Town Government
Things to Do
Schools
Community Calendar
Newsletter
Community Services
Community Profile
Links

Weathersfield Historical Society
Updated April 24, 2006

The Reverend Dan Foster House in Weathersfield Center
Museum of the Weathersfield Historical Society
[Photograph taken in the 1960's]

The Weathersfield Historical Society was founded in 1951, to preserve the history of our Town, both in the form of artifacts and in written records.

     Our museum, the Reverend Dan Foster House, is located on the Weathersfield Center Road in the Weathersfield Center Historic District, across the road from the historic Weathersfield Meeting House and First Congregational Church.

     The house was begun during the Revolutionary War and completed in sections dating 1785 through 1825. The 18th-century barn was recently reconstructed.
With the addition of the old forge in 1972, the complex houses an extensive collection of historical items, including Civil War memorabilia, a children's school room, tools, clothing and textiles, a library with archival photos and genealogies, and the last panther killed in Weathersfield (1867).

Hours for the Rev. Dan Foster House are 2 - 5 p.m, as well as by appointment. Thursdays through Mondays, June 5 until October 2.  Admission is free but donations are appreciated. In addition to our permanent collection, there are special exhibits during the summer.

Summer 2005 Exhibit 
A reminder to all Weathersfield Historical Society members and friends that the Rev. Dan Foster House will open for its summer season on Saturday, June 10 with an open house from 2 to 5 pm. Tea and refreshments will be served.  Contact:  Ellen Clattenburg, 263-5505. 

New exhibit, “Weathersfield’s Own Ripley’s Believe It or Not”.  Like Robert Ripley’s comic strip and museums, Weathersfield has some weird, unbelievable, and amazing history.  The fastest woodchopper in Vermont, Weathersfield’s own witch, and lightening that strikes twice are a few of the features. 

The Reverend Dan Foster House Museum will open on June 10 and close on October 9.  Summer Hours are Thursday through Monday, 2:00 p.m. through 5:00 p.m. (closed on Tuesday and Wednesday).  Make time to visit our interesting collection, and bring your summer visitors to give them a taste of Weathersfield history.

2006 Calendar Items

June 18-October 9.  The Reverend Dan Foster House Museum open.  Make time to visit our interesting collection, and bring your summer visitors to give them a taste of Weathersfield History.  Summer Hours are Thursday through Monday, 2:00 p.m. through 5:00 p.m., and by appointment.  Contact:  Gertrude Brown
 
Monday, April 24. Board of Governors Meeting.  Location:  Home of Grace Knight, 328 Gravelin Road.  Contact:  Willis Wood, 263-5547. 7:00 p.m. 
 
Saturday, May 13. Work Bee at the Dan Foster House (and barn, and library, and forge). Bring dust cloths, brooms, dustpans, and help the Dan Foster House shake off its winter doldrums.  Volunteers are encouraged to take on the part of the house or the type of task they most enjoy doing.  For instance, John Arrison annually tackles the powder post beetles and is making headway!  Breakfast is served.  Contact:  Ellen Clattenburg, 263-5505.  8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. 
 
Sunday, May 21. Hike along the Old Stage Road off Thrasher Road.  Park near McDermott Farm.  Contact:  Ginger Wimberg, 263-5626.  2:00 p.m. 
 
Saturday, June 10. Opening of Dan Foster House Museum. New exhibit, “Weathersfield’s Own Ripley’s Believe It or Not”.  Like Robert Ripley’s comic strip and museums, Weathersfield has some weird, unbelievable, and amazing history.  The fastest woodchopper in Vermont, Weathersfield’s own witch, and lightening that strikes twice are a few of the features.  Tea will be served.  Contact:  Ellen Clattenburg, 263-5505.  2:00 to 5:00 p.m. 
 
Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25.  Vermont History Exposition, Tunbridge World’s Fairgrounds, Tunbridge. The Weathersfield Historical Society will have an exhibit booth.  For more information, visit www.vermonthistory.org/expo.
 
Sunday, July to be determined.  Hike over old Henry Gravelin Farms to sites of 1876 murder of Herbert O. White.  Those who desire may continue hike to the Swift and Pike Cellar Holes, and down to Pikes Peak Road.  Bring waterproof footwear (2 small stream crossings).  Park at the foot of the driveway at 328 Gravelin Road.  If continuing on to Cady Hill, call us so enough cars can be left there to transport hikers back to Gravelin Road.  Contact:  Grace Knight, 263-9613.  2:00 p.m.
 
Thursday, August 17 and Friday, August 18.  Frippery set up, sorting and pricing Weathersfield Center Meeting House.  Contact:  Shirley Harlow, 263-5891.  9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
 
Saturday, August 19.  Annual Frippery Sale, Weathersfield Center Meeting House.  Contact:  Shirley Harlow. 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, October 7.  Historical Society Annual Meeting, Weathersfield Center Meeting House.  Potluck Supper followed by annual meeting.  Speaker Jere Daniell, will present a program on Native People of the Northern Connecticut River Valley.  Contact:  Willis Wood, 263-5547.

Additional gifts of historic Weathersfield materials are always welcome. Curator Ellen Clattenburg should be contacted by potential donors at [802] 263-5055, or write the society at the PO Box below.

Our research library, on the lower level of the new barn at the Museum, houses our wonderful collection of old Weathersfield photographs as well as primary source material on Weathersfield families and Vermont history.  Old records of the First Congregational Church are housed here, also. For pictures and more information on the History of the Town, click here.

For an archive of Historical Photos, click here

Weathersfield Historical Society Museum
The Reverend Dan Foster House
802-263-5230 (May to October)
2656 Weathersfield Center Road, Weathersfield, VT
Mailing Address:PO Box 126, Perkinsville, VT 05151

Willis Wood, President 802-263 -5547
Ellen Clattenburg, curator 263-5505
Edith Hunter, genealogist 802-263- 5361
Contact Person: Alison Roth, PO Box 126, Weathersfield, VT 05151

Publications of the Society include the two volume Town history by John Hurd, Weathersfield Century One and Weathersfield Century Two; a series of historic postcards; and three videos - an introduction to the history of Weathersfield, the story of the rebuilding of the Weathersfield Center Meeting House following the 1985 fire, and the story of the destruction of Lower Perkinsville for the North Springfield Flood Control Project in 1958 - 1960.  Two books by Ernest W. Butterfield, Weathersfield Burying Grounds, (inscriptions) (1914), and A Record of Inhabitants Weathersfield 1760-1813 (1940) are also available. Our newest publication is Weathersfield's cookbook Spider Bread, Cider Pie, & Rhubarb Wine, a collection of local recipes past and present.
For a printable order form of all Publications, click here.

If a person wants to buy more than one book he should contact Edith Hunter about a lesser shipping charge. The Hurd history may also be purchased at the Town Office.  All of the Society's publications may be borrowed from the Proctor Library in Ascutney.

The Weathersfield Historical Society works closely with the schools to encourage an interest in, and an appreciation of, our common history. The Agnes Torp History Award annually recognizes an outstanding 4th grade Weathersfield history student.

Activities include an annual Frippery (tag sale), lectures, demonstrations, pot luck suppers, and history hikes scheduled throughout the year.

Rebecca Woodbury Tucker,  Archivist

Membership is open to everyone for $7.50 per year.
A thrice yearly Newsletter is included in a membership, as well as the Annual Report.
Specific information on lifetime and other types of memberships can be obtained by writing
Membership Chair and Treasurer Alison Roth
at Post Office Box 126
Perkinsville, Vermont 05151-0126.

 We are grateful to the taxpayers of
the Town of Weathersfield for accepting us as a tax exempt organization.

 

Historical Society Postcards

WHS postcards sell for 50 cents each at the Dan Foster House, or by mail from PO Box 126, Perkinsville, VT 05151.

Click on image to view larger picture in new window.

Downer's Hotel & Dance Hall ("Mecca of Pleasure Seekers") Weathersfield, Vermont.
Built 1831, popular for sleighing parties, dancing, picnics, and politics, until it burned in 1916; also home of the Weathersfield Panther, shot nearby and stuffed in 1867, rescued and now at the Weathersfield Historical Society's Dan Foster House, Weathersfield Center.
Ascutney Union Church, Weathersfield Vermont.
Built in 1846. A 1901 photograph by James Wilson Green, father of renowned photographer Newell Green. At left is Newell's mother, Julia Newell Green, at right is her neice, Cora Dartt, with the 6 month old Newell in the carriage.
Old 600-foot covered bridge across the Connecticut River between Ascutney and Claremont, New Hampshire.
Built in 1837, replacing Sumner’s Ferry, chartered at this location in 1784; once one of eleven covered bridges in Weathersfield, destroyed by flood in 1902, replaced by another ferry, and then by a series of highway bridges.
Wood’s Cider Mill.
This 1910 photo shows the cleaning-up process after sugaring at what was then the Aldrich farmhouse. The Aldrich/Wood family has been making maple syrup here since the early 1800s, and apple cider, cider jelly, and boiled cider since 1882.
 

Old post office and stage stop, Perkinsville, Vermont.
Founded in 1837, used to finction as feed and supply store, then an all-purpose general store and gathering place for conversation and public notices.

"Martin's Store and Residence, Ascutneyville, Vermont."
Operated for many years as the Ascutney Country Store, next to the present-day post office which was once Clarence Martin's Studebaker dealership. The "residence" now houses Claire Murray Rugs.
The old Stoughton Homestead, Weathersfield Vermont. 
Built by prominent pioneer settler, Nathaniel Stoughton in 1789, the home was moved in 1959 by his great great grandson Joseph Potwin Stoughton, to avoid destruction from a flood control project, to its present location on Route 131.  Shown are Joe Stoughton's aunt, uncle, father, grandfather and grandmother. 
 

Important Links for Historic Preservation in Vermont

The Vermont Old Cemetery Association is a non-profit organization, founded in 1958 to "encourage the restoration and preservation of neglected and abandoned cemeteries in the State of Vermont." The Weathersfield Cemetery Commissioners are currently members of the Association.
Membership is open to all. Dues are $5.00 per year, $20.00 for 5 years, $100 for lifetime membership, are tax deductible, payable to VOCA and mailed to:

Richard A. Jacobson, Treasurer
7 Harbor Ridge Road
South Burlington, Vermont 05403

Meetings are held twice yearly, on the first Saturday in May and October.
The VOCA newsletter is published 4 times per year, to coincide with the seasons.
VOCA published and sells a book, "Burial Grounds of Vermont," which has a map of every town in Vermont and shows the location of every known cemetery and burial ground in each town. The Weathersfield Cemetery Commission has a copy of this book.