OUR TAPESTRY .. A VERMONT STORY

As our time of leaving draws closer, I had one last trip to make to walk in my family’s steps.  As I’ve written, throughout the summer, Vermont is where my history began.  It’s a funny story, a family story.

My mother is a Vermonter.  She was born in West Rutland, Vermont February 15, 2013 to Elizabeth Brodeur Noyes and Earl Franklin Noyes.  Elizabeth (Lizzy) was a first generation American from Quebec, Canada and one of four siblings.  Earl Noyes came from a long line of Vermonters who settled in the state in the 1600’s.   When I was twelve, my mother took me to a cemetery where I was able to trace my Noyes family back before the Revolutionary War by reading the tombstones.  Unfortunately, I could not find that cemetery this summer.

My father teased my mother about “taking you off the mountain and putting shoes on your feet”.  He, however, loved Vermont and spent as much time up here as possible.

My Grandfather (POP POP) was employed by the Vermont Marble Company and my mother graduated from Castleton College through a scholarship provided by the Vermont Marble Company.  This was during the beginning and height of the depression.   Pop Pop remained employed with the Vermont Marble Company throughout the depression and he grew his own food as did many of the residents of Rutland, Vermont.  The depression may have been a different experience for my Mother than for folks in the cities.  Everyone helped each other out, and that is the characteristic of Vermont that has not diminished with time or circumstances.

VERMONTERS EMERGE

Now for the funny story.  Back in the 1960’s, my cousins (Fairbanks) started a genealogy of the Blood family.  Back then, this research was done by hand, traveling to locations and reading the books.  My father, a history buff, was first to order “The Story of the Bloods” when it was completed.  He settled into his office to read about his family, that he was convinced sprang forth from the grounds of Illinois…..perhaps arriving, centuries ago, in space ships directly to the mid-western soil without passing through any other parts of the US. 

He emerged from his office with the book in his hand.  At first he didn’t say a word, then laughed the big hearty laugh that so easily came from him.  He was bigger than life. We sat down to hear about

“The Story of the Bloods”

Two brothers arrived from Scotland in the 1700’s to settle in…wait for it…Vermont. 

Robert Blood had several large dairy farms in Rutland where he raised his family.  He married Thankful Proctor and had Johnathan Blood who had Horace Blood, all farming in Rutland.

Imagine his surpise …… to find out he was a VERMONTER!

The threads of the tapestry become more tightly woven over the years, but essentially Horace ended up migrating westward, fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, setting up dairy farms in Aurora, NY as part of the “western movement” and eventually the family settled in Illinois …. becoming, what my father was so proud to boast, “THE FRIENDLIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH”.   The threads don’t end there, though, but weave back to Vermont.

VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY

Our last journey through time came yesterday when we drove over to Proctor, Vermont to visit the Vermont Marble Company.   Earlier this summer, we visited Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont to learn about Vermont granite.  This trip was to see where my Grandfather spent his days working at a company that was so much a part of my past.  

The Vermont Marble Company is located in a picturesque town of Proctor, Vermont in the valley of the Otter Creek (unfortunately the brewery was 30 miles away).  The rail lines ran right through this town which was the primary reason the Vermont Marble Company was located here.  

CAN HE LIFT IT??  HE THINKS HE CAN!

The Vermont Marble Company was established in 1880 by Redfield Proctor and quarried from several locations surrounding Rutland, West Rutland and Danby, Vermont.  Redfield Proctor (1931-1908) was a politician serving as the 37^th Governor of Vermont, US Secretary of War from 1889-1891 and US Senator for Vermont from 1891-1908.

Many monuments in DC were produced by the VMC…. Washington Monument, US Supreme Court building, Arlington National Cemetery, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

The Vermont Marble Museum is housed in the original buildings so as I walked through the exhibits, I looked up to see the building.  This is where my Grandfather spent his working days, in and around these buildings. 

I looked past the exhibits up into the rafters to get a sense of what it was like when my Grandfather worked here.

As I was walking around, I wondered whether my grandfather imagined that one day his little granddaughter would return at 65 years old to walk through these buildings.     

This is how it looked in the last 1800's.

This is how it looked in the 1930's when my Grandfather was a foreman.

Amazes me how the sculptors could take stone and mold it so beautifully.

Vermont Marble Company provided headstones for Arlington National Cemetery.

YULE QUARRIES, MARBLE, COLORADO

Vermont Marble Company was one of the largest in the world and not all of the marble came from Vermont.  The Company owned quarries in Colorado, as well.

Here another thread of the tapestry comes together … several years ago my brother was traveling through the West and stopped in Marble, Colorado to visit the quarry museum there.  He purchased a book for me about  Marble Colorado quarries because he remember hearing that Pop Pop  had spent time in Colorado, probably during the period when they were cutting and transporting the marble to Vermont for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

The book tells the history of the Yule Marble Quarry in Marble, Colorado and the acquisition of it by the Vermont Marble Company.  One of the executives from the Vermont Marble Company working the transition between the two companies was …..Robert Blood……..a future generation of the original and a descendent of ours!  So now there are two familial connections to the Vermont Marble Company!

TOMB OF THE UNKNOWNS

The Vermont Marble Company won the bid to create The Tomb of the Unknowns.  The  marble was quarried from the Yule Quarry.  The block was cut from the mountain weighing 124 tons and cut down to 56 tons, the largest piece of marble ever quarried in the US at that time. 

The Vermont Marble Company sent a special derrick to bring the block out of the quarry.  It took four days for the block of marble to move from Yule to Marble, 2/3/31.  It was then shipped to Vermont for cutting to final dimensions and carving the pilaster and bas-relief.  It was completed in September 1931 and shipped to Arlington National Cemetery.  There were issues with imperfections with the base and new bases were quarried until December when it finally came together.  Then the carving work on the die block began.  Piccirilli Brothers who carved the statue of Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial supervised and the tomb was assembled 4/9/1932.

The Vermont Marble Company recruited immigrants to come work for the company going to Ellis Island NY to bring them up.  Housing was provided for the workers and everything they bought came from the Company store.  

In the later years, the Vermont Marble Company started importing marble from Europe.  That was Pop Pop’s last position with the company before he retired.  He would assess the marble coming in from Italy and Europe and determine the grade.

I have a beautiful piece of marble that he gave to my mother.  I grew up with it as a coffee table top and it is now a treasure in my living serving as a coffee table.  It’s Imperial Danby.  I now know its name!

THE TIES THAT BIND, THE TAPESTRY THAT IS OURS!

This was the last place that I needed to visit before leaving Vermont behind.  As we headed over to Proctor, I once again passed my grandparents home.  And, once again, in each of the windows were starfish and the very large sailboat was sitting in the top window looking down!  I cannot get over that!

The culmination of this journey was finding my cousin Sharyn.  She and I spent every summer and every Vermont vacation together.  I had not seen Sharyn in 20 years.  We met up in Bennington where she lives with her husband and has three grown children now.  Her daughter, whom I met when I last visited New England is now a beautiful woman.  Where does the time go.  Sharyn has been active in Bennington politics for 20 years as Vice Selectman of the town.

When I knocked on the door to her house and she said, "Come on in" my heart melted.  Her voice was exactly as I remembered it.  We are going to meet up again before we leave Vermont.  I feel optimistic that another 20 years will not pass before we meet again!

We left the museum, took Billy for a walk around Proctor and noticed the buildings made of marble.

An interesting note to this building .... I'm not sure the last time I was this sign on the door.  Are there still "Fallout Shelters" in the country?   It's like a step back in time.

A HAUNTED CASTLE

We emerged from the museum to a beautiful, bright autumn day.  We drove out of Proctor and came upon Wilson Castle.  It is an English-style mansion built in the late 1800’s sitting back from the road on a meadow-like lawn.  

Across the road are three buildings that formerly housed the stable, carriage house and employee residences.

It has 32 furnished but unoccupied rooms and during the summer and fall is open for tours.  The most interesting fact about the castle is that it is believed to be HAUNTED!

It has resident ghosts, turrets and towers, stained glass windows and creepy tales.  Searching for “haunted castle in Vermont”, Wilson castle comes up.  Paranormal researchers have found activity evidence, according to an internet article.  Paranormal investigators have recorded EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) as ghost hunting sessions.  (Or could this be caused by the huge radio tower used for local FM broadcasts and cell across the street??).  Visitors have reported feeling something or someone touch them when they are alone in specific rooms, others hear someone playing a game of billiards on the second floor antique pool room. 

The castle is owned by descendents of the original family and hosts murder mystery parties as well as weddings and other fun events!

Across the street stood the outbuildings and I saw a for sale sign on the street.  We stopped down there to take a look asking Dave, “Wouldn’t be fun to have a summer place like this?”   He said, “Yeah, we could spend the summer replacing bricks!”.  Oh well!

We headed back to Ascutney enjoying the mountain views. 

The color seems to be creeping up the mountain rather than the colors falling down the mountain.

Last night we had dinner at the Harpoon Brewery…..probably our last time there.  Thursday nights Jason Cann plays the guitar and sings and he is wonderful.  It was packed and we had to wait for a table, so took our IPAs to the patio and sat around the fire pit, listening to the 

music.  

Several other couples joined us out there and we had interesting conversations around the fire.  In fact, we turned down the first table offer because we didn’t want to leave the fire pit.  Eventually we came inside and had dinner.  Then, on our way out, stopped by the fire pit to chat with a couple who had been there when we left for dinner.  It was a great evening, one of the many I will miss when we leave.

GETTING TO KNOW A PLACE

One of the beauties of hosting in a place for an extended period of time is getting to know a place.  

You can travel through Vermont and see what we have seen.  

You can appreciate everything we have appreciated being here.  

But unless you spend a certain amount of time in one place, you never quite get the essence of the area.  You can come away with impressions but they will be a snapshot in time as you pass on through.

Living here for the past four months we have felt part of this community.    There are many people who move here out of choice from other areas of the US.  

It certainly isn't because it's an inexpensive place to retire...it is not.  

It isn't because there are plenty of jobs to be had...there are not.  

It isn't because the climate is moderate....it is not.

To move here is a deliberate act; people who move here are looking for and finding specific qualities they cannot find elsewhere and are willing to pay the price to do so.  No one forces you to move to Vermont. There is a special quality of life here.   

I asked the couple at the fire pit what brought them to Vermont.  They are out of LA and moved up to North Adams, MA. and settled on Ludlow, VT.   They are probably younger than us by about 10 years, us being geezers and all! 

They laughed and said, "Liberals in the woods".  

Vermont is the only state with a Progressive party.  Much of the legislation is liberal.  They are the first state to enact Single-Payer Healthcare reform.  Howard Dean is from this state!  

There are also many conservatives up here, but people generally accept each other without a lot of discussions about it.   "You don't discuss politics, religion or money."  

If you are a Tea Party conservative, you'd probably be gnashing your teeth.

In my opinion, it is a great state and I'm proud of my Vermont heritage.  

I LOVE VERMONT