The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-12-04
NAMES ON MOUNTAIN MARBLE
Strange Custom Of Long Standing ir
Dorset.

If you were to travel through YER
mont along the mountain road from
Dandy to Dorset, you would come to
a decrepit and deserted house which
stands little apart from the high
way with a ramshackle old barn for
a companion.
This house, even in its neglected
last days, breathes the spirit OF re-
finement and prosperity. It's paneled
rafters are sound to the core. The
huge brick chimney, with its trio Of
Acavernous fireplaces. seems to have
lost none OF its stability and If you
look closely at those openings you
viii find that they are encased with
real marble slabs.
An old resident, one who could be
persuaded TO talk of the early days,
would tell you that it is not at all un-
usual to find old houses in Dorset;
that the town was started eight years
before the Declaration OF lndepen-
dence by some fearless pioneer; that
hardly had the bells ceased to ring in
the birth of the new Nation when
the Vermonters gathered in Cephas
Kings old Dorset tavern for their
first general convention. an assemb-
ly which lightened the way for the
adoption of the State Constitution.
He would tell you furthermore that
the early settlers used marble in
their fireplaces because z was the
handiest thing they could find; that
it was only necessary to split it from
the nearby lodges. and that an actual
marble quarry. the first one in
America, was opened in Dorset in
1885; that high up on the cliffs back
of the town you could see letters and
figures cut in the stone cap OF the
mountain more than q century ago
Dorset Mountain, or Mt Aeolus. as
it is sometimes called, is not exactly
a marble mountain, but il has so
much of the stone in its makeup and
so little soil to cover it that there are
occasional patches where not even a
tree can grow. 1t was on one of these
spots that some old settler of the
town cut the first name and thus in
stituted custom which was handed
down 10 future generations
1t is a steep climb up to the cliffs
of Mt Aeolus. steep as a cats face.
as the blacksmith at the quarry ex-
presses it. Ii is comparatively
short tramp in distance, but when
YOU stand at last on the roof-stone OF
The cliff and gaze down into the val
ley hundreds of feet below, it looks
like anything but an easy stroll
You have been clambering up
the thick woods with never a
chance to look back. Then, finally, |
after you part the bushes at the |
summit the panorama bursts upon
you, a vision that has marble quar- |
ries for its foreground and the fam |
Gus golf links of Manchester town |
as its outermost feature.
1t may be assumed that the towns
nan who made the initial trip to the |
cliffs OF Mt. Aeolus went there TO see !
low the valley looked from that
tight, and that once he reached the
point OF vantage the wonder of II
ook complete possession o. N.m.
Nothing would answer hui that he
must cut his nan a the stone so
hat people Nigh .ow he had been
here.
That others gave their names SINH.
ar publicity will be conceded by any
me who attempts to reacd the maze
II inscriptions which are rcT the
mountain heritage.
The oldest date that is easily d0cip
lerable is October 90 1870. Above
hese figures is a sunken panel In
Which have been raised two SYM
netrically formed urns. Above the
anel two names appear, r. Bloom !
r" and sc Choate' There must