New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Vermont

Lake Champlain Basin Commemorating the Clean Water Act

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Lake Champlain bridge provided by Erica RemingtonFifty years ago, the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Water Act. This landmark legislation has been critical in protecting and restoring the Lake Champlain Basin’s water quality, fisheries, wetlands, wildlife, recreation, and cultural resources.

To recognize the Act’s importance, the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership (CVNHP) and the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) have spearheaded a commemoration of the anniversary with a variety of events, activities, and publications in 2022. [Read more…] about Lake Champlain Basin Commemorating the Clean Water Act

Vermont Historical Society Presents Achievement Awards

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Vermont Historical SocietyThe Vermont Historical Society (VHS) has announced it’s annual League of Local Historical Societies & Museums (LLHSM) Achievement Awards, recognizing the outstanding efforts of individuals and community heritage organizations throughout the state that collect, preserve, and share Vermont‘s rich history. [Read more…] about Vermont Historical Society Presents Achievement Awards

Bobcat Ranney: The Hermit of Dogtown

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Bobcat RanneyAccording to “A Who’s Who of Adirondack Hermits,” in the Fiftieth Anniversary edition of Adirondack Life magazine there were only two in Warren County: artist John Henry Hill at Phantom Island on Lake George and Archie “Bobcat” Ranney of Baker’s Mills.

Hill only lasted six years, from 1870 until 1876: the year he was picked up and sent to an asylum, never to return to the county. Archie, on the other hand, made his mark in Adirondack history and lore by “hermiting” for twenty years in Baker’s Mills, a hamlet in the town of Johnsburg. [Read more…] about Bobcat Ranney: The Hermit of Dogtown

Wildlife Mosaics: Paddling Freshwater Marshes

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Cattail-marshland-at-Tifft-Nature-Preserve-Buffalo-courtesy-Wikimedia-user-Buffaboy Sunlight glinted off the water as we paddled our canoe along a winding channel which led through a marsh of tall grasses and wild rice. Two white, long-legged birds – great egrets – stalked the shallow water, poised to spear fish with their pointed bills. A bald eagle landed in a tree, squawking as it joined its mate. After four miles of canoeing down the Missisquoi River in northwestern Vermont we had reached the point where the river enters Lake Champlain. [Read more…] about Wildlife Mosaics: Paddling Freshwater Marshes

The 1946 Disappearance of Paula Welden on Vermont’s Long Trail

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Police circulated photograph of Paula Jean WeldenIn December 1946, 18-year-old Bennington College sophomore Paula Jean Welden disappeared while walking alone on Vermont‘s Long Trail, which passes a few miles from the college. Local sheriffs were criticized for errors made in the investigation, which led to the creation of the Vermont State Police.

The Welden case, which inspired Shirley Jackson’s second novel Hangsaman, was one of several unexplained disappearances in the same area at the time. Her college dormitory, Dewey House, remains standing on campus. [Read more…] about The 1946 Disappearance of Paula Welden on Vermont’s Long Trail

Fort Ticonderoga To Reenact 1777 Brown’s Raid

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1777 Bown's Raid reenactment photo by Mark Morello (courtesy Fort Ticonderoga)After the British capture of Fort Ticonderoga on July 5, 1777, Major General Benjamin Lincoln was ordered to Vermont to organize militia being raised in New England, with part of his mission to harass General John Burgoyne‘s long supply and communication lines to Canada. That September, following the Battle of Bennington, Lincoln sent three 500-man detachments to take on this task. [Read more…] about Fort Ticonderoga To Reenact 1777 Brown’s Raid

NY-VT Border Conflict Dramatization Planned for June 18th

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Robert Ebert of Bennington directs a rehearsal for a dramatization of a crisis that befell Arlington 250 years agoThe public is invited to a dramatization of the immediate aftermath of the capture and rescue of Arlington settler and Green Mountain Boy Captain Remember Baker.

On March 21, 1772 a posse of New Yorkers under John Munro (1728-1800) attempted to collect the New York bounty on Baker at his cabin at what is now East Arlington, Vermont. The area was initially claimed by New Hampshire, but New York, which also claimed the territory, began issuing grants of its own, some of which conflicted with those already made by New Hampshire. Armed conflicts between the rival claimants were common, and the Green Mountain Boys were organized to expel the settlers from New York. The dispute was resolved when Vermont (originally called New Connecticut) was established as an independent republic in 1777. [Read more…] about NY-VT Border Conflict Dramatization Planned for June 18th

Winooski Celebrates A 100th Anniversary

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winooskiThe history of the City of Winooski in Chittenden County, Vermont goes back when Indigenous People inhabited the area, and the Abenaki tribes in the area referred to land as winoskitegw or “land of the wild onion.”

The falls along the Winooski River meant that the area was attractive to industry in the Colonial and post-Colonial periods, and in the years that followed, the city became known for manufacturing textiles. [Read more…] about Winooski Celebrates A 100th Anniversary