Mount Independence

The defeated heading back to camp from battle on Mount Independence. We enjoyed a wonderful experience at the re-enactment of, actually, a non-existent battle. Mount Independence, formerly Rattlesnake Hill, was the scene of a huge encampment during the Revolutionary War. No battles were fought here. The Americans built it and spent a couple of years including harsh winters, but retreated when pursued by the British. The British occupied it for a time, but burned it completely when they learned that General Burgoyne had been defeated at Saratoga. Today it is a beautifully preserved historic site.

This statue, which talks, tells the story of both sides in the struggle in a very nice museum.

Across Lake Champlain, you can see Fort Ticonderoga and the Adirondacks in New York. The Americans actually built a floating bridge between the two forts. In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, all from—where else?—Vermont captured the fort for the Americans. Ethan Allen was the founder of Vermont.

Part of the encampment. The re-enacters were authentically dressed and stayed in their role explaining various aspects of being a camp follower from food that they ate to doctoring to schools and daily life. These ladies are knitting with wooden needles and homespun yarn.

Only one British soldier showed up. They divided their army so there could be a battle.

The Fife and Drum Corps was wonderful.

Although blurry, this picture shows a typical battle scene. These are the patriots.

The general was our narrator for the battle explaining the strategy and giving us many historical facts including the fact that your chances of being shot by a musket ball was about 1 in 500. A cannon ball or disease was a likelier culprit.

On this day, the patriots were victorious. Their strategy paid off. It was a very exciting battle to watch. One blessing of the day was the good weather. We walked a long ways and were hot and tired when it was over, but felt we’d gained an appreciation for the brave soldiers who waged the War of Independence and gave us our freedoms. The general read the Declaration of Independence in a rousing and dramatic way before the battle began. A treasured memory. This is Vermont.

A Vermont philosopher

This picture doesn't have much relevance to this post except that these lillies were growing along the roadside near Burlington. This weekend we were going to visit the birthplace of President Calvin Coolidge, but changed our minds so I didn't have anything to blog about. I don't think you care much that we cleaned our floors and our apartment! I decided that you might enjoy a few words of wisdom from one of my favorite Vermont philosphers--the author Robert Newton Peck.
Peck's first book, A Day no Pigs Would Die is one of my favorites. We taught it for a few years to middle school kids. I also loved his books about his friend Soup. I saw the author at a young writer's conference several years ago and was impressed by his down home wisdom. The book takes place in Vermont and I wondered just where in Vermont his family lived. I remembered that Rob attends the Rutland County Fair, I went to the website to see what I could find and found a wonderful essay by Peck. His wisdom impressed me.

Here are some of the fun gems I found:

It was years later when somebody pointed to a large building and said, "That's a library." I didn't believe it, because in Miss Kelly's little one-room school, we all knew what a library was. Not a building. It was a board. A three-foot-long shelf in the corner, a plank, upon which sat our few precious worn-out books. According to custom, we washed our hands before touching them.
So there we sat in her school, soldier straight, learning about people like Mark Twain and Calvin Coolidge, and Ty Cobb and Charles Lindbergh and Booker T. Washington.
We were the sons and daughters of illiterate farmers, millworkers, and lumberjacks. Some of the folks, in town, called us uproaders. And we called them downhillers. But I knew they could do what I had me an itch to do.
They could read.

Writing is not showing off with big words. Nor is teaching. The dearest rabbi who ever lived, a Nazarene carpenter, preached of little things in common terms . . . loaves and fishes, a camel passing through the eye of a needle, a mustard seed. Tangibles.
Stuff, not abstracts.

Ain't it just peachy that the fools of the world hold their own annual festival. It's called New Year's Eve. And if you climb into your car on 31 December, and venture out on a highway, you'll be the biggest fool of all, especially in some flimsy Japanese car.

Cowboy America is positive, prosperous, and pleasant. More than a difference of geography, I see it as a difference of attitude. I live in Florida. Driving a car, one time, I entered a northeastern state, and noticed an official roadside sign which "welcomed" me to its border. It read "Conviction Means Loss of License." In contrast, as a motorist enters a particular southern state, the sign reads "Drive Friendly."

"Wish not for apples. Grow strong trees."

Speaking of chores, work is a solid thing to believe in. Vermonters usually do. Granite folk on granite land. Much like their statues in village squares, they are the granite sentries of liberty, standing free.

Our favorite philospher so far is our janitor friend, Connie. She's educating us about Vermont. Her favorite phrase is: Oh well. They aren't from Vermont. For her, Vermont is God's country. She recently talked Garth into wearing his cowboy hat and shirt so she could see a "real cowboy". Life is good. This is Vermont.

In Re: Probate Records

I haven't blogged because there hasn't been much to blog about! We've fallen into a well-established routine. Today as I worked, I thought about the records which we're doing. Family Search has a contract to complete probate records for the state of Vermont. We've been doing probate records all the time we've been here. I do all of the preparing of the records--Elder does the majority of filming and helps with putting the records back into their folders. It works well for us. I hope you won't be too bored with my conclusions about the work. Remember that my new found knowledge is based on probate in Vermont from approximately 1812 to 1915.
By far, I see more wills from men than women. Probate records are kept for people who had something to leave to someone usually family. Men's wills are pretty straight forward and they just leave "everything". Women are pickier often spelling out who gets what including a favorite teapot or brooch. Often pieces of jewelry are given to friends. And though I haven't kept track precisely, women most often give what they have to other women. Once or twice we've seen instances where people have cut the spouse out of the will completely.
Elaborate genealogies sometimes accompany the other records and will be such a boon to families who are searching for them. Long and elaborate inventories list everything from large properties to false teeth or teaspoons in the cupboard. Claims against the will are often written on envelopes and small scraps of paper. Many papers are fastened together with straight pins, small nails, staples, brads and elaborate paper clips. We had a mystery going for awhile about some mysterious small black pieces which were often in the envelopes until we discovered they were the remainder of rubber bands. Black-edged notes to the judge sometimes appear from a tearful widow.
We find the work interesting, but tedious. We haven't been bored yet because we have a vision of how important these records will become. Several months from now the thousands of images we've done will be available to those who have ancestors in Vermont. The people who work in our building appreciate the records, but they're astounded that we'd leave our home and family and, willingly, spend 8 hours a day doing this work.
We attended Zone Conference this week and it was very inspiring. We were inspired by these tremendous young people. What a sacrifice for them. They are well-versed in the scriptures and our president is inspired in his leadership for them. We are proud to be part of the New Hampshire Manchester Mission. We enjoyed seeing our friends--the Longmores and Longhursts. Both couples lived for some time in Pocatello.
Perhaps the most important impression I've had from the probate records is that you can't take it with you. No matter how long your inventory of personal goods is--it will be left to someone else. It's important to remember that. Yes, we are lonely at times, lonely for home and for all of you, but our mission is here and it is a calling from the Lord. We miss you all. This is Vermont.

Shelburne Museum

One of my favorite words is serendipity—finding the unexpected where you least expect it. This was a serendipitous weekend for us. We decided to explore the famous Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. We booked a room overnight because we’d been told that it takes two days to really see it.
Electra Havemeyer Webb (she was somehow connected with the Vanderbilts) was the founder of the museum. She and her husband were filthy rich and they were collectors of a little bit of everything. The Museum is renowned for its collections of art and Americana. There 150,000 works which are in 39 buildings 25 of which are historic buildings moved from somewhere else. In some buildings are permanent collections and, in others, are temporary exhibits such as a motorcycle exhibit. Mrs. Webb had an eye for detail and the money to pay for it.
The first thing you see is this round barn. It housed the motorcycle exhibit, but we were much more interested in the barn. It is huge and goes underground for a couple of stories. This was moved from someplace else. It was originally built for the Shakers.

In this picture you can see the silo that runs the length of the building. The barn could house 80 head of dairy cows and their poop dropped to one of the lower floors where it was recycled!

The room Garth is in the Circus Building. Out front is a beautiful carousel. This room houses enclosed in glass, a miniature circus parade. The woodcarver grew up in Vergennes, VT and loved circus parades. Electra shared the same love and commissioned him to do this. You can see the end of the parade—the elephants. Throughout the building were artifacts from circuses. I don't know how long this was but it circled around in a semi-circle. The actual circus parade would have been 2 miles long. There was every animal, every type of circus wagon, mounted soldiers. Just fantastic.

I could put in a dozen pictures. After awhile, I just gave up because there was so much to see. One of my favorites was the Ticonderoga, a 220 ft. steamboat which had been hauled overland for 2 miles from Lake Champlain an engineering feat which cost Electra about $250,000. It has been restored to its 1923 luxury. I sat in a deck chair and could imagine myself as a Vanderbilt enjoying the luxury of a sail on the Lake, which if you squint hard enough you can see in the distance.

We spent seven hours there and enjoyed it thoroughly despite the squalls that kept drenching us as we walked around. I couldn’t take pictures in a lot of the buildings because I didn’t know how to turn my flash off. This is just one example of fine stitchery. Other buildings housed farm implements, canoes, stuffed animals, photographs from WWII including a wonderful glimpse of Adak, Alaska where Garth’s dad served.

We literally walked our feet off and decided not to go to the fireworks as planned that night. Burlington and the entire area is celebrating the quadricentennial of the discovery of Lake Champlain by Samuel de Champlain in 1609. They had a $40, 000 fireworks display which we happily missed and our feet thanked us for the next day. Apparently, nature added some of its own display to the celebration.

This last picture is for Jennie. This is one part of the gift shop at the Vermont Teddy Bear factory. These teddy bears are manufactured in Vermont. Their claim to fame is their lifetime guarantee. They’re famous all over the world. None of them are “bear” naked because they are all dressed in clothes even if it might be only a bow tie! This is Vermont.