Posts By: Nathaniel Gibson

A Bunch of 250th Birthday Parties for Vermont Towns and Cities – Rutland Regional Guide

Posted on December 22, 2011 by - Rutland Regional Guide, Vermont Towns

A bunch of 250th birthday parties for Vermont towns and cities

By Nathaniel Gibson

The town of Pawlet celebrated its 250th anniversary of charter in style as shown by Adelle Seamens (left) and Sarah Post (right), with art by Roy Egg, all from West Pawlet. Photo Credit: Rhonda Schlangen.

Above a certain age, many people stop keeping track of their birthdays. But when a bunch of Vermont towns reached the ripe age of 250 this year, they celebrated in style.

The big 250th can also be called the sestercentennial or the easier-to-remember quarter-millennial — meaning that these towns were originally chartered a quarter of a millennium ago. And they marked their long and rich heritages with a plethora of events — parades, fireworks, quilt shows, art exhibits, live music, dancing, wagon rides, historical exhibits, and more.

These 63 towns, about a quarter of the state’s total, predate not only the founding of the United States, but the state of Vermont itself. They were originally chartered in 1761 by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth as he attempted to exert control over the territory between New Hampshire and the Province of New York.

Although the grants were eventually invalidated by King George III, who ruled that the Connecticut River was the boundary between New York and New Hampshire, unhappy colonists declared the territory to be free and independent. Vermont was subsequently founded on January 15, 1777.

The town of Woodstock’s 250th birthday bash was a picnic at the Billings Farm & Museum on July 10 — with horse and wagon rides, games, presentations on the history of the town, free ice cream, and live music by the Old Sam Peabody Band. “It was a great community celebration of 250 years, and we had the perfect location in the Billings Farm and Museum,” says Elizabeth Finlayson, Director of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce.

On the other side of the state the southern Vermont town of Manchester marked its 250th on August 12 and 13. Entertainment included wagon rides, tours of Dellwood Cemetery, a stock car show, a hoedown and barbecue, a carnival and a concert by the U.S. Navy Band followed by fireworks.

“The opening ceremony at the Bennington County Courthouse in the village with Governor Shumlin was very well received, and all the other events also went off well,” reports town clerk Linda Spence, who helped organize the festivities.

“Everyone who participated enjoyed themselves, and it was great to see families represented across multiple generations.”

Rep. John Malcolm reads the Legislature's resolution announcing the celebration of Pawlet's 250th anniversary of charter to a crowd assembled in front of the Town Hall. Photo Credit: Susan LaPorte.

A few miles north of Manchester on Route 30 the town of Pawlet celebrated its 250th anniversary during the memorable weekend of August 26 to 28. Festivities included live music, dancing, a quilt show, many displays and exhibits, ghost walks and a parade. The celebration culminated with fireworks that ended just as tropical storm Irene showed up.

“I hope having that memorable day to look back on has been able to bring a smile to the folks in our town who suffered from the damage and destruction of tropical storm Irene the next day,” remarked event organizer Judy Coolidge. “To see the number of people who came home to Pawlet to be part of this celebration and to hear the wonderful stories of what a fabulous time they had has been so rewarding.”

Benning Wentworth continued making land grants in the present State of Vermont until 1764. Next year the towns of Averrill, Bloomfield, Bristol, Charlotte, Ferrisburgh, Hinesburg, Lemington, Lewis, and Monkton will celebrate their 250th anniversaries, with even more to come in 2013.

Nathaniel Gibson is a freelance writer who lives in Pawlet and may be contacted at www.nathanielrgibson.com.

The article originally appeared in the Fall 2011 edition of the Rutland Regional Vermont Insider Guide.

Turkey farms across Vermont gear up for holiday season – Rutland Regional Guide

Posted on December 21, 2011 by - Local Food, Rutland Regional Guide

Turkey farms across Vermont gear up for holiday season

By Nathaniel Gibson

Peter Stone and Siegrid Mertens' daughter Catherine practices her turkey herding skills in one of the barns at Stonewood Farm. Photo Credit: Peter Stone.

With the holiday season fast approaching, Vermont turkey farmers are busily preparing for the huge spike in turkey demand, particularly for Thanksgiving.

Turkey farming has a long history in the state. Back in the days before rail and refrigeration, the birds were herded on foot to major markets, which presented a number of challenges for farmers, namely keeping track of their birds and caring for them over the long distances.

“In the old days turkeys were given tar walking shoes by farmers, who would heat tar, pour it on the road, and then herd the birds through it,” says Matt Proft, who operates Someday Farm with his wife Scout in East Dorset, located in southern Vermont. The Profts raise 400-500 birds a year: all natural, range-fed turkeys on pasture with feed that is free of hormones and antibiotics. Their turkeys are ordered for pickup directly from Someday Farm.

Since the old-time turkey marches typically took several days, farmers were obliged to overnight with their flocks at farms en route. “The birds back then could fly, so in the evenings they would have to be corralled in a barnyard before it got dark and the birds decided to roost — as gathering them up again in the morning would have been a big headache,” explains Proft.

While the trials of the annual turkey march are long gone, raising turkeys nowadays still presents some unique challenges. “There are times throughout the years that we shake our heads at the birds,” says Proft. “They’re definitely curious animals, and they like to escape their fence when they can. We’ve had the them take an interest in people who are passing by walking their dogs — and all of a sudden 300 turkeys have gotten out and are tagging along.”

“You never know what they’re going to try,” Proft observes. He recalls times when the turkeys have flown into the pond to avoid being rounded up. Seldom considered fact:  turkeys can swim.

A much larger-scale turkey farm can be found to the north in central Vermont. Peter Stone and Siegrid Mertens operate Stonewood Farm in Orwell, where they raise a staggering 29,000 turkeys per year for distribution across the Northeast. The birds are grown naturally without any antibiotics or growth hormones in their feed and are prepared for table without preservatives or artificial ingredients.

The Stonewood turkeys are raised in barns that are open on the sides to permit sun and air in while keeping other birds — and any illnesses they may carry — out.  In previous years, the couple experimented with raising 5,000 turkeys outside in a 13-acre field but found that they were more susceptible to sickness associated with the wet and cold conditions they encountered. Birds raised indoors can be easily kept dry and warm.

Stonewood Farm turkeys are available in food co-ops, health food stores, and gourmet food stores across New England and New York state. In Vermont and parts of New Hampshire, Stonewood Farm turkeys can be found at several stores, including Hannaford. Anyone interested in checking out the farm in Orwell is welcome to visit; please check in upon arrival.

Vermont farm-fresh turkeys are available all over the state. About 25 farms are listed by the state’s Department of Agriculture; visit www.vermontagriculture.com/buylocal/buy/ to find your local turkey.

Nathaniel Gibson is a freelance writer who lives in Pawlet and may be contacted at www.nathanielrgibson.com.

The article originally appeared in the Fall 2011 edition of the Rutland Regional Vermont Insider Guide.

Fixing our roads: Vermont rebuilds with an eye to the future – Montpelier-Barre Times Argus Special Feature

Posted on December 20, 2011 by - Montpelier-Barre Times Argus, Rutland Herald

Fixing our roads: Vermont rebuilds with an eye to the future

Nathaniel Gibson
Correspondent

The destruction and flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene stranded several communities across Vermont — a shocking reminder of the significance of an infrastructure that sometimes gets taken for granted.

Roads and bridges are crucial links in any transportation network, especially in rural places where they often serve as the only option for movement between distant communities.

The state Agency of Transportation (AOT) has been meeting two of the major challenges raised by Irene’s destructive forces. It responded to the immediate damage from Irene and now is addressing the long-term planning issues associated with maintaining the state’s roads and bridges in the face of such intense weather events.

Initial response
Irene hit Vermont on Sunday, Aug. 28, bringing torrential rains that spawned severe flooding across the region. The AOT responded swiftly, working to be everywhere possible and quickly implementing temporary improvements to restore access.

State offices were closed on Monday, the day after the storm, because of flood damage. Despite this additional impediment, the AOT — one of the first lines of defense during natural disasters — assembled a team to monitor radio updates from the agency’s 65 maintenance garages and evaluate the scope of the damage.

By the end of that first day, the scale of the disaster had become apparent: roads and bridges across the state had been decimated by the storm, and 13 towns — Cavendish, Granville, Hancock, Killington, Mendon, Marlboro, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Rochester, Stock­bridge, Strafford, Stratton, and Wardsboro — were inaccessible.

By the next morning, Aug. 30, the AOT began setting up two incidence command response teams to assist with the deployment of resources and recovery efforts. An incidence command response team (ICRT) is commonly used by all levels of government to command, control, and coordinate emergency response.

The two teams were quickly deployed to Rutland and Dummerston, areas hardest hit by the storm, and were operational by 6 a.m. Sue Minter, AOT deputy secretary, said that the rapid deployment of both teams was crucial, as was getting the required communications technology set up within such a short time frame.

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[CAPTION] Route 4 in Killington and Mendon was washed out in several places, cutting off Rutland from the eastern part of the state.

The Dummerston ICRT included 53 consultants, 120 AOT district staff, 149 employees from the Maine Department of Transportation (DOT), 20 employees from the New Hampshire DOT, 166 National Guard members, and 60 contractors with various numbers of employees.

The Rutland ICRT included 49 consultants initially (this number later grew to 82), 200 AOT District Staff, 200 employees from the Maine Department of Transportation, 500 National Guard members from six states, and 125 contractors with various numbers of employees.

Minter estimates that contractors have deployed more than 1,000 employees combined to rebuild roads and bridges.

As the IRCTs fielded incoming calls, officials organized available resources and allocated them to the areas most in need of assistance. Minter notes that the IRCTs deployed the resources quickly and effectively, emphasizing the ongoing dedication of the team members, many of whom worked nonstop, 16-hour days.

By evening of Aug. 31, access was restored to 12 of the 13 communities that had been rendered inaccessible by the storm. The next day, work to provide full access to Wardsboro, the last isolated town, was complete.

Once access was restored to all communities, the AOT turned its focus to assisting utilities as they worked to restore power to residents across the state.

By Friday, Sept. 2 — five days after Irene — electrical power had been restored to the vast majority of residents, and AOT’s priority shifted to reestablishing the state’s east-west routes, vital to commerce and tourism.

On Sept. 16, a major milestone was reached with the reopening of Route 4 in Mendon. “We have teams working non-stop, these folks are so dedicated,’ said Minter.

In the short term
With cold weather approaching, AOT’s immediate focus now is to finish repairing the state’s roads. The agency has expedited the contract approval and ordering processes to move projects along as rapidly as possible within the parameters dictated by federal agencies.

“Our goal is to have everything traversable by winter,” said Rich Tetreault, AOT Chief Engineer. “People may have to drive a little slower in some locations, but they will be able to get where they need to go.”

Inspecting and opening bridges as soon as possible is another significant task. The AOT is making headway here, also. “Bridge crews from the state came and inspected structures in town within the first two days after the storm,” reported Keith Mason, foreman of the Pawlet Town Highway Department.

The AOT has inspected every bridge in the state at least once; some bridges have been re-inspected due to heavy rains that continued to fall after Irene. In some places, the AOT has been able to reopen bridges — but in many others, bridges were destroyed.

“In most of these cases we will be putting up temporary structures that will have to be rebuilt,” said Minter.

The majority of these temporary structures will be prefab steel trusses, which can be constructed much faster and require less foundation and concrete work. But each bridge site presents a unique situation that must be carefully evaluated, even for temporary structures.

In some cases, temporary bridges will be built off-alignment with roads to allow unhindered construction on permanent replacements. And in certain locations, temporary bridges will be longer than the bridges they are replacing, as this configuration requires less time for construction of foundations.

Once temporary fixes to the state’s roads and bridges are complete, AOT will shift its focus to the construction of long-term structures.

The flood disaster also highlighted the importance of secondary and tertiary town roads. In many towns where state roads became flooded, town roads higher up on mountainsides and further away from floodwaters provided access to areas that otherwise would have been cut off from the rest of the community. Most significantly, these roads connected people and communities to emergency services.

“Alternate routes enabled emergency response vehicles to get where they needed to be,” said Mason.

In the long run
Beyond initial recovery efforts, Irene also has raised a number of long-term questions.

Aware that climate change means a future that may hold more intense weather events, AOT is coordinating with the Agency of Natural Resources and the Climate Cabinet formed by Gov. Peter Shumlin earlier this year.

The issue: to evaluate how the current infrastructure may need to be modified. These considerations include the sizing of culverts, road construction and locations, and stormwater and runoff management.

“We understand pretty well what’s needed to insulate ourselves against flooding events,” said Tetreault. “The Interstates and Route 7 fared well during Irene.” The fact that populations in Vermont have typically developed along river valleys is one of the main challenges that the AOT faces.

Tetreault reports that AOT is working with fluvial geomorphologists, or river scientists, from ANR to understand river conditions, the implications of road placement, and the long-term paths that rivers could take.

Such projections are essential components of AOT’s plans for the future. ANR’s assistance also is crucial for short-term fixes. Many complex factors must be weighed. And decisions made now will affect the state’s streams and rivers not only at the spot of construction or repair, but also far downstream and far into the future.

AOT’s goal is to work with rivers — not against them — and use the aftermath of the flooding as an opportunity to get things right.

“It’s a real opportunity for us to be thinking long-term, as we know that we have invested in those areas that have been so hard hit,” said Minter.

Nathaniel Gibson is a freelance writer who lives in Pawlet and may be contacted at www.nathanielrgibson.com.

The article originally appeared in the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus Vermont Recovery Special Feature, Vol. 2 on September 23 to commemorate Vermont’s response to Tropical Storm Irene.

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