An Old Fashioned Fourth and American"s 250th

July, 2026 The Journal Opinion Parades, patriotic music and speeches, food with drink, fireworks, the nation’s colors, complete with “loud Huzzas.” That is how the first anniversary of the 4th of July was celebrated in Philadelphia in 1777. The observances on that day had all the elements of typical future celebrations of the nation’s birth. This week, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of that birth, and Upper Valley residents will do it up in typical fashion. But what is the typical fashion for our area? Do major anniversaries of the date greatly overshadow otherwise less significant years? The first reported local Independence Day celebration was in Hanover in 1788. After years of not celebrating, Walpole resolved to celebrate the commemorations in 1798. The next year, Rutland began a tradition of celebrating July 4th. In the early 1870s, Bradford began to hold Fourth of July picnics and band concerts. Vershire’s 1870 holiday was typical of the time, with an abundance of strawberries and speeches. An interesting notice appeared in the local paper in 1871. It noted the murder of “a meddlesome and somewhat bloodthirsty character” named Amos Skeeter when, on July 4, he became too familiar with a party of fishermen on Fairlee Pond, which is now known as Lake Morey. In 1876, the pages of the Bradford Opinion were filled with news of the Centennial. Many of the articles highlighted the Exposition in Philadelphia, the first official World’s Fair held in this country. Although its theme was designed to show the world “the industrial and innovative prowess” of the United States, the Centennial made it an overwhelming attraction for over 10 million visitors. Each week for months, the newspaper described some of the 200 buildings and their exhibits, as well as the reactions of local residents who visited them. Many of those visitors rode special Centennial trains that carried passengers from Canada and northern New England southward through the area on the Passumpic Railroad. For most of the rest of the nation, the centennial was a three-day celebration held July 3-5. For the first time since the Civil War, observances were held throughout the South. The Bradford Opinion encouraged local communities to hold special observances and follow Orford’s example of planting Centennial trees. The Grange and Sunday School picnic in Newbury Center “was a decided success. The attendance was large, considering the great inducement held out to the citizens to visit other towns.” Those other towns included St. Johnsbury, where, despite inclement weather, a major celebration was held. In Bradford, it was reported in the July 8th edition that, “several of our young men were badly afflicted with wakefulness on the night of July3rd” and with bells, shouts and shots, announced the centennial day. The paper reported that “five large lights of glass were broken from Mr. C. S. Stevens” store, while the boys were firing the cannon.” In addition to reports of inter-town baseball games and the dedication of Bradford’s new Congregational church, the paper reported the massacre of Custer’s troops on the Little Big Horn. That story continued to headline the paper for the following weeks. In 1877, Ely and West Fairlee held “such an exhibition of Manly Sports, Feats & Strength, Agility & Endurances as has never been witnessed in the State!” One of the major features of area parades on the 4th in the next half century was the inclusion of Horribles. Area residents would dress in comic and grotesque costumes and ride in decorated wagons and later, automobiles. West Fairlee held an annual Horribles parade for several years drawing great crowds. It was reported that in 1896 a similar “progress of Horribles” was held in West Topsham. A baseball game between the Hayseed Nine of Cookville and the Do Nothings of West Topsham and a promenade in the evening followed the parade. That same year, a similar celebration was held in Fairlee where “the country, the Lake and the townspeople did themselves credit.” The hour-long parade that Newbury held in 1903 before a crowd of 2000 drew similar praise. One of the major Horribles parades was held in Bradford on July 3, 1909, the first time the town held a major observance in quite a while. The United Opinion reported, despite cloudy skies, “the morning trains and teams emptied into town many pleasure seekers.” The business block and many homes were “decked out in gala attire.” The renowned Lyndonville band performed two concerts and led the parade. The first prize went to a float poking fun at the disadvantages of owning an automobile. The day was complete with a ballgame, egg and potato races, and a two-hour fireworks display. The crowd of 2500 was surpassed by a similar observance the next year when the “weather was excellent, the people orderly, and the exercises greatly enjoyed by all.” Newspaper coverage on the activities of Independence Day activities have often highlighted aspects of the observances. The absence of drunkenness and profanity among the crowd at a West Newbury gathering in the 1890s made that a successful day. Vandalism by youth was common. In 1886, boys in Haverhill Corner built a bonfire from every loose thing they could find. Removing store signs, placing wagons atop public structures, unauthorized ringing of bells and shooting of cannons was common in many towns. In 1898, West Topsham residents heard cannon fire from their 12-pound brass cannon “at frequent intervals during the day and evening.” If there were no serious injuries or even fatalities from the unrestricted use of firecrackers, it was considered lucky. Harold Haskins included in his history of Bradford a very complete description of the fireworks of various calibers available to a boy. About 1910, concern about these dangers led to restrictions. Haskins lamented that “while much has been gained by the adoption of safe and sane Fourth, something has been lost.” Editor Harry Parker wrote, “Gone are the reckless, glorious Fourths…” He suggested that when boys grew up with all body parts intact, “they will probably be thankful that someone was so thoughtful as to think enough of their welfare to save them from themselves.” The United Opinion of June 29, 1928 suggested that the “disturbances and serious mischief of July Fourth” were the failure of many towns to have celebrations of “a better type.” Certainly, there were many such celebrations throughout the valley, especially as the nation approached the 150th anniversary of its birth. Blasdell’s History of Haverhill reports that Woodsville held a major celebration in 1924 at the community Field with 10,000 in attendance. That same year, the Bradford Business Men’s Association staged a celebration that included a parade and games. In the evening, Main Street was closed to traffic as an open-air dance was held in the Square with nearly 140 couples dancing to the music of Klaark’s 8-piece orchestra. Two years later, in 1926, the Woodsville celebration had grown even larger with a parade of decorated autos, floats, and Horribles, and a large midway, concerts, outdoor movies, and fireworks. Since the Fourth fell on a a Sunday, the sesquicentennial celebration was held on Monday, July 5th. Because organizing such celebrations requires so much effort, enthusiasm comes and goes. Towns that staged big events for a few years would give way to other towns’ festivities. In 1931, West Fairlee’s “Gala Day” drew a crowd of 1,000 with traditional competitions and patriotic programs. Newbury held a similar event that included horse racing at the Trotting Park north of the village. In Orford, a dance was held at the Hay Loft, followed by a midnight fireworks display. None of these seems to have lasted long enough to establish a tradition. Woodsville’s American Legion Post celebrated the Fourth in 1934-5 with a “most successful parade” followed by baseball games, concerts and fireworks. It was cancelled due to of damage from the 1936 flood and did not resume for 10 years. In 1938, Union Village held an Old Home Day celebration with a parade, lunch and dinner, entertainment, and “fireworks from Randall’s Hill back of the church closed the day’s festivities.” The day was described as a great success. In 1940, the Bradford Legion Post sponsored a parade featuring the Bowen and Hunter Band of East Corinth. It was followed by activities and games on the Fairground and an evening dance in the Bradford Academy gym. The war years from 1942 to 1945 led to increased patriotism, but fewer actual Fourth of July celebrations. The ban on fireworks from 1941 to1947, war nerves, and gasoline shortages may have been discouraging factors. After the war ended, local groups began to plan celebrations of Independence Day again. Between 1948 and1950, West Newbury held a field day featuring a bicycle parade, horse ulling, sports contests and a ballgame. The largest current local celebrations have their origins in that post-war period. According to Haverhill historian Katherine Blasdell, the American Legion sponsored “an especially large Fourth of July celebration” in 1946, but it tapered off after a few years.” It was revived in 1976, and today the two-town celebration draws large crowds with a giant parade and community field celebration. Orford’s Old Home Day Fourth began in 1947 and was sponsored by the Community Council. In the early years of that celebration, post-parade activities were centered on the Mall. The parade featured 40 floats including the old town hearse drawn by four gray horses. Ann Green of Orford, who marched in the first parade dressed as Miss Independence, recalled “the wonderful homemade games and activities” of the midway along with an auction, horse pull, and pony rides. The day was capped by a fireworks display on the southern end of the Mall and a dance at Orfordville. About 1964, the Orford celebration was moved to the Community Field and organized by the Fire Department. As before, the parade began in the south end of Orford village and marched through Fairlee village. When the Community Field underwent major improvements, and after a two-year break, the celebration in Orford was moved to Fairlee. Now, after a giant two-town parade, Fairlee hosts a chicken barbeque on the com mon and fireworks over Lake Morey. Corinth’s celebrations began in 1949 with an auction and barbecue. Over the years, it has grown to include a parade from East Corinth village to the Fairgrounds for afternoon entertainment. Probably the largest area-wide celebration of the Fourth was in 1976, the Bicentennial year. Many towns, flying their official Bicentennial flag, made it a year-long celebration with activities centered in the week of the Fourth. Some towns, including Bradford and Ryegate, held their parades later in the summer to avoid conflicts. Bicentennial balls, church services, barbecues, and strawberry festivals, historic designations and tours, restoration projects, and giant parades filled the calendars of events. Schools participated with history projects, costumed pageants, and essay contests. The Bicentennial observance also allowed the nation to review it past and contemplate its future. A Bicentennial editorial in The Journal Opinion on July 6, 1976 included this description of Americans at that time: “lovers of hoopla and ceremony, crowds and solitude, exasperatingly honest about the nation’s issues, participators in endless guesswork…as to what kind of people we are and what the future holds. This guesswork, like the fireworks and the parades, is all part of the show. And we’ve enjoyed every minute.” America has undergone major changes in the 50 years since that description was written. We are in the middle of another significant anniversary in our nation’s history. I encourage you to reread that 1976 description in light of those changes. Towns throughout the area are observing the 250th. The local celebrations on July 4th will allow us to experience an “old home day” feeling with birthday overtones. As the editor of the Virginia Gazette wrote in July 1777: “Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and most memorable day, be celebrated throughout America, by the sons of freedom from age to age till time shall be no more. Amen and amen.”

It's Graduation Time

 

Journal Opinion, June 6, 2026

 The news is filled with local high school graduation activities. While ceremonies remain mostly traditional, there have been changes over the years.

This column reviews the history of these activities in the period prior to 1980. It deals with topics ranging from baccalaureate, class night, and graduation ceremonies to class trips, yearbooks, and alumni reunions.

Groton, Newbury, Bradford, Thetford, Woodsville, and Orford all had high schools included in this column.  Each topic will feature stories from some, but not all schools.  

The baccalaureate is one graduation ceremony that was once far more prominent than it is today. Baccalaureate services were held in church on the Sunday before graduation. With prayers and sermons, they were meant to offer graduates reflection and encouragement.

In 1892, the service for Newbury High graduates was the first mentioned in local newspapers. Thetford Academy, Wells River High, and Bradford Academy followed the practice in the 1890s.

Union services combined the Protestant churches and sometimes replaced the normal Sunday morning services.

While usually held in a church sanctuary, Wells River sometimes held their service in the Village Hall whereas Woodsville used the Opera House. 

Until 1963, Bradford Academy’s Protestant graduates met for one service, while Catholic graduates attended a mass at their local church.

The class of 1964 saw that as divisive and petitioned to hold an interfaith service. On June 7, an ecumenical observance was held in the school’s auditorium. Other local schools began to hold similar services with the clergy and graduates from all local churches.

In response to Supreme Court restrictions on organized prayer in public schools, high schools began to back away from organizing the services, leaving that to clergy and parents.

While worship was one way to commemorate graduation within the community, the senior trip took graduates farther afield. It was a highlight of the graduation season.

 In 1905, the Bradford class took a trip to Canada in place of an extended graduation week. The downsized ceremonies meant that “graduation will lose half its horror.”

As early as 1908, local students used the occasion to visit Washington, D.C., New York City, Montreal, and Boston. Until the 1950s, trips to these locations were taken by train.  

The World’s Fair was an attraction that could not be missed. In 1939, Newbury seniors attended the NY World’s Fair and, in 1964, Haverhill High seniors went to the NY World’s Fair.

In 1967, Bradford Academy’s senior class convinced the school board to make an exception to the ban on overnight class trips so they could attend Montreal’s Expo67. 

Many trips were for just a  single day  to locations both near and far. Lake Morey, Ausable Chasm, and Lake Willoughby were locations visited by local seniors.

 For several years in the 1960s, Bradford’s Senior Class spent a very long day in Boston. Highlights included the amusement park at Nantasket Beach and a ball game at Fenway Park. 

Students held food sales and dances to raise the funds for these trips. The support of their communities made the trips possible. In 1967, the last class to graduate from Groton High voted to forego a class trip and donate the $440 to the Ricker Memorial Scholarship Fund instead.

For many, formal senior pictures were the only time they had professional portraits taken. They became keepsakes that decorated their family’s living room walls. 

In March 1889, the five members of the Thetford Academy senior class went by train to Lebanon for their pictures. In 1895, a studio opened in North Haverhill to offer class photos.

As these portraits were featured in the annual yearbook and often doubled as Christmas gifts, pictures were taken in the fall. Local high schools used photographers from studios such as Vantine, Pierce, and Morris.

 In the 1950s, hand-tinting added natural tones to black-and-white images. On picture day in the fall of 1959, my best friend at Orford High forgot his suit coat and tie. He wore mine and the studio changed the tint to distinguish his photo from mine.

These senior pictures were a major part of the annual yearbook. Generally, a senior class production, work on the “annual” began in the fall for distribution at graduation time.

Yearbooks began appearing in Vermont high schools in the 1920s. The earliest local books were soft-covered booklets. By the 1950s, hard-covered yearbooks had been expanded into pictorial histories of the school’s year.

The studios that took senior photos also took group photos of underclassmen, clubs, sports teams, and faculty, and candid shots of major school events. 

Contacts were made with printing companies such as Jostens of Boston.  They offered professional advice and set deadlines to ensure timely production.  The cost of their services was covered by yearbook sales and community patrons.

 Orford’s Flumine and Woodsville’s Engineer were yearbook titles for many years. Bradford called their book The Yearling until The Admiral was adopted in 1953. Newbury High used The Livewire until at least 1930, then used The Rocket and The Oxbow as titles.

Other titles include Nutcracker (1966) Groton High, Chatterbox (1964) Well River High and The Bath Union Spirit, Bath High (1940).

As a teacher, one could not expect to have students’ attention on the day yearbooks were distributed. Students shared autographs and reactions to the contents. One of the highlights was the dedication to a beloved staff member or to a classmate who had passed away.   

Another event of graduation week was class day or class night. The first newspaper notice was in June 1897 when Thetford Academy held its class day exercises in Academy Hall.

Whether held indoors or out, the class day activities initially were generally formal. Student speakers read prepared essays, class wills, and class history. They were accompanied by music from the school orchestra and glee club.

The 1909 BA’s class day was typical of the day. Held on a decorated stage, it included two operettas, a presentation of class gifts, the unveiling of a large bust of Lincoln and a student speaker on the topic “The Study of Electricity.”

By the 1930s, lighter tones began to be included.  “Fun will reign supreme” was the prediction for Newbury’s 1935 class day. In 1951, Orford’s event included class gifts, awards, and the selection of Frances Pease as “the best man of the year” chosen by the Future Homemakers of America girls.

From then on “the lighter aspects of commencement were given free play” in class day or night events. While the school used the opportunity to present scholastic and athletic awards to members of all classes, the graduating class was at the center of the program and did so with humor.

The report of the Bradford class night in 1969 described “the night of fun before settling down to the serious occasion of graduation.” Their skits were based on the television show “Laugh-In.”  

As class night became a product of the students alone, schools began to hold “last assemblies” as opportunities to grant awards.  

Students also held senior proms or promenades between 1908 and 1936. The BA dances were held on the third floor of the Academy, in the Opera Hall and, then in 1936, in the new gymnasium.  The 1923 Wells River event was held in the Village Hall and the 1927 Thetford occasion was in the Grange Hall.

The high point of commencement season for high school seniors was the graduation exercises. It was usually held in the community’s largest auditorium, with tickets distributed to family members.

The particulars of the graduation event were established in each high school. It usually included a stage decorated with the school colors and perhaps the class motto. Dressed in caps and gowns, the graduates, led by a class marshal, processed to the measured step of “Pomp and Circumstance.” 

Until the late 1960s, the program opened with a prayer by a local minister. After musical selections, student speakers were often followed by a guest speaker. Awards and scholarships were followed by the actual presentation of diplomas.

This most “characteristic American ceremony” was a major event in each high school community and was the end of years of efforts by both parents and graduates. Here are samples of newspaper coverage.   

The first graduation for Wells River High was in 1892, and the last was held in 1967 after 93 years.

In 1919, BA diplomas were granted to two Bradford soldiers who had left school in 1917 and served on the Western Front in France with the Yankee Division.

The valedictorian of Newbury’s Class of 1951 told me that there were four girls and five boys dressed in green and gold gowns and that the ceremony was very traditional.

When the 20 members of the Orford Class of 1960 stepped onto the stage in their blue and white gowns, they were what was left of a freshman class of about 38.

Knowing what the weather was like in June, some local high schools took the chance of having an outdoor graduation. BA waited from 1905 until 1967 for that.

In response to the court’s decision about a prayer at graduation, one senior asked, “Would it be alright to have a prayer, if we didn’t mean it?”

Before the introduction of Project Graduations in the late 1980s, there was always the possibility that unsupervised post-graduation parties could lead to tragedy. The morning after “no new was good news” 

After the last graduation event, alumni typically held their annual reunion. In July 1894, the alumni of Thetford Academy gathered and “old acquaintances were renewed.”

As best I can determine from newspaper coverage, the other local high school alumni associations were established as follows:  Wells River 1897, Bradford 1901, Groton 1919, Woodsville 1920, Haverhill 1926, and Orford 1936. 

When Bradford Academy’s first reunion was held at Hotel Low with 88 alumni, it was “a splendid success in every way.”

A banquet was the main feature of alumni reunions. In Bradford, banquets were held in the Congregational Church, the Armory, and at Oxbow High. Wells River used the adjacent church parlor and then the Happy Hour Restaurant. Orford used inns on Lake Morey and Woodsville gathered at Well River’s Hale’s Tavern and Bath’s Colonial Inn.

 Classes celebrating significant anniversaries tended to bring larger attendance. A business meeting, a class rollcall, special speakers, recognition of members who have passed away, and presentation of gifts were part of the program. Informal sharing of memories was important.

The meeting included the singing of the school song. “Fair Thetford” and “Fair BA” were two examples, with older alumni singing the songs from memory and younger ones sometimes looking a bit perplexed. Several groups added a dance to close the evening.

Baseball and basketball games between alumni and high school teams were annual events. In 1927, the annual baseball game between the two teams of Haverhill Academy ended in a 9-8 victory for the alumni men. In 1931, the annual contest led to a tie between the BA alumni and the boys’ baseball team. The 1949 BA Alumni basketball game featured alumni stars John Pierson, Ezra Eastman and Sonny Kingsbury, who led their team to a 54-49 victory.  

About 1952, the annual Woodsville basketball games were expanded to include a girls’ game.  About the same time, Woodsville added an alumni softball contest. In 1967, Orford held a golf tournament at Bonnie Oakes’ golf course.

Awarding scholarships to their school’s graduating class was a major activity of alumni associations. As early as the 1960s, the Thetford Alumni held a Christmas Craft show to raise scholarship funds. In 1981, Orford alumni held a Christmas Show and Sale. Annually, groups ask for direct monetary donations for their scholarship fund.

Groups also raised funds to replace, repair, and expand the high school facilities. The Haverhill group supported and improved the Alumni Hall. Bradford alumni make annual contributions to a BA restoration fund.

Groton High, Bradford Academy, Wells River High, Orford High, and Newbury High no longer have graduates to add to their alumni rosters. Realizing the long-range impact on their associations, several have made amends to their membership by opening it to individuals who attended but did not graduate.

When Oxbow opened in 1971, Newbury alumni included Oxbow’s Newbury students in their annual meetings. OHS alumni merged with the graduates of Rivendell Academy. Bradford included those students who had started at the Academy and then transferred to Oxbow.  In the early 1990s, a short-lived Oxbow Alumni Association began.

Having attended many alumni meetings in both Orford and Bradford, I know the fond sharing of memories of school days of long ago is a tradition to be treasured.  I hope that this column will help readers recall their own graduation traditions.    

From Settlement to Revolution

Journal Opinion May 6, 2026 

This is the first of several articles describing the local area just before and during the American Revolution. It describes the initial European settlement of the area, the early developments, and the issues that arose.

About 1770, Col. Jacob Bayley of Newbury wrote: “The whole country is rapidly filling up with a very desirable class of settlers, and what was ten years since, a howling wilderness is now fast becoming fruitful farms.”

The first Europeans to visit the area were explorers, hunters, land speculators, and soldiers, just passing through or seeking to satisfy their curiosity. There were only a few native people still living nearby.  

After a century of warfare during which the local area was on the frontlines, the defeat of the French and their native allies in 1759 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763 made the area safe for settlers and their families.

Royal Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire chartered towns in what is now New Hampshire and Vermont.  “These grants transferred ownership of approximately one-third of the area from the Crown to private ownership.”

The grants were approximately 30-36 square miles in size and granted to groups of proprietors, many of whom were connected to the colonial establishment. While many of these grantees never actually lived in the towns they created, they had to agree to several conditions.

One of the conditions was to encourage settlers and improvements to the land.  This was to the proprietors’ advantage as it increased the value of their land in the newly-created towns.

All of the river towns in our area and some of the second-layer towns were chartered by 1764. Bradford was a noteable exception as it remained unchartered. Despite that, 30 families moved to what they call Waitstown as squatters, with no claim to their holdings.

In 1770, they send Quaker Samuel Sleeper to New York to acquire a charter. When the royal government granted one, they changed the town’s name to Mooretown in honor of the late governor Sir. Henry Moore. The town was renamed Bradford in 1788.

These early farmer-settlers came from established towns elsewhere in New England such as Hebron, Connecticut and Londonderry, New Hampshire.  They were drawn by the availability of cheap land and the promise of a new lease on life. Most of the men had fought in the recent war, and former officers played a primary role in town government. 

They came overland by ox sled or cart without the benefit of roads or on the river by canoe or on the ice.

They were young families. In 1767, there were 172 residents in Haverhill, with only one over 60. The 1770 census of Bradford listed 30 head of families with an average age of 30. 

One exception to these migration patterns was that of the Scots American Company who moved directly from Scotland to Ryegate in 1773.

Some settlers were drawn to the open valley area. Others had what one historian called “a hillside mentality.” They preferred to locate on higher ground. This made sense as these locations were better drained, free from flooding and mosquitos, and receiving more sunshine and less morning fog and early frosts.

The average holding was about 100 acres. Often, the men came first, leaving wives and children behind until the plot was established and a cabin built. With their ox teams and plenty of back-breaking labor, these farmers cleared portions of the land.  Trees were chopped down or burned, stumps were removed, and fieldstones were hauled to build walls. Some worked with only a crude hoe, ax, and fire. Crops were planted as quickly as possible.

“A farmer could increase the value of 100 acres eight to ten times with the crop he raised in a few years of diligent labor.” This often allowed him to pay off the land debt in just a few years. The land was fertile, in stark contrast to the exhausted soil of areas of earlier settlements.

In his Yankee Kingdom, Ralph Nading Hill wrote of the era, “Everything they ate, they grew, almost everything they used, they made; almost everything they wore came from the factory of the hearthside.”

As soon as there was open space, crops were planted on fertile ground.  Some trees were retained for fuel and lumber, and then later cleared for crops.

 Indian corn, which grew rapidly and abundantly, was planted between stumps of trees. Buckwheat and rye were among the first crops. Wheat, oats, and barley came later.

Settlers often brought apple tree seedlings with them and planted orchards. Vegetables such as potatoes and squash were planted in open areas. A good wife kept a kitchen garden with small vegetables and herbs.  

Life was never easy for these subsistence farmers.  They faced the normal threats to their crops from rocky soil, blight, pests, wild animals, and weeds. Early or late frosts shortened the growing season.

 Bears were a constant threat to corn crops, and wolves to livestock. In the late summer of 1770, an army of worms descended on the area.  One Thetford observer reported that the pastures were totally covered with worms. In 1771, there was major flooding in the valley, and some had to relocate their homes to higher ground.

Winters often “reigned with great severity.” Families used several techniques, such as drying and salting, to store food for the long winters.

The settlers transplanted the culture of southern New England to the area, changing it as needed to meet the demands of the frontier.

Following the tradition of earlier New England, local town meetings were held, often in the largest home in the community. Because proprietors still held some authority, some proprietor meetings were held in Portsmouth and Bennington.

Local men met frequently to elect local officers, levy taxes, and deal with the problems of the new towns. They created pounds to deal with stray animals and established rules for dealing with both common lands and boundary disputes.

As needed, they dealt with lawbreakers. Sheriffs were elected. A courthouse and jail were created in North Haverhill in 1773,

Gradually, the new settlements took on the trappings of civilized permanency. Farmers with skills as blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers, and tanners met the needs of their neighbors.

Taverns and stores were among the early businesses, often operating out of the owner’s private home.  Uriah Morse’s “ordinary” opened in 1762 in North Haverhill, a year before the town was chartered.

The first tavern in Orange County was opened in Newbury in 1769 by Robert Johnston, who sold spirits brought by horseback from Concord.

Primary education was important, and soon after the towns were organized, money was set aside to hire a schoolmaster. Schools were held in private houses or the meeting house.

Midwives and doctors supplemented family-based treatments for illness and injuries. Dr. Samuel White of Newbury and Haverhill began his practice in 1773 in a practice extending from Newbury to the Canadian border.

Lydia Peter Baldwin, moved to Orford in 1766 and then to Bradford, and delivered hundreds of area babies with remarkable success.

Using water power from nearby brooks and small rivers, sawmills and grist mills were established. These mills provide the inhabitants with boards and a place to grind the crops they raised. The high cost of framed structures left many with log structures for decades.

In 1763, John Hazen arrived in Haverhill with the equipment to establish a sawmill and grist mill on Poole Brook in North Haverhill. In 1764, Newbury’s proprietors “voted to give eighty acres to the man or men who should build a sawmill on Hall’s Brook.” In Piermont, money, land, and water privileges were promised as rewards.

In 1762, John Hazen built the first sawmill in North Haverhill and, by 1765, used sawed lumber to build a house on the Little Oxbow. Newbury’s first sawmill was built in 1764 on the lower falls of Hall’s brook in South Newbury and, a year later, a grist mill was built west of Newbury village.

 Orford’s Israel Morey built the town’s first sawmill and a grist mill on Jacob’s Brook in 1766. In 1772, John Peters built Bradford’s first grist mill on the south side of the Waits River. Two years later, Benjamin Baldwin built Bradford’s first sawmill nearby.

From the very beginning, many settlers felt the need for worship services. The lack of church buildings did not stand in the way, with services held in barns, private homes, taverns, or in the case of Fairlee, in a field next to the river.

One of the earliest projects undertaken by town resi dents was the building of a meeting or town house for both worship and town meetings.

As there was a shortage of ministers, towns yoked with neighboring towns to worship together or share a minister. One of the earliest religious leaders in the area was the Rev. Peter Powers of Newbury. He helped establish the Newbury church in 1764.

His parish at first included all the settlements from Hanover to Lancaster. He played a leading role in creating town churches in Fairlee, Orford, Haverhill, Ryegate, and Thetford.

“He was often called to go on long and lonely journeys to solemnize marriages, bury the dead, and break the bread of life to the people, and he did not shrink from any labor, however great.”

With the exception of the Presbyterians of Ryegate, the Congregational denomination was dominant in the early years. Local control over church affairs was a characteristic of Congregationalists and as they controlled town affairs, local town tax revenues were used to support church activities.    

The Connecticut River was, for many years, the major road into the area. By water in the summer and on the ice in the winter, new settlers and supplies arrived, and products were sent to market.

 The first overland roads were “merely passages through the forest,” laid out by traveling indigenous people over the centuries and used by the early settlers. Not able to use wheeled vehicles, locals used horseback or their own shoulders to carry items.

It was in the best interest of the original proprietors to have somewhat improved bridal paths connecting the parts of towns and markets to the south.

In both Newbury and Bradford, it was at least 20 years before any wheeled vehicle other than an oxcart could traverse these improved paths.  Observers described these earliest roads as “very much like winter logging roads” or having “the consistency of porridge.”

Among the earliest roads were the river roads on each side of the Connecticut.  In Newbury, this road was begun in 1773 and later extended to connect Bradford. In Haverhill, the West Side Road connected the town with Bath and Piermont.

 In 1774, Orford residents agreed to support constructing a road to Wentworth. At about the same time, a road was built from Portsmouth to North Haverhill. 

 Since the earliest years of settlement, residents frequently crossed the Connecticut River. While canoes and boats served first, commercial ferry operations soon followed.

 By 1773, at least two ferries linked Newbury and Haverhill, one at Wells River and the other near Newbury village. In 1775, a ferry operated between Orford and Fairlee, with the charter granted in the name of King George III. 

Increasingly, there was a controversy between New Hampshire and New York over control of Vermont territory sewed uncertainty among the early residents.

Vermonters rejected the New York system of landownership in which aristocratic ownership left the lower classes as tenants. While the outbreaks of violence between Yorkers and locals were primarily in southwestern Vermont, there was violence in Westminster, Vermont in March, 1775.

This area tried to remain neutral. Residents of several towns, including Corinth and Newbury, sought duplicate chapters from New York to protect themselves.

This provincial dispute soon became overshadowed by outbreaks in Massachusetts against the power of British rule.  By 1774, pro-rebellion Councils of Safety and Correspondence were being formed. Local residents began to take sides for and against the coming revolution.

A later column will describe the role of local residents in the American Revolution. Actually, the May column will be the second to deal with student activities in local high schools.

 

Rites of Spring

  By the time this column is printed, Spring will be on the calendar if not outside the door. This is the first of a two-part series on how the season impacts the area.

This first part deals with the special days historically observed following March 1, called the first day of Spring by meteorologists. Some are major and even legal, whereas others range from whimsical to disregarded.  

Following the tradition established in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, settlers in the newly chartered local towns held meetings to elect officers, pass budgets, and address common concerns.

The first town meetings in New Hampshire were held in Dover and Portsmouth in 1623. The first one in Vermont was held in March 1762 in Bennington.

Early town meetings were held in larger private homes and as frequently as needed. “The formal recognition of the first Tuesday in March as Town Meeting Day came in 1880. Before that state law simply required at some day in the month of March annually at ten o’clock in the morning.”

New Hampshire’s town meeting day is the second Tuesday of March, although state law allows for variations. March was chosen to accommodate farm spring planting schedules.

At first, only landowning men were allowed to vote in town meetings. The ownership of land restriction was dropped after the Revolution.

Women were not allowed to vote in town meetings until 1917 in Vermont and 1920 in New Hampshire, although both states had granted women voting rights in school meetings earlier.

Both states now allow towns to decide some of the issues through a combination of Australian ballots and in-person deliberative sessions.    

Since 1918, on one Spring Sunday morning, Americans have awakened with one less hour of sleep. Daylight Savings Time, an idea first proposed by Benjamin Franklin, has been used to move daylight from early morning to evening artificially.

Over the years, there have been manipulations to create a system that works for the most part. In 1966, the system was set to run from the last Sunday of April to the last Sunday in October, with exceptions for states that had state-wide alternatives.

In 2007, the Federal government extended day light savings from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday in November. By now, you have probably accommodated the change that took place on March 8.

The Ides of March entered the English jargon from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. In it, Caesar was forewarned of his assassination on March 15, 44 B.C.  When it came to pass, “beware of the Ides of March” became linked to March 15.

As early as 1800, newspapers in both states, quoted it as a warning against political opponents such as the Federalist or Andrew Jackson, both of whom wanted increased power for the national government. It was later used against anti-temperance groups and slave owners.

 It was also used as a calendar notation for upcoming March events. In 1896, The Burlington Weekly Free Press included the following: “The Ides of March inevitably brings to the Green Mountain State tidings of new maple syrup.”

As mid-March weather can be unpredictable, “Beware of the Ides of March” was a warning against a return to winter weather. From 1918 to 1955, that “beware” warning was connected with the March 15th federal income tax deadline. 

By the mid-1800s, there was a growing number of Irish residents in New Hampshire and Vermont. They celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in honor of Ireland’s patron saint.

While many Roman Catholic churches with Irish parishioners held special services to mark the occasion, the day featured activities that showcased the Irish residents’ “ethnic pride, faith, and community cohesion.”

As early as 1867, a St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Burlington. The Irish Order of Hibernians organized it. The parade included marchers, bands, and banners. By 1911, the number of marchers had grown to over 700. Banquets and performances were added to the day’s activities.

The festive day expanded into the general public, and by the 1910s, stores offered greeting cards, potted shamrocks, and party decorations. 

A hearty meal of corned beef and cabbage served with boiled vegetables, along with Irish soda bread and festive desserts was central for many families. Stores featured these foods in their advertisements.

Protestant churches and community groups began to use the day for fundraising plays, dances, and concerts. Schools marked the occasion with activities. Businesses offered St. Patrick’s Day items, and bars sold green beer

Burlington’s PaddyFest and Manchester, NH’s large parade are current examples of St. Patrick’s Day observances. For many, wearing of the green has become a standard mark of the day. One does not have to be Irish to be “Irish” on St. Patrick’s Day.

About the same time, three major religions hold significant observances. Easter is one of the most ancient religious observances that falls during Spring. Celebrating the resurrection of Christ, it may fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25. It was first widely celebrated in Catholic and Anglican countries. 

Protestants, such as those in earlier New England, often rejected it as a “popish” holiday and did not hold special services until the mid-19th century.

The 40-day Lenten season precedes Easter. It begins with Ash Wednesday on which the forehead of the faithful are marked with the ashes made from the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday.

As Lent was traditionally marked with fasting, prayer and penance, the period just before was often time for Mardi Gras or carnival. New Orleans, Montreal, and Quebec City celebrations were often mentioned in local newspapers.

Gradually, Lenten services expanded to Protestant churches. Around 1950, local churches began holding Sunday evening Lenten services. In 1959, for example, The United Opinion reported “large attendance” at the union Lenten service at Bradford’s Grace United Methodist church.

A week before Easter Sunday, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of a week of observances. Good Friday recalls the execution of Jesus.  Historically, some local businesses closed from noon to 3 pm. I recall in the 1960s, schools did not hold activities on that Friday evening, much to the puzzlement of many students.

Easter Sunday begins in many communities with a sunrise service followed by a breakfast. Bradford’s Summer Street, Thetford’s Academy Hill, and Orford’s Dame Hill were sites for the early service.

As late as the mid-1970s, local churches recorded capacity attendance at Easter morning services. New outfits, special music, flowers, and baptisms were normal. Family would then return to dinners of ham or lamb.

More recently, commercialization that includes the Easter bunny, egg rolls, and baskets filled with Easter candy and gifts as well as sporting events and hearty brunches has replaced church attendance for many.     

Passover, the week-long Jewish Spring festival, falls between March 25 and April 25. This annual celebration of freedom recalls the Israelite exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt. The Seder, an elaborate symbol-filled dinner, is a highlight of the festival. Copies of the Haggadah are used to lead the diners through a structured meal filled with storytelling.

In the late 19th century, “Hebrew” synagogues were gathered in some cities in both states. Newspapers carried news of Passover celebrations in Burlington and Rutland as well as Manchester and Portsmouth, NH.  

In 1927, the Jewish community of St. Johnsbury established its own synagogue. Locally, synagogues have also been established in Woodstock and Montpelier, VT and Hanover and Bethlehem, NH. 

It was not until the 1960s that major chain stores in New Hampshire and Vermont advertised Passover cards and specialty foods, a practice that is widespread today.

Traditional Passover foods include flourless matzo, brisket, gefilte fish, potato kugels as well as coconut macaroons and flourless chocolate cake.  

There is another religious observance that ends about the same time in March. It is the Muslim observance of Ramadan, the 30-day period of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Ramadan recalls the revelation of the Our’an to the Prophet Mohammad.

From sunrise to sunset, the faithful follow the prescribed observances. About March 30, Ramadan concludes with Eid al-Fitr, a festive occasion. Families gatherings highlight it with a celebration of “the spiritual accomplishments of Ramadan.”

While there are many earlier mentions of Ramadan being celebrated in other parts of the world, more local references only begin after 1995. Then, annual newspaper articles reported that Ramadan was being celebrated by the growing Muslim population in Chittenden and Rutland counties. Recent estimates indicate 6,500 Muslims living in Vermont. 

 Not all Spring observances are serious. April Fool’s Day allow pranksters the opportunity to make others the butt of countless gags. Originating in Europe, mention of the occasion began to appear in Vermont newspapers in the 1820s. 

In 1831, one newspaper reported: “It is said that lovers of merry jokes have revived the ancient custom of fool-making on April day.”  A prediction in 1851, that it “would pass away,” was off the mark.

April Fool’s Day continues to be used an explanation for everything from an unusual April 1 snowstorm, irrational behavior on the part of officials or just individual tomfoolery.   

There is no fooling around when it came to filing your income tax. Following the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, the original deadline for filing was March 1.  It was later moved to March 15 and, then in 1955, to April 15 to allow more time for taxpayers to file.

While Tax Day is still around, at least one holiday has disappeared. In March 1681, John Cutt, president of the New Hampshire Council, was seriously ill.  To intercede on his behalf, the General Assembly declared March 17 as a day of public fasting, prayer and reflection.

Cutt died, but the tradition of fast days, originally rooted in 17th century Puritan traditions, continued in New Hampshire. 

Earlier, a period of fasting was declared prior to the spring planting, asking God to “bless us with peace and prosperity and to favor spring and seede time.” 

In 1899, New Hampshire’s official Fast Day holiday was set as the third Thursday of April. In 1946, it was moved to April 19 to coincide with neighboring states’ Patriots Day, and, in 1949, it was moved again to the fourth Monday of April. Many businesses closed on the holiday.

 New Hampshire continued as the only state to observe this as a legal holiday until it was abolished in 1991. It had come to signify the start of the Spring and tourist seasons, with special train fares from southern New Hampshire to the opening of Boston’s professional baseball season. 

Earth Day was first held on April 22, 1970. It grew out of environment concerns that developed in the 1960s. Supported by a broad coalition of groups, it marked a major shift in the modern environmental movement. It was estimated that over 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day activities.

That movement led to “swift and substantial political action,” including the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency. 

Vermonters created their own take on the environment by holding their first Green-Up Day on April 18, 1970. State-wide, an estimated 67,000 volunteers clean up some 10,000 miles of Vermont roads.

Locally, citizens turned out to participate. In Fairlee, 200 workers participated in a town-wide effort, while in Corinth, 80 students led the clean-up.

Vermont continues to hold Green-Up Days annually; however, the date was changed to the first Saturday of May to allow roadside melting to reveal trash.

As we know Spring in our area of the country is elusive. Bright days warm the soil, encouraging the first signs of green, only to be followed by snow and ice. This winter has seemed especially long, so we look forward to whatever Spring we can get.

If I am still writing in the Spring of 2027, I will deal with the other features of the season in our area. That includes the history of everything from sugaring and mud seasons to basketball finals, spring tonics, and the opening day of trout fishing. I will be 84, and that will be the 20th year of the “In Times Past” columns. H

They Came As Strangers

 

                               Charles D. Barton, Greece to Bradford, VT

                             Dr. Geroge Swinzow, Ukraine to Thetford, VT

                                    Roberto Alonso. Cuba to Orford, NH

Those who read this column are likely descendants of immigrants. I am the grandson of one.

 My grandmother, Jennie Lee, migrated from London in 1908, and married my grandfather Elroy Coffin in 1909. I never knew her as she died of blood poisoning in Brookfield VT, in 1922.

All my other ancestors arrived in America between 1620 and 1640 during what is known as the Great Migration. They had dreams of a better life than the one they left behind.

This column includes some examples of the history of immigration to New Hampshire and Vermont before 1970. It features the stories of three immigrants who came to the local area and became part of their respective communities. Readers could suggest others who might have been included.

Descendants of the initial British settlers of southern New England formed the first wave of local immigrants. They were white and Protestant and replaced what remained of the native population.

These Yankees built the settlements that became the villages and towns along the Connecticut River. They were possessive and proud of what they had accomplished.

The Scotish settlers of Ryegate and Barnet were the first distinctly ethnic groups to come to the area directly from overseas. The Scotch American Company arrived in 1774, “bringing with them their Presbyterian faith, stone masonry skills and cultural cohesion.”

In the 1840s, Irish immigrants were the first major non-Yankee immigrant population. Brought to the local area as railroad workers, their presents created controversy. Town leaders in Barnet asked the railroad company to guarantee that the workers would be sent away when the work was done.

Aversion and fear were the reactions of some in Newbury to the “horde of men, women, and children of that nationality” invading with “their brogue and actions.” Their Catholic faith was a red flag to the Protestant population.

French-Canadian migrants who came New Hampshire and Vermont about the same time were also Roman Catholic. They were attracted by employment as farmers and, railroad and mill workers in the two states.

They were major sources of workers for industries in cities such as Manchester, Lebanon, and the Burlington-Winooski area, as well as in St. Johnsbury and Rutland. As such they competed with established groups for jobs and businesses.

By the 1890s, the Irish and French had made Roman Catholicism the largest single religious domination in Vermont.

In the 1850s, some locals joined the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing party. In the election for state representatives in 1855, Know-Nothing candidates from Thetford, Vershire, and West Fairlee were elected. 

That attitude may have been linked to the large number of immigrants working in the Orange County copper mines.

In the Ely mines in 1860, there were 81 Cornish and 43 Irish miners. By 1880, that number had increased to 209 “Cousin Jacks” or Cornish miners and 281 Irish miners. These workers were also at the Pike Hill mine in Corinth.

At the same time, Italian and Scotch granite workers were found in the granite quarries of Groton, South Ryegate, and Barre.

Late in the 19th century, immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe began to arrive from Greece, Poland, Russia, and elsewhere. As with earlier groups, they found employment in the mills. They often took jobs as merchants or in food service. Their small ethnic neighborhoods were sometimes found in larger communities in the two states. They often faced negative attitudes from established residents.

Despite these newcomers, the Vermont population continued to dwindled in rural communities. The state estalished a commission to encourage immigrants to take over abandoned farms. One focus of the commission was to encourage Swedish migrants by placing advertisements in Sweden.

Not only were their hardworking and temperate habits appealing, but they were Protestant.

 Locally, a committee in Vershire made plans to bring up to 40 Swedes to town in 1889.

However, only 12 arrived, and the abandoned farms that were to be their new homes were unsuitable.  Within a year, the “colony” had proved a failure as the migrants had left to work at a lumber mill in Norton, VT.

One of the Greek migrants who came was Constantine Burbaros.  He was one of those who adopted the Upper Valley as their own, and left it better for having lived here.

In 1916, at age 16, he left Greece with his uncle’s admonition, “You’ll never make it in America. You’ll be back soon.” He entered Ellis Island in October 1916, unable to speak English and with few resources other than an aptitude for hard work. 

To be successful in America, he angelized his name to Charles Barton. Despite some early reversals, he invested in a small store in White River Jct.

In 1926, he purchased a restaurant in Bradford, which he renamed “The Chimes.” That same year, he met a local girl named Ruth Rogers.  They waited five year before marrying, a union that lasted for 55 years.

They had three children, MaryAnn, James and Catherine. Ruth became” his best business partner,” doing the necessary bookwork for the growing business.

In 1947, the east side of Bradford’s Main Street was gutted by fire. Within days, Barton had developed plans for rebuilding the destroyed buildings. Additionally, he built the village building that currently houses his grandson’s dentistry and purchased the lot near the post office that provides adjacent parking.

Over the year Barton owned 11 stores as well as the Bradford Inn.  In 1960, the inn was razed to make way for a new bank building.

In addition to being an extraordinary entrepreneur, Barton was always generous to others. Whether an indigent who needed a meal, a fledgling business owner who needed a boost, or to a younger who got a piece of the candy he carried in his pockets, Barton reached out to those around him. He also regularly sent money to his home village in Greece.  

When he first came to Bradford in 1926, the newspaper noted, “He comes to us as a stranger.” In 1985, the Village of Bradford, in recognition of his contributions, designated the street around which he had done so much as Barton Street. “Charlie,” as he was known to many, was no longer a stranger; he was Mr. Bradford.

Barton died in1988, and, at his request, the hearse bearing his body made one last turn around the village. Ruth died in 2007.

Thetford was the home to another migrant who during his career played a significant role in understanding frigid climates. His name as Dr. George K. Swinzow.

When, in 1957, Swinzow received his Phh from Boston University after just two years, Boston-area newspapers noted the accomplishment. When interviewed, he described himself as “proof that the United States is a land of opportunity.”

He was born in Charkow, Ukraine in 1915, and met his wife Neonila in 1937. During World War II, he and she with their little daughter, were interned in Germany separately. By chance, they were reunited after the war, and began working for the UN Resettlement Program.

They migrated to the United States in 1951. He began attending Boston University, and because of his past training in geology, taught in the college’s geology department. He was 42 when he received his doctorate.

Dr. Swinzow’s interest in the impact of winter weather on warfare, led to him making a presentation at a scientific convention. There he drew the attention of a scientist from the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover.

This led to an employment offer, and, in 1960, the family relocated to Thetford and he began a career at CRREL.

The focus of his research was on permafrost engineering, frozen ground properties and frozen area construction techniques. He helped establish foundational knowledge in those area, especially on numerous visits to “frozen frontier areas.”

On one trip to Greenland in 1966, he rescued an abandoned Arctic blue fox pup which he brought back to Thetford, where it became a family pet.

He produced a number of notable publications and held patents in his research fields. In 1982, he wrote a discourse on the history of winter warfare, a study that was used as a reference by the military.

His efforts to coordinate Western and Soviet research led to visits by Soviet researchers to CRREL. He received a number of awards, including election to the New York Academy of Sciences.

His daughter, Ursula Austin, shared her memories with me. She said that, in addition to his scientific accomplishments, he was a linguist, painter, jeweler, magician, poet, forester, and part-time poultry farmer. He also helped his wife with her extensive vegetable gardens.

To the end of his life in 2000, he rejected totalitarianism and socialism in favor of the choices that America offered through capitalism and freedom. Neonila remained active in the Thetford community until her death in 2022 at age 104.

In January 1960, Roberto E. Alonso arrived in Miami’s Little Havana with his wife Edith, their infant daughter, and $15. They were escaping from Fidel Castro’s communist regime. I recently interviewed their daughter Vanessa, who shared her parents’ story.

Alonso was born in 1926 into a prominent Cuban family.  He grew up in an aristocratic atmosphere and, following a family tradition, received a law degree from the University of Havana in1952.

In 1956, while on a trip to Spain, he met Edith Thurau, a German resident and language major. Married, they were in Havana in 1960 when it became prudent to flee to the United States. They were not allowed to take more than a few clothes with them. 

In Florida, at the time, there were considerable anti-immigrant feelings with housing signs indicating “no dogs, no Cubans.”

In 1960, he responded to an advertisement seeking Spanish-speaking lawyers for a small firm in Orford, NH. It had been placed there by Meldrim Thomson, owner of Equity Publishing, a law book publishing company with a special interest in Spanish-speaking entities.

The family arrived in Orford in October 1960. For the next 16 years, Alonso was a senior editor for Equity.  In 1962, their family was enlarged with twin daughters. Priscilla and Cedric Harrington of Fairlee, former Equity employees, spoke admirably and warmly of Alonso and his family. 

When the firm underwent reorganization in 1978, the family moved to Texas and Georgia, where he worked for the IRS. Upon retirement in 1989, the family returned to Orford.

In his quiet way, Alonso was involved in the wider community both before and after the time away. He taught Spanish-language courses at Lebanon College, and, for many years, held weekly chess lessons for Orford youth at the local library.

Given his personal history, Alonso remained strongly anti-communist and pro-capitalist throughout his life in America.  He passed away in 2009. Edith Alonso continued to live in Orford, with family around her until she died in 2021.

 Their twin daughters, Vanessa and Patricia, continue to take an active role in the Orford Historical Society. They are a living legacy to this immigrant couple.

Bigotry against immigrant groups that came to New Hampshire and Vermont continued into the 20th century. Laborers often resented them, fearing they would accept lower wages. Those in power fearing losing control.

The rise in Vermont of the Ku Klux Klan, and the eugenics movement of the 1920s and 1930s, were indications of this xenophobia. They were, in the words of historian Jon Meacham, examples of “the most universal American inconsistency.”

Recently arrived immigrants are everywhere in Vermont and New Hampshire. They’re found at building sites, factories, medical offices, stores, and social agencies. They pick crops for grocery stores and farmers markets, and milk cows on local dairy farms.

To access some remarkable stories, I recommend Suddenly You Are Nobody, Vermont Refugees Tell Their Story by Jared Gagne. It includes the stories of 30 refugees and immigrants from Bosnia, Bhutan, Somalia and Sudan now living in the Burlington and Rutland areas.

When I taught a unit on immigration to my U.S. History students, I would play a recording of Neil Diamond’s 1980 hit “America.” The appropriate lyrics include, “They’re coming to America. Got a dream to take them there. They’re coming to America. Got a dream, they’ve come to share.”

These new immigrants may come as strangers, but those who stay become part of  the patchwork quilt that is America.      

 

 

Agents of Change

 Journal Opinion   January 2026

Train whistles echoed through the valley for the first time in 1848. In 1905 this southbound passenger train was located at the Bradford village station. 

Early telephone co-operatives provided service to the villages of the area. In 1885, the American Telephone and Telegraph began offering long-distance phone service. 

The artificial intelligence revolution will change society, perhaps beyond our greatest hopes or fears.

 There have been dramatic changes before driven by inventions. This column describes the impact of four revolutionary technologies that significantly altered local communities between 1830 and 1930.

The electric telegraph transformed how locals communicated with the outside world. For the first time there was instant communication over long distances.

Samuel Morse is credited with building the first telegraph system in 1843. It spread slowly until Western Union built a transcontinental telegraph line in 1861. By 1864, there were 44,000 miles of telegraph line, and by 1867, there were 90,000 miles of line.

Telegraph offices were opened in Bradford and Wells River in 1853. In Feb 1855, The Orange County Journal reported the establishment of a telegraph office in Newbury village, “with connections to all lines in the United States and Canada.”

At first, the lines were not connected with railroads, but by the 1860s, lines were strung along railroads in the area. The railroad system relied on the telegraph as a reliable method of communication.   

Civil Ware military leaders, especially those in the Union, widely used  the telegraph during the conflict. Additionally, the system began to be used to send weather reports, leading to the establishment of daily weather forecasting.

This beginning of telecommunications led to changes in business and personal communication. In 1869, it took a letter about seven days to go from coast to coast, whereas a short message could be sent instantaneously via telegraph. Once the message was received at a local telegraph office, it was printed and delivered to the recipient.  

The arrival of the railroad gave the telegraph system a new emphasis. By the 1860s telegraph lines were strung along the railways throughout the area. The railroad system relied on the telegraph as a dependable method of communication.

 The train was itself its own revolutionary technology. Train whistles echoed throughout the valley for the first time in 1848. The Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad reached Bradford in October1848, Well River soon after, McIndoe Fallsin October 1850, and St. Johnsbury a month later.

For villages such as Bradford and Wells River, the decision to build the tracks on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River made a tremendous difference in their futures.

The White Mountain Railroad was chartered in 1848 to take advantage of the lucrative mountain tourists demand.  It reached Wells River and Littleton in 1853.

The Montpelier and Wells River Railroad was chartered in 1867, and the 38-mile track opened between the two communities in 1873.

The building of the railroad was not without controversy. They increased land values in those towns they served, and the depot’s location could shift the economic center within a town.

As railroad junctions, both Wells River and Woodsville became major railroad centers. In the late 19^th century, Woodsville experienced tremendous growth due to the influx of railroad workers. The number of passengers changing trains in Wells River led to the development of that village as well.

Before steam engines used coal, lumbermen and farmers harvested thousands of cords of wood from local forests, contributing to deforestation.

Area railroads had tremendous social, economic, and political impacts. They significantly increased the ease of travel and communication. With connecting lines, the area was open to diverse markets at a fraction of the previous cost.

Passenger and mail shipments were also a major part of the rail’s impact. For much of the period, one could choose from up to four trains in each direction.

The growth of the railroad network made life different and, in many cases, better.  It ushered in a period of change not repeated until the coming of the interstate highway system.

 Railroads influenced marriage patterns, the spread of disease, migration, government influence, home heating, building techniques, and the labor market. Even the concept of time changed with the adoption of standardized “railroad time” to address the uncertainly of local clocks. Telegraph was the method used by railroads to insure vital communication.        

If the telegraph improved communication, the introduction of the telephone improved it even more, significantly reducing rural isolation.  With great excitement, the first telephone system went into operation in Bradford on May 1, 1884, less than 20 years after Alexander Graham Bell secured the first patent.

Many of the area’s first telephone systems were cooperatives servicing local neighborhoods. In 1890, a cooperative was formed in Orford to serve a few households and was enlarged to serve other neighborhoods. A similar cooperative was created to service the Thetford area.

In 1891, a line was established between North Haverhill and Haverhill Corners, followed by a line from Woodsville to Wells River.

In 1885, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company formed, and after that, only local telephone companies operating under Bell-granted license could connect to its long-distance network.  For instance, in 1896, a long-distance line connected Haverhill to Boston.

Other neighborhoods and villages were connected in a similar way. In 1897, the South Newbury to West Newbury system was followed by the Topsham Telephone Company in 1899.

When the South Corinth & West Fairlee line was strung, there were 18 subscribers, each of which built and maintained about one-half mile of the system. In 1903, a similar arrangement was created between 16 subscribers for a telephone line between Bradford and West Newbury.

In 1908, the Blue Mountain Telephone Company was organized to service Ryegate, Boltonville, and Groton. In these small companies, the central switchboard was in someone’s home.

Gradually, these small companies were absorbed by larger ones. One exception was the Topsham Telephone Company, which remained independent until 1998.

When telephone service first came to the Bradford area, it was offered by several telephone companies: New England Telephone in 1884, and later the White Mountain Telephone, the Connecticut Valley Telephone Company, and finally, in 1947, the New England Telephone Company again.   

Each subscriber was furnished with a wall-mounted telephone equipped with a hand crank that generated power to place the call.  A local operator asked what number was being called and manually plugged the caller’s cable into the proper hole on the switchboard, thus connecting the two parties.

The party being called would be notified by a combination of long and short rings on their telephone. Each line had a number of subscribers with no conversation privacy, as others on the line could hear conversations on the shared line. 

Hometown telephone operators were central to the dissemination of local news.They knew who was at home, details about illnesses, and emergencies, as well as other personal details of town life. When asked if she ever listened in on private conversations, one elderly telephone operator said, with a sly smile, “Of course not.”

Businesses realized the value of listing a telephone number and gradually more added them to their newspaper advertisements.

Another important innovation developed between 1888 and 1910 when most local villages installed electricity. Before that time kerosene lamps lit homes, and gas lamps were used in village streets. 

The first locale in the vicinity  to install electricity was the mining village of Copperfield in Vershire, followed by Woodsville in 1890, Haverhill in 1890, Wells River in 1896, Bradford village in 1897, Newbury in 1905, Fairlee in 1909, and Orford in 1910. 

Permission from the local government was needed to set poles and string wires. Power came from local power plants, which, in the case of Bradford, came from water power from the Waits River.

The introduction of electricity was not without opposition, both from the gas lighting industry and from those who were concerned about the safety of this “mysterious and deadly” installation.

The introduction of electricity revolutionized homemakers’ lives as electrical appliances were invented. The electric flat iron (1890s) and vacuum cleaner (1901) were followed by the washing machine and toaster (1909), refrigerator (1913), and waffle iron (1911).

By the 1920s, electric stoves began to compete with gas stoves. These new inventions increased in the average customer’s electric consumption from 264 kwh in 1912 to 339 in 1920 and 547 in 1930.

Rural folks did not always have access to these modern conveniences.  Rural areas of local towns often did not get electricity until the Rural Electrification program in the 1930s and 1940s. Some rural families used generators for milking or limited lighting.

Rural sections of Corinth received electricity in 1932, whereas some sections of Topsham waited until after 1942.  Mink Hill in Bradford had poles set in 1948. It was in 1965 that the last Vermont town were hooked to the electrical grid. 

The United Opinion made a prediction in 1897 that has come true far beyond the editor’s wildest imagination” “Electric lights will increase in popularity the more they are seen, and the very few who have predicted a failure in this way of lighting will be answered by the lights themselves, and very soon their fault-finding and bickering will go out into total darkness and oblivion.”    

That was not the newspaper’s only prediction that was borne out by new technology. The United Opinion of November 8, 1895 carried the following: “The model horseless carriage will no doubt come in time.” It was that year that the first American gasoline car company was established.

The following year, the first horseless carriage was sighted driving through Bradford. It was probably a steam powered vehicle.

For the first few years of its appearance, an automobile was seen as the play thing for wealthy men from down country. Because of the frightening impact on pedestrians and horses, these “devil wagons” were not welcomed locally.   

The local residents who owned the first automobiles were usually professionals, such as doctors, or businessmen. 

In Vermont, as elsewhere, there was anti-automobile legislation. This included attempts to limit their use on state highways. In 1894, Vermont passed a law requiring drivers of steam-propelled vehicles to have a person at least one-eighth of a mile in advance “to notify and warn all persons.” This law was repealed in 1900.

Because automobiles injured pedestrians and carriage passengers, the Middlebury Register referred to “the homicidal orgy of the motor car.” Throughout the period, many were ready to make jokes or derogatory remarks about automobiles.

Nevertheless, Vermont began to register automobiles in 1904, followed by New Hampshire in 1905. Newspapers reported the phenomenal growth and vigor of the new industry. By 1915, there were 10,819 registered autos in New Hampshire, and by 1916, 15,350 in Vermont.

Automobile enthusiasts organized to promote the rights of automobile users and the improvement of roads. Good roads were important to farmers anxious to get their products to market in a timely way, as well as an attraction to tourists to the region.   

As the number of automobiles increased, support businesses such as garages and road-side tourist attractions began to appear. Stores offered items the motoring public needed.

Those who raised horses or made harnesses and wagons were negatively impacted.

The first mention of an automobile in a Vermont newspaper was in 1895. It predicted “the passing of the horse.” By 1930, with 60,00 registered vehicles in Vermont and 105,000 in New Hampshire, that prediction had come to pass.   

 These five revolutionary technologies had a significant impact on the lifestyles of local residents. It was said that they “annihilated time and space” by speeding up many aspects of daily life while at the same time connecting the local area to the wider world as never before. Other innovations that can be included in this list will be the subject of a later column.

As society is confronts new technological advances, there will be some predictions that will eventually come to pass while others will not. Likewise, as new technologies bring new challenges, there will be those who will oppose their advancement.

 As at times in the past, the oppositions will be swept away by the force of progress and the advantages of changes.