Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-08-08
FAYETTEVILLE.
"The story Of Little Vermont Town
Hidden in the Mountains"

Especial Correspondence Of the Chicago InterOcean.
| write this letter in one Of the quietest and
most charming little villages ON the face of the
earth. As take my pen in hand to write, the
sun is just going down behind mountain at
the west, at least an hour before the almanac 8
| time of its setting and we shall have a pro-
| longed, softened twilight, under the shadow
of that mountain, such as is known in the
valleys Of Switzerland. On the morrow the
day will dawn at four, and the sun will come
! creeping up back Of the lesser hills of the
east half an hour behind time. On the north
is another high hill, or mountain, standing,
! dark and grim, to watch the sun in its rising
and setting; and at the south there are other
hills that melt away in the distance, that seem
| to form the outlet of this grand mountain am
| phitheatre. Here in the arena sleeps the
| quiet village, guarded by these hills Be
| tween them deeply shaded in the dark green
of tho mingled verdure and shadow, run deep
valleys through which flow the rapid rivers
/ that help make up the waters of the Connect
lieut..
This village is the county seat of Windham
| county, the southeast corner of the State of
| Vermont, situated about twelve miles north
west from Brattleboro, and is not without his
torical significance. Five years ago, on the
4th, there was celebrated in this village the
first centennial of the town of Newfane the
! BtoBIhpulChl toNnhulp OF WHICH fhyetteNllle
Is one Of the most important villages. 1t ap-
pears that the town is two years the senior of
! the nation.
When the settlers first came into this part
of the country, it was not known to what
| power or king they owed allegiance. The au-
| thority of King George was controverted, and
the governors, both of New Hampshire and
| New York, claimed jurisdiction over the ter
/ ritory, and title to the lands. Their last re-
course was to ignore all, and set up for them
selves and so they created a State from the
mountain ridges that spread from the Connect
| icut to the lake on its western border. And
as the settlers came into the region they went
| upon these high round-topped hills, and clear
| ed up the land to make themselves farms,
avoiding the more fertile valleys, supposing
! that they were permeated with miasmatic va
| pors which made them unhealthy, and there
fore they chose the elevated places that were
! swept pure by the fierce winds from the Green
4 Mountain tops And on the top of what is
now known as Newfane Hill, these settlers
! built their first log cabins; and in the process
of the growth of the couatry a mountain vii
lage sprung up here which became the county
seat of Windham county Here, on the crown
of the hill, the pinnacle cropping out with
lodges of baserock, they built the courthouse
and the contingent jail, to which were gath
! cred the hotel for the entertainment of the
| country courtiers, the houses of the requisite
village residents and attaches of the court, the
town lawyer, the doctor, the school-master,
The minister the church, the country store,
the blacksmith shop, the school house, the
academy, and the whipping post. Until little
more than half century ago, this village nu-
! cleus remained the county seat, to which all
seeking justice or judgment had to climb up
miles of steep roads to an elevation that over
| looked the wide world, and the valleys between
| the distant hills and scene of mountain tops
in Il wild confusion of ridge upon ridge and
| peak upon peak, reaching to the heights of
| the Green Mountains, and to the mountains
that lift their heads in New Hampshire the
whole of which was swept by fearful storms,
| aud their own fields and homes blocked up in
this wild region by the SHOWS of winter.
The people at last said that they would not
! longer seek justice at such a fearful sacrifice
of time and tax of muscle, and the vox pop
uli was that the seat of justice must come
! down from its high station on the hills Com
missioners were appointed to look up place
for it in the valleys. They applied for a site
in a village that had q name to live and a
manufacturing business. The owner of the
land repelled the overture by refusing to con-
tribute the few acres wanted for the county
buildings. There was a delightful place for
such an enterprise on the area between the
| lhbhukhluh nave ut5CTlDth, III Tue uluhl Vi u
| farm, which spot was known by the name of
its owner as Parks Flat. This the unaspiring
granger was induced to bequeath TO the public
for the specific purpose of a county seat.
| The commissioners proposed to acknowledge
the favor and compliment the donor by giving
to the new village the very pretty name OF
Parkville. There are some who cannot, by
not knowing what they are, have honor or
greatness thrust upon them the donor took
it not kindly; he thought he saw in it n lurk-
ing design of his superiors in social standing
to insult him for his disinterested gift. This
was the time when Lafayette was making his
last triumphal tour through the United States
he was man who, from being used to it,
could receive honor and compliment without
blushing, and, wishing to bestow the favor
where it would not likely be spurned, they
duplicated it, perhaps for the twentieth time
and gave to their new town and county seat
the very respectable if not original name Of
Fayetteville. And so long may it stand il
history and make something for history OF
itself
Having found name that would stick, par
ties who were identified with the enterprise
began to take possession of their new inheri
tance. The old hotel at the hill was takeI
down, and so also many of the private resi-
dences, and were packed of into the valley
to the new site, with furniture bag and bag
gage; the Jail and courthouse torn down, anC
more commodious ones built; the academy
and the whipping-post abandoned; the exc
dus leaving only on the old site the stone wall,
and collar-holes behind. This is the first his
torical incident of note of this quiet town
the flight of the whole village to more agree
able quarters. lam writing this sketch in one
of the upper rooms of the numbering old no
tel, which was brought down by piecemeal il
1925, along the winding, precipibous road
from the top of the shaven- n-crown hill 1t il
O wide-spreading roomy structure, aboundinl
in the tastes and habits of the earlier day
the brick Fireplace for wood, now closed will
fireboards; cupboards and paneling in the
wainscoting of its grander rooms; Windows
with antique sash, and the more antique O
the little q by inch panes of glass, the jamb
supplied with the primitive wooden buttons
for sash holders. The bar has all the conven
lent equipments of the olden time, when tn,
decanters stood with their inviting presepc
in dignitied rows on the back shelves, and tn
toddy and hip-iron were sceptres tina
ruled the hour, and New England rum, giI
and Jamaica had precedence over the moderi
whiskey. Here in this hotel-probably il
this very room in which l am writing-wer
entertained some of Yermont's greatest jurist
of the recent past, as Judges Stephen Royce
G. X Williams, S. S. Phelps and Jacob Cola
mer, who filled the bench of this court sine
it was removed from the hill ; and, while upol
its old site, the famous old Judge Harrington
must have held court here, as did Royal Tyler
Paul Spooner, Richard Skinner, and others.
The first settlers came here TO possess tn
land from the region then commonly define,
as "from down below :" and that did nc
mean so far down as wicked fancy Nigh
suggest, but from particular
Worcester county-and the old settlements i
Connecticut. The three first settlers, father
of the town, were from Worcester county
viz; Jonathan Park, Nathaniel Steadman
, |