The highly prized green granite from this quarry was used in historic locations such as the sarcophagi of President and Mrs. McKinley, shown here. Participants in this program will hike up to the old quarry site from the Brownsville trail parking area. Pat Nowlan, Mt. Ascutney State Park Interpreter, along with anyone else familiar with this history will show visitors the signs and remnants of the quarry industry and share stories from newspapers of the day, as well as old photos of quarry activity. Bring plenty of water and bug spray. Difficulty: moderate. Distance is less than a mile, but uphill. We encourage carpooling to save on parking space at the trailhead. A rain date will be set if needed.

The Historical Society will be having a community scanning day on Sunday, April 14th to expand our photograph and historical records collection for future generations. If you have any photographs of people and life in West Windsor (from the past or from the present) that you don't want to give up but are willing to share, we would love to scan them for you and for our archives!

Our plan is to have three community scanning events in 2024 and this is the first. For this event, we're limiting our scans to items that can be pressed flat onto a scanner. Photos, documents, family trees, etc. are perfect, up to what they call ledger size. We hope to be able to digitize images of 3D items in future events.

You can sign-in for the scanning between 1 and 4 pm. We'll keep scanning until those items are complete. We plan to also have local history people available who can help you identify items or otherwise help support the capture of information and may be able to tell you more about what you have.

If you have questions, please take a look at the FAQ sheet or drop us an email at info@wwhs-vt.org

Love Maps?

Drop in on the Historical Society’s upcoming exhibit on historical maps of West Windsor, including maps from the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s as well as the map of original land grants, location of homes and their residents from the mid 1800s, and a range of related historical documentation.

It’s the final Third Sundays at the Grange program for our 50th year. Come and join the party!

First event: a chili cookoff and dinner from 11 to 12:30. Join us by emailing programs@wwhs-vt.org, whether to join the cook-off or enjoy the food. There will be vegetarian chili, meat chili, and cornbread to clear your palate. This is also a fundraiser. You can taste all the chilis and vote on your favorite for just $5. Tickets available at https://www.wwhs-vt.org/wwhs-vtstore/p/taster-size-chili-portions or at the door. Weather permitting, we will have firepits out in the yard so you can enjoy a hot meal while in the fresh air. If the food holds out, we'll also be extending the $5 deal after 12:30, with seating in the yard.

Second event: join us for a Vermont Historical Society trivia contest, starting at 12:30 with an added round of local trivia as well as the state questions. Sign up as a team (up to four members) or as an individual. We can also help you form a team at the event. Prizes will be awarded for each round and a grand prize for the big winner. Join us for the fun.

Finale - come and share cake and cocoa to celebrate the end of our 50th year and start to our second half-century. We’re thinking that the timing will be about 2:00, depending on the end of the trivia contest. Come cheer on the trivia players and don’t worry about the time! The final raffle and drawing of the winner of our 50th anniversary quilt will also be during this time.

Music of the Roaring Twenties (and Then Some!)
A musical and historical walk down memory lane

West Windsor fiddler Adam Boyce, accompanied by piano player Sue Hunt of Alexandria, New Hampshire, will play a number of traditional New England contra and square dance tunes, as well as some older popular music from bygone eras of American history and culture.

Adam Boyce, of West Windsor, grew up in Williamstown, Vermont, and has been playing the fiddle for 32 years. A student of the legendary traditional “Yankee” fiddler, Harold “Chuck” Luce of Chelsea, Adam’s repertoire includes traditional jigs, reels, and hornpipes of early New England-style dancing, but also older popular music, Tin-Pan Alley, early Country-Western songs, Big-Band numbers, church hymns, and original compositions of his own making.

Sue Hunt of Alexandria, New Hampshire, has been hooked on New England traditional dancing and music since she was in elementary school. Influenced by dance callers Ralph Page, Dudley Laufman, and Duke Miller, she plays piano and accordion regularly in New Hampshire and Vermont for public dances and private events, and also calls square and contra dances for reunions, weddings, and other gatherings.

Learn about arts and crafts that have been around since the foundation of our town and pick up some handcrafted gifts for your home or loved ones. This program will feature local artisans and their wares at the Historical Society’s location and will contribute funds for our 50th anniversary year.

Due to factors beyond our control, the fall Bean Supper will be pick-up and take-out only. October is a hard time to coordinate schedules. We will have the traditional baked bean supper options with a maximum of 100 servings available. Pre-orders will be required. You can pre-order and pre-purchase by credit or paypal on our website: wwhs-vt.org/wwhs-vtstore, or reserve your order by email at info@wwhs-vt.org or by phone 802-484-7474.

Please specify the number of adult, senior, and child (5-12) orders being placed and if they are traditional (with meat) or vegetarian (no salt pork or meat).

The September edition of West Windsor Historical Society's "Third Sundays at the Grange" program series will return to the Grange Hall/Historical Society building. John and Bill Howland have gathered together a range of historical photographs showing the vistas of West Windsor in the 1800s and first half of the 1900s and are taking new photographs from those same locations (or as close as they can get) to show those views today. In addition to comparing photographs, the Howlands will talk about what accounts for the differences we see and how this reflects the changing lives of local residents. Come and join us, and stay for refreshments and further discussion after the program.

If you’ve never visited the Cady Mausoleum, located on the hill above the school off Strawberry Hill and the snowmobile trail, this is your opportunity. Using a poetic map developed by the students of Albert Bridge School, participants can hike up the trail to the mausoleum while others drive up the hill and take the short walk to the structure. Depending upon conditions, this day may include a work party to clear brush and spruce up this historic building. Those hiking up the snowmobile trail for the full tour should meet at the school playing field at 11:00. Those driving to the top of Strawberry Hill for the shorter hike should plan on meeting around 11:30. Bring your water, take your tick precautions, and apply bug spray.

This tour will take people on a walk around the Brownsville historic district, giving the history and stories about individual buildings and the district as a whole. Participants will be able to compare what the center of the village looked like in the past with what it looks like today through the use of old photographs and maps.

This tour will take people on a short stroll along what was the original village of the West Parish of Windsor. While only a few of the old buildings from that time still exist, visitors will be able to compare old photographs and stories with the view from today. Sheddsville and Windsor villages were the two original settlements of Windsor in the 1700s and Cemetery Rd was part of the main thoroughfare between the county seats of Windsor and Rutland. Ann Danna will lead the tour, with the help of Karen Diop, who will guide groups from Sheddsville Cemetery.

There are three options for parking on Cemetery Road.
1) If you want to spend some time before or after the tour in Sheddsville Cemetery, go ahead and park alongside or in the Cemetery. Karen will meet you there.
2) Another option for parking is at 873 Cemetery Road (also known as the former Harriet Hilts place), which is diagonally across the road from Cowshed Trail and partway down the hill to Sheddsville village. You can park on the circular driveway or even on the grass. Walk up the slight rise to the end of the cemetery and join Karen and the others there at 2:00.
3) Finally, if you are physically impaired and not able to walk the hill between the village center and the cemetery, park alongside the road at the junction of Cemetery and Sheddsville roads and Ann Danna will meet you there.

We encourage hats and water bottles, since we don't know what the weather will be like.

The Baked Bean Suppers are back! This tradition, which has continued for more than 90 years, raises funds for WWHS and SCIP (School & Community in Partnership).

2023 will celebrate a sit-down, community style supper with a menu of baked beans, hotdogs and kielbasa, potato salad, coleslaw, green salad, rolls, and home-made pie. Take out is also available. Cost for this fundraising feast is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 60 and up, $5 for kids 5-12, and free for those under 5 years old. In addition to the standard cash or check options, this year we will also be accepting credit cards.

Service is first come, first serve, until the food is gone or we reach our last service time of 7:00 pm. We hope to see you with us at this community celebration!

If you would like to help out with getting the supper together, here’s the link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4CA5AF2EA7F85-brownsville1

Walk through the forest and you’ll see stonewalls, cellarholes, and clues to past use that you may not even notice. Have you ever wondered about the ways your land or the land around you was used in the past? Agriculture? Sheep? Logging? Or perhaps all of these in different eras. This program will draw on materials developed by the renowned Tom Wessels and others from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to give you pointers in how to read the landscape around you and find hints from the past that tell a story.

Community dances were a common activity at the start of the 20th century to raise funds to build the Grange Hall (home to the West Windsor Historical Society). Commemorating our founding in 1973, we are hosting a 1970s era dance party as part of fundraising for the next 50 years of the West Windsor Historical Society’s mission. Entertainment will be provided by Rick Davis, one of the town’s local musicians from that time. The dance will be family-friendly, include prizes for costumes representing the era, and entry is by donation to WWHS. Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased through the paypal link on the ‘70s Dance Party Fundraiser tab. You can enter credit card info through this link without saving your info to paypal.

Want to have a look at how much fun was had at this dance? https://youtu.be/s2bADMXGY3s

Sugaring has been an agricultural activity in West Windsor since the first permanent inhabitants settled here. It continues to this day. This program will focus on sugaring over the past 100 years and includes a short talk, presentation of some historical tools used, and a tour of present-day sugar houses.

Here’s link to the presentation on vimeo, recorded by our friends at Windsor on Air: Sugar Houses of West Windsor, VT on Vimeo

Are you coming to the fundraiser party and want to dress up, but your clothes from the era either no longer fit or don’t exist any more? Here’s a chance to find yourself a costume!

Please drop off any item that someone else might be able to use on Saturday the 18th to give us time to give it all some organization. Then come on by on Sunday March 19th between 10:00 and 1:00 to find wardrobe items for yourself.

Can’t remember the style? Think crochet clothing, vests, bell bottoms, Maxi or mini dresses, anything boho or hippie, polyester suits with wide ties, jean suits, turbans and headscarves, and the ever popular hotpants. Fabrics: paisley, neon, tie dye, flower power, embroidered. Disco. Wigs are welcome.

We often think of Vermonters as having a historically white population, but Windsor and West Windsor have had people of color living here since at least the early 1800s. This program will look at that history, including presenting information on the West Windsor residents who are commemorated in the plaque at the library for having joined up to fight for the North in the Civil War.

This program will start with a presentation at the Grange Hall and end with a self-guided driving tour to key sites that were discussed. West Windsor had a wide range of industries in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of which still have traces today. Learn about the mills, workshops, animal husbandry and other early industrial sites in the West Parish and West Windsor. Visit their sites and see what traces are left using a map developed by WWHS.

Link to the Early Industry Map