2004 Annual Report of the President & Trustees

The Swanton Historical Society has just completed its 20th year of serving its members and the Swanton community. It has been a busy and productive year. The process of discovering and celebrating the history of Swanton has been challenging and rewarding.

Much has transpired since our beginning in 1984. The most notable early accomplishment was the publishing of the History of Swanton, Vermont in 1988. We are contemplating a third printing this year in order to meet the demands of interested historians from all over the U.S. Ten years later, in 1998, we celebrated the opening of the Gordon & Barbara Winters Annex to the Swanton Public Library. The Historical Society has continued to occupy its space on the lower level for the purpose of maintaining our collections and conducting research. In 2002 we celebrated the completion of a four year project to protect, preserve and restore the Circa 1875 West Station by moving it from its original location on Depot Street to its present location at a historic site on South River Street. The station has served as the Swanton Historical Society R.R. Depot Museum since 2003. Also in 2003 we established our new website with the help of Advantage Creations and can be found at www.swantonhistoricalsociety.org Throughout the period since 1984 the Historical Society has sponsored numerous educational programs free and open to the public including the following this past year:

January: A workshop was conducted by Mary Jo Davis of the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance for volunteers in the archival preservation of historical artifacts. Recommendations included the exhibition and proper storage of artifacts, ranging from environmental concerns to ease of accessibility for research.

February: In celebration of Black History Month, with the assistance of Alice Reed Morrison , Ph.D., Director of the Old Stone House Museum and Darlene Young, Museum and Collections Manager for the Orleans County Museum in Brownington, we presented the program: “Alexander Twilight from Vermont (1795-1857) – First African-American to Graduate from College in the U.S. (Middlebury, 1823); also first African-American State Legislator in the U.S. – An Amazing Individual”

March: Claude Chevalier of Chevalier Drilling Co., Inc., Edith Greene, founder of Franklin County Dowsers in Richford and Rodney Berger from Swanton, a practitioner of “Water Witching” presented a fascinating program on dowsing entitled: “Finding Water the Old-Fashioned Way: Is it Science or Witchcraft?”

April: The 20th anniversary of the Swanton Historical Society was celebrated on Saturday, April 24, 2004 by having an Open House at the Depot from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Charter members of the Society as well as members from the King’s Daughters were honored and treated with food, music, reminiscing, photographs and video presentations. A flowering ornamental tree was planted by the Swanton Chamber of Commerce to celebrate this occasion.

May: In celebration of the arrival of Spring on the Missisquoi and Lake Champlain we presented a program entitled: “Fishing for Walleyes in Swanton…then and Now”. A large audience enjoyed the program presented by Bernie Pientka, Wildlife Biologist from the Vt. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife; Dan Mitchell, Lake Champlain Walleye Association President; Cubby Smith, fisherman and storyteller; and Bob Samson, fisherman and storyteller.

June: We celebrated our 20th Anniversary Annual Meeting, Election of Officers & Trustees and presented a program by Paul Bruhn, Executive Director of Preservation Trust of Vermont entitled: “Why is Vermont on the National List of Ten Most Endangered Places, for the Second Time in a Decade?” We enjoyed a free barbecue outside at the Depot and enjoyed the musical entertainment on the keyboards by Verne Colburn.
For the 5th year in a row we participated in the Vermont History Expo sponsored by the Vermont Historical Society at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds. Dr. Fred Wiseman provided expert guidance and many historical artifacts for the exhibit “Six Flags over Swanton”. Swanton’s rich history was portrayed through artifacts and the flags of the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi, the Jesuit flag, the flag of New France, the British flag, the Vermont Republic flag and the American flag.
July: Through a grant from the Vermont Old Cemetery Association (VOCA) and the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) we continued our efforts to protect and restore the historic cemeteries of Swanton. Numerous stones were repaired and re-erected at the Woods Hill Cemetery on Route #7, South of the Village and at Green’s Corner on Vt. Route #105. More work remains to be done this coming Spring, funded by the Historical Society.

September: Several members and guests celebrated our annual field trip by a visit to the Old Stone House Museum in Brownington, Vermont as a sequel to our February program celebrating Black History. The museum commemorates the works of Rev. Alexander Twilight, schoolmaster. After a tour of the historic district and buildings we journeyed to Newport for lunch on Lake Memphramagog. We finished by visiting the Hardwick Historical Society at their museum located in their newly restored railroad depot.

We finished the month by joining with the Nativity Parish in celebrating their 150th Anniversary in a program entitled: “Celebrating 150 Years in Swanton-The Nativity BVM Catholic Church – 1854-2004” Father Romeo Trahan, SSE, a Charter member of the Swanton Historical Society lead a discussion on the importance and relevance of the Nativity Parish in Swanton through the years.

October: Several members participated in the unveiling ceremony for the stone canoe sculpture at Marble Mill Park sponsored by the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and the participating artists. Following the ceremony we hosted an Open House for the Richford Historical Society Project, “Postcards From the Trail”.

November: The Swanton Historical Society 2005 Community Calendar was unveiled by the Calendar Committee featuring the Historic Hotels of Swanton, including the Central House, Circa 1890; The Hotel Champlain at Maquam, Circa 1892; The Grand Avenue Hotel; the West Side Inn; The Adams House-Riverview Hotel-Riviere Hotel. These limited edition calendars are still available at a reasonable price.

In November we received a cash grant of $1,000.00 from IBM. This grant was awarded in recognition of the volunteer service of Raymond Pare, an IBM Retiree who participated in IBM’s Community Grant Program for retirees who have a record of active and ongoing involvement with local charities and schools. Thank you Ray. Thank you IBM.

December: The Historical Society again sold calendars, mugs and Swanton History Books at the Annual Nativity Parish Craft Show. Our Annual Christmas Party and Turkey Pot Luck Supper was held at the Depot on December 19, featuring a collection of antique musical instruments displayed and demonstrated by our member Glen Gurwit.

Once again we were fortunate to have Dr. Fred Wiseman, member and friend of the Historical Society, set up his vintage collection of pre-war and post-war Lionel Trains. This was enjoyed by the young and not so young, as well. From December 28 through 31 we had at least 100 visitors to the display. The program was so popular it was repeated to celebrate Martin Luther King Day on January 17, 2005 with another 84 visitors signing in.

Other Happenings at the RR Depot Museum: Thanks to the generous assistance of the Vermont Associates for Planning & Development based in St. Albans, we have enjoyed the services of Christine Fitchman who has served as our Hostess and Curator at the museum, allowing us to keep the museum open five days a week from May to October. Thereafter Christine was able to transfer her services to our space at the Library and is busy 20 hours per week cataloguing our photographs, newspapers and other collections. Thank you Christine. Thank you Vermont Associates.

On January 10 we held an Open House for retired CV trainmen. Since then they have been coming back for coffee, donuts and to leave off their cherished railroad memorabilia. It is nice to be able to provide them with a home away from home on Saturday mornings and for them to be able to display their “ railroad stuff”.

On February 21 members of the Hardwick Historical Society paid us a visit to learn about our Railroad Museum as they are busy restoring the St. J. station in Hardwick and were able to learn much from our experience.

On June 4 several members of the staff of the St. Albans Historical Museum paid us a visit and donated Swanton-related ephemera from their collection.

On June 9 the National Railway Historical Society held their 40th Anniversary meeting at the depot including the National President from Cincinnati, Ohio and other members from Connecticut, New York and Vermont. A vintage double-seated bench from the Highgate station was presented to Swanton Historical Society on behalf of the NRHS, Vermont Chapter.

On November 29 members of the Middlesex Historical Society involved in the restoration of the Middlesex train station paid us a visit to learn more about our restoration project. They were very appreciative of our efforts and willingness to share. We have stayed in touch.

Plans for 2005:

Thanks to the generous grant from IBM mentioned earlier, we will be expanding the content and utilization of our website, www.swantonhistoricalsociety.org. We have also obtained the services of volunteers who will be assisting in the transfer of selected historic photographs to the website so that we can create a photo gallery on line. We have been able to add to our extensive postcard collection thanks to generous cash donations from friends of the Society.

We have plans for a college student intern to assist us during the Summer months . We will be participating for the 6th consecutive year in the Vermont History Expo in Tunbridge, June 24-26. Please let us know your thoughts as to an appropriate exhibit.

We have yet to complete the restoration of the historic Robin Hood/Remington Ammunition Co. gatehouse on Robin Hood Drive. By working with the Town of Swanton we hope to be able to complete this project this year.

As mentioned earlier, we will complete repairs to gravestones at Woods Hill and Greens Corner cemeteries.

We are contemplating a third printing of the History of Swanton, Vermont 1988 as well as a second printing of the History of Swanton, Vt 1882 by George Barney and John B. Perry as published in Abby Marie Hemenway’s Vermont Historical Gazeteer in 1882. Much will depend on available financial resources for these projects.

Of course we will continue to operate and maintain the Swanton Historical Society RR Depot Museum for the benefit of our members and our community by making it open and accessible throughout the year as well as interesting and informative programs throughout the year.

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Swanton is a very special place, rich in history, culture and tradition. We have much to share and to learn from each other, students & seniors alike. We welcome everyone to join our Society and to help us preserve and appreciate our heritage. I continue to be proud of our society and its members who have helped me to serve once again as President this past year.

A special Thank You is due to the citizens of Swanton who have supported us through the years and especially to the Swanton Selectboard and Town Administrative Officer and to the Town employees and staff. Thank you also to Swanton Village Electric and Public Works Departments for assistance when needed. Thank you also to the Swanton Public Library staff and Trustees.

Respectfully submitted by:

Ronald F. Kilburn, President with assistance from the Officers & Trustees of SHS.