Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-08-29
DUNN ERsToN.
Scenes Of Historical Interest at Dunn.
merston Centre, Where Old Home
Celebration Was Held, Aug. 18th.

of the day, said he should omit Civ
ing his hearers any historical sketch
of Dummerston for the reason that
the towns history had already been
written by an ADLER pen than his own
and at a cost of much labor and re-
search for the valuable information it
contained. The book was published
in 1884 and only few copies bound
in wine colored cloth are left for sale
Four copies of the history have been
sold within the past five weeks.
In I'LL Dummerston common was
covered with very large hemlock trees
some of which were five feet in
diameter. Enoch Cook who then
lived where Walter f. Walker now
resides, was settlers clerk. A town
meeting was held at his house, Dec.
l, 1872. 1t was then voted to build
meeting house. Isaac Miller and
Benjamin Jones chose the spot on
which to set the meeting house, which
was on the common at the north end
about go feet southeast from the pres
ent Congregational church.
A few rods south from the old
meeting house. the old whipping post
was standing SO late as 1920. Charles
Davenport, Daniel Kathan and Joseph
Hildreth selected a burying place in
1771 at the south end of the com
mon near where the buildings on the
Hon. Asa Knight estate now stand.
Most of the bodies buried there were
removed to the cemetery east of the
common in 1892 and the land sold
by the town for building lots, May is,
1893. One of the lots was bought by
Lieut.. John Laughton, county surveyor
of lands and roads, and sold by him to
Simeon Colby, May s, 1874. Mr..
Colby built that year the house now
| standing at the south end of the COM
mon.
The old store nearby the dwelling
house was built in 1910 by Asa Black,
who owned the house at that time.
From 1912 to 1917 it was the home of
Rutherford Hayes, father of the late
Hon. Rutherford B. Hayes who be-
| came president of the United States.
| March 5. 1877. After his retirement
| from the presidency, he visited the old
| homestead of his parents. from which
| they moved to Delaware. Ohio. in 1917.
Mr.. Hayes was greatly delighted with
| the locality and. standing on the COM
| mon which overlooked the fertile val
| ley of the Connecticut and commands
| beautiful and extended view of the
| distant New Hampshire hills. he ex-
| claimed, ut is lovely place!"
The old red store, located at the
northeast corner of the common and
pulled down by workmen in 1888, was
| the building in which Noyes &
Hayes" sold merchandise from 1912
to 1917, and at no time did they &C.
cupy the old store at the south end of
the common as tradition claims. The
old red house now standing at the
north end Of the common was the
home of the late Benjamin Estabrook
| for thirty-five years. II was in that
house that Rutherford Hayes spent
| the first three weeks of his married
| life, as a boarder in the family Of
| Royal Miller. The "Old Ancient"
weather vane on the Estabrook barn
where 1t has served for the last fifteen
years as an indicator of the direction
! of the wind, was the "O'd Fish"
weather vane which had a position on
| top of the old meeting house spire
| from 1890 to 1912 when the. building
was pulled down by workmen.
| DR.. A. |. Miller of Brattleboro has
become so much attached to this relic
of the old meeting house that he asked
| the writer, when he makes a final dis
position of his property, to will it to
him. A little south from the red
store of Noyes & Hayes. was sad
| dler's shop in 1907 which was re-
moved to the north side of the COM
mon and located in the corner OF the
garden west of the Estabrook house,
and used several years by Hon. Mar
shall Miller for a law Office.
Judge Samuel Porter's law office
was a hundred rods farther up the
street where he built a stately resi-
dence in 1907 now called the "Ba-
con place" The first settler on that
farm was Barzillai Rice, deputy
sheriff, who resided there in 1865.
The old well with its iron bucket that
was filled so many times on Home
Week day. with "the nectar that Jupi-
ter sips" to furnish lemonade for a
company of 400 persons, was dug by
Eben Ash in 1901. 1t has been a
source OF exquisite pleasure" to thirs-
ty customers for hundred years and
has supplied the school and the church
going people here. in addition to pri-
vate families with "the emblem of
truth" for a century of time. No
other well in Vermont has furnished
cooling drinks to so many different
persons.
The red schoolhouse on the west
side of the common was built in 1901.
DR.. John Wilson taught there in 1920
| when the school numbered eighty
pupils as reported in the dividend of
school money that year. After teach
ing a few years longer, he studied
medicine with DR.. Sewall Foster of
| West Dummerston. Dr. Fosters wife
was Sally Belknap, born in Dummers-
ton, May IA, 1875. DR.. Wilson was
believed by many to be Captain Thun-
derbolt, the famous English highway
man. See Pamphlet History OF DR..
John Wilson, published in, 1S47, copy
of which has been in the writer's pos
session several years. DIR. Wilson
died in 1S47 and his burial place is in
| Brattleboro.
The frame of the first meeting
house was raised November 10. 1878.
The carpenters were obliged to sus-
pend work few hours until more
men could be obtained from Putney to
help lift the heavy frame. The rein
| forcement from Putney and a barrel
or more of New England rum fur
nished sufficient motive power to raise
the building. The frame was COW
cred in IVA and town meeting was
held in the house, May 16, IT'S, and
1t was voted to hire preaching that
year. John Hooker, a Dummerston
hero in the court house fight at West
1 .awaN =