The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-11-23
'NAM|E0F MOUNT
ANTHONY DUE
TO TRAGEDY
Traced to Shocking Death
Of Early Pioneer
PETER ANTHONY'S A FALL
Or. II. C. Days Version of How Ben
; ninston's Historic Mountain Re-
ceived It's Title.
PETER ANTHONY'S A FALL

Editor of The Banner Rolled up
against the sky and giving express
sion to-Bennington western land
scape is the rather lofty eminence
that has long been called Mt. Anthony.
The seven-chambered cave, the over
hanging Indian rock, the pit of mis-
cry and the obseryatories that were
once sharply sentineled on the sky
line, to gether with the reported dis
coveries of gold in small quantities
from time to time, have given Ben
nington many interesting traditions
concerning this mountain and the
people that once lived and died on
both it's eastern and western slopes
when the forests were still virgin and
inviolate. Little wonder that the in
stinct OF adventure, the fancy of poets
and the myth of romance have cen
tered in this high elevation of gently
sloping outlines. even though the tops
do not shoot upward in fantastic
forms and groupings as suggesting
some temple of gigantic Druids.
We now come to the interesting
question. How didd Mount Anthony
get its name? The Banner asked this
question several weeks ago and an
answer was returned by William B.
Walker Mris Walkers explanation
is Substantially that in early times
the french traders from Albany used
the great highway from Eagle Bridge
northward to Canada. A Jesuit priest
with Jean AIfonscese of Albany ac-
scompanied, one Of thuf parties and
stopped at or near the point where
the Walloomsac efhpties into the
4 lHoosick-just below Hoesick Juncf
tion, There a fort was built and a
small shrine erected in 1880 and ldedi-'
Gated to the missionary follower of,
st. Francis, S. Antoine or Anthony'o OF
Paduca ca, d. 1320)-. Looking UP
to the mountain he named 1t st. An
tome or ST. Anthony. 1t is thought
! the early settlers did not care for
isaintdom and dropping the pronomeli,
called II Anthony.
Mr. Walkers explanation is so out
of line with the generally accepted
facts concerning the naming of the
mountain that | have been tempted
to give such information as has been
taught for nearly 1S0 years.
1t has always been understood that
the mountain was named after Peter
Anthony, a man OF Quaker proclivi-
ties. who lived alone on the western
slope short distance from the little
church, of which Rev. Ithamar, Hib-
bard was pastor. One day in March
Anthony started out on a hunting
trip to the top OF the mountain. In
returning, he evidently fell from a
steep escarpment of rocks and earth
near point at a water trough that
formerly stood. and perhaps may be
standing there today, on the left
side of the road that runs over the
mountain from Bennington TO Pow
nal. The man evidently died of shock
or starvation Both legs were brok-
en- and the body was partly frozen,
1t was thought Anthony had been
dead three or four days when his
body was found. This incident oc-
CURED about 1888. though the exact
date is very uncertain, and was so
out of the ordinary run of local hap.
penings in those days that 1t made a
profound impression. AS the noun
tain had not been christened some
began to speak of 1t as Anthony's
mountain. The name soon became
popular and in a year or two after
Anthony,s death it was generally and
familiarly known as Mount Anthony.
The authority for the above state
ment is Governor Hall, his son,
Henry d. Hall, George W. Robinson
Hiram Waters and others whose in
formation concerning early local af
fairs was extensive and generally re
liable.
Peter Anthony was an ancestor Of
Susan B. Anthony the famous suf
frage leader. Miss Anthony. who was
born in Adams. Mass. in 1920, came
to Bennington when she was about
thirty-five years old, to gather facts
respecting the death of Peter An
thony and found sufficient reliable in
formation to incorporate 1t in fani-
ly history that she was compiling.
Miss Anthony was teaching school at
that time.
| have no records that show that
the mountain was called Mount An
thony previous to 1886 In that year
Isaac Tichenor, afterward governor.
and Nathan Clark both Bennington
lawyers, set out one day in June to
try the important case between the
ancient settlers on the Hoosick river
IN Pownal and the claimants under
New York. 1t was the last day un-
der the ruling of the court that the
case could be tried. A band of
Pownal men dressed UP as Indians