party a month or so ago, a lady said to us, “Don’t you just love inventories?” And we agreed that we do. Although my knowledge of probate records is limited to my observation of those in Addison County, Vermont, I know that an inventory is a vital part of some of those records. An inventory is just that: a listing of all the worldly goods of the deceased.

Sister Grey is a professor of history at Norwich University in nearby Northfield. She’s a published author of articles about her specialty: Lutherans after the Reformation. Yes my first thought was also who would want to know about that? However, at the university’s expense, she travels to Germany a couple of times a year to study records in Archives so she has a love for the kind of work we’re doing. She often studies long inventories and other records. We enjoyed our conversation with her about old records.

Inventories are sometimes the bane of our existence because they’re very often many pieces of paper glued together. Since our instructions include not changing anything in the boxes, we have to manuver them into place under the camera. An especially long one requires both of us to image. This beauty is 6’ 9” long and listed the worldly belongings of one man--everything from the number of forks in the kitchen to his false teeth. Beside each item is an estimated value. As you can imagine, this wasn’t easy to image. We glance through the inventories from time to time.
Sister Grey’s comments and my own reading of the inventories makes me think about what possessions I’m going to leave on this earth. Having now been away from home for 5 months, I’ve decided there are many things in my home that I’m going to get rid of when I return! An observation Garth often makes to people when he describes what we’re doing is: “Not a one took anything from that inventory with them when they left.”

I hope my inventory includes not material possessions but the possessions most valuable to me—my family, my friends and my testimony. Working with records of those who have passed from this earth makes me think long and hard about the legacy that I want to leave for my children and grandchildren.

A Day in Vermont

Saturday was a fun day for us. Our day began at an every-other-Saturday tradition at a restaurant called Soup n’ Greens where there’s lots of noise and camaraderie and good, cheap food. They do not, however, serve hashbrowns with breakfast—home fries which are just glorified French fries.
Then on to Waterbury to the flea market. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as big as last time we went. It was obvious that there’d been a downpour just before we’d arrived. We keep wondering why people collect so much junk just to turn around and sell it. Your whole childhood is before you at Waterbury. I was looking for some things for my Christmas (don’t worry kids) and I saw every Tupperware piece I or my mother ever had as well as Avon. I also saw a few of the dishes that used to come in soap boxes.

Our next stop was Waitsfield where the flea/farmer’s market is. I either had a shot of the lady’s derriere or one with the sign for the port-a-lets. Sorry about that. This is a colorful and noisy spot. We bought some nice fresh, vegetables at a price. We bought some fresh salads with marigolds and edible flowers which Garth refused to eat!

In the late afternoon we went to a ward cornfest. I should have taken a picture of the corn cooking. They simply put the unhusked corn on the special cooker and it roasts in the husk. Delicious. This is the premier event of the summer and was well-attended. DH played whiffle ball. Lucy isn't sure where she's supposed to run. The event was held at the home of Brother and Sister Grey who own an 1840s homestead. I enjoyed the beautiful location.

These picturesque outbuildings were built at various times. The barn in 1840 and the buildings in 1920. Such buildings are very typical of Vermont.

Although rather plain looking, this is a beautiful home which was built in the 1840s. Our friends, the Luces, were married in the parlor in 1980. The Greys are restoring it to its original splendor. The small building you see on the left is a doudi house for the in-laws.

I love the English style gardens which take advantage of the natural flora.
We enjoyed visiting with the good people of the Montpelier Ward who’ve welcomed us. We spent nearly an hour visiting with the bishop who began the cornfest 37 years ago. His were stories of miracles, conversions, and lives in the history of the Montpelier Ward. This is Vermont.

High on a Mountain Top

This weekend we chose Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont, for an excursion. As you can see from the picture, Janeen and Greg and family were visiting. To put this in perspective, Mt. Mansfield is about 4, 322 feet—Mt. Rainier is 14, 000. Dad and I didn’t climb clear to the summit but the kids did—Millie and Chris in their flip flops! We were going to ride the gondola to the top but this place was reached by traveling 4 ½ miles up a windy, mountain road.
The view was spectacular! This is northern Vermont with Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks in the far distance. Look at the beautiful, huge, fluffy clouds we’ve been enjoying lately.

This is the rest of Vermont and New Hampshire.

We found this little chapel on the way down the mountain.

The kids (big and small) enjoyed the Alpine Slide at a big resort. You rode to the top in the ski lift.

On the way home, we drove through Smuggler’s Notch a rather windy road through the mountain which was used by smugglers transporting goods between Canada and the US.
The Green Mountain State is a beautiful example of the “beauties of the earth”. Our work is going well and we are happy to be where we are. We have witnessed miracles in our lives and in our family’s lives. This is Vermont.

Silent Cal

We toured yet another historical site on Saturday—Plymouth Notch, the birthplace of Calvin Coolidge. Sorry this picture looks hazy, but I took it through glass which covered the door. This is the room where Coolidge was sworn in by his father who was a notary public after President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack.

This small town remains pretty much unchanged since 1923 when Coolidge was President. It was Plymouth Pioneer Days at the site. There were quite a few people there so we weren’t able to get to the cemetery. The two pictures below were in the small home where Coolidge was born. The one is the actual room and the other is in the kitchen. Can you guess what the object is which is attached to the table?

This has been a wonderful, inspiring weekend. We attended a baptism which is always a special occasion. Kristina had been searching for some time for answers to life’s difficult questions. She talked to a fellow student who also attends the New England Culinary Institute and he and the missionaries were able to answer her questions. We also experienced the tender mercy of a loving Heavenly Father who blessed our family in a miraculous way with our beloved Jennie. We are so blessed and, to end the weekend with beauty, we saw this outside our window.