Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-06-16
TOWN HILL.
The Beautiful and Extended
View,

which Is Gained from this Townshend
ElevRtiOn----Hints for Local Nature
Lovers TO Remember.
A western friend once remarked that
"The beauty of the East is in its varied
| scenery. When you have seen one portion
of the West you have good idea of it ALL
but in Vermont a new scene of beauty
meets one at every turn" This reference
to the West applied to the central portion
which was his home. If this be true of
the traveller as he threads the winding val
leys, or crosses some low hill tops, how
much more so when one reaches some
lofty peak, where vast areas are brought to
view, revealing in the far distance famed
mountain peaks and vast stretches of
woodland and field dotted with dwellings,
showing at once the happy homes and the
thriftiness of the inhabitants, while per-
haps at ones very feet is seen the long
winding valley with its silver river, and
the ribbon of steel which girdles a CONT
draws a hurrying people and the prod
ucts of a fertile land, making, as it were,
neighbors of distant sections. He sees
the deserted roads of the fathers, up the
rugged mountain sides, plunge as pre-
cipitately into another valley when the
height has been gained, and thus is forced
to compare the vast difference between the
past in which the early settlers lived and
the present in which we live.
There are many of these heights from
whose tops lovely views are to be seen, but
we would at present write of the Town
hill in the northern part of Townshend,
in what was originally Acton, which com
pares favorably with others, though per-
haps less known than some. There is one
advantage here: The top of the hill is
wholly clear so that the view is unobstruct-
ed. TO the north rises in majesty Ascut-
ney and the White mountains, and in q
clear day Mount Washington is said to be
seen; to the east are the hills and mount
aims of New Hampshire; to the southeast
| you seem to look down upon Windmill and
Monadnock; to the south are Haystack,
Boyle and Somerset mountains, with host
of familiar hills. while to the west old
Stratton seems to loom up but little way
off, and beyond the bold Equinox rears its
head against the sky, and farther north
!
of New York, outlined against the ethereal
azure, complete a scene of grandeur.
Among these elevations are to be seen many
well-known valleys. Far away the course
of the Deerfield river may be traced
as it leaves its source to join the Con-
necticut, and the winding West river may
be followed among the hills for the most of
the way from its source TO Brattleboro, and
the course of the Connecticut may be out
lined north of Windsor. The early settlers
must have been men who appreciated the
grand and sublime in nature, for most of
them built their homes far up the hillsides,
and some, as they tOiled up from Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut, found the, to
them, land of promise upon this hill. Far
up its side was built the first tavern in
Townshend, kept by Noah Fisher, beside
the main road over which the settlers west
of here drew their produce to the Boston
market.
BY the way, this road is a good illustra.
ton of how lightly they regarded hills, as
a pursuit of it to the east will show. Go
ing down into the valley from the hotel, il
climbed to the place now owned by Pliny
Gale, then to and down the Ewing's hill
from James franklin to Asa Greenwood s.
thence up to a point east of where Olin
Davis now lives, thence down to the
Brookline Westinghouse, thence up Wind
MILL point well known to your readers
From its top you look down upon many
fertile farms with their busy life, and
many others that have been the homes OF
thrifty farmers, where now the only sound,
of husbandry are those of the mower as
the hay is garnered, but where one may
cheaply secure home where the comfort,
may be easily procured. Most of those
who titled these deserted places are gone tC
their long rest, and the towering peak they
loved so well stands a silent sentinel, keep.
ing watch over their last resting places a;
they lie buried beneath its feet on either
| side. :. A. II.