Vermont Historical Society

In 1863 a young Black man, Loudon Langley, strode down Lincoln Hill in Hinesburgh, Vermont to join the Union Army in the Civil War. After the war he moved with his family to Beaufort, South Carolina where he became one of the founders of Radical Republicanism, which believed in the equality that had been promised to those who loyally fought for the Union. That belief made him a radical.

At first, there was much progress. However, the Reconstruction playbook eventually dashed the hopes of freed people. That playbook is still being used today to push false narratives about that time in our history. [Read more…] about Reconstruction: When Republicans Were Radical Progressives

Dr. Robert Goodby will lead a Zoom program that focuses on the Native American structures that were discovered in Keene, New Hampshire, in 2009, when an archaeological site survey was conducted prior to the construction of the Keene Middle School.

The remnants of buildings and artifacts found at this site date to the end of the Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. These items provide valuable information about the area’s early inhabitants, including insights into Paleoindian gender roles, the organization of their households, and their social networks that stretched for hundreds of miles. [Read more…] about 12,000 Years Ago in the Granite State

The Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen and his brother Ira, controlled the area of disputed land grants. Based at a tavern in Bennington, they evaded arrest warrants from New York State and harassed settlers from New York, surveyors, and other officials, often with severe beatings and destruction of their belongings.

At a stand-off at the New York established court in March of 1775, two men were killed and Ethan Allen called for independence from New York. [Read more…] about Ethan Allen’s 285th Birthday Celebration Set For Saturday