Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1922-07-07
Rugged West RiUer Valley
Merits Tourists Notice

of their former resident, and While they
deplore the destruction of the original
house they will point out the new one
and say, that stands on the site of
the old Field house." And the visitor
is satisfied.
If one turns off on a road about
quarter mile east of the center of New
fame, by climbing q fairly steep hill for
distance of about two miles he Will
come to the original site of Newfane.
This old town stood on che top of New
fame hill, and flourished as a town for
many years, or until the people of other
Windham county towns tired of climb
ing the steep hill to attend court. When
they began to talk seriously of moving
the county seat down river to Brattle-
boro the people of Newfane became
alarmed. SO they picked their own
town up bodily and moved it down hill.
That statement is no exaggeration:
In the present village of Newfane stand
several buildings that were taken down,
loaded on OK carts and towed down to
the valley where they were reassembled.
The old court house now is a dwelling;
parts of Ncwfane Inn were once part
of the old hilltop tavern, while here
and there a house stands as lasting
memorial of the town which once stood
on hill.
The people of Newfane are not blind
to the possibilities of the old town site,
so they have perpetuated its former in
stitutions by means of markers. While
one is browsing around over the hilltop
now used for the homes OF a small and
select summer colony, he will come on
small granite markers, each bearing a
number. In conspicuous spot stands
tall marble shaft, and upon this has
been carved the "key" to the number
system.
For instance, No. l marks the former
site of the meeting house; No. 2, the
academy; No. 3, Townships hotel; No.
6, the whipping post; No 10, the par
sonage; No. IL, the jail; while the key
marker is located on the site of the old
court house. Although the hilltop now
is overgrown with grass it continues to
be mecca for visitors.
Even the old cemetery is still up
there, and the Sons of Veterans of the
grimages to the hill top to decorate the
graves of Newfane's heroic dead who
fought in the war of the Revolution.
On the other side of the town over
in the newer section, is still another
cemetery and this like the old burying
ground on top of Newfane hill, has been
supplanted by a new one. The second
is just above the railroad station, and
some of the foremost figures in Yer
mont's history are buried there. The
old hearse is housed in state in a tiny
building on the upper terrace of the
:dehill burying ground, and is a relic
worth noting.
Beyond the cemetery are the old fair
grounds, in disuse for a generation or
more. The racetrack can still be traced,
although all of the old buildings where
grandma once proudly exhibited quilts,
needlework or preserves, have long since
fallen into decay.
This much for Newfane. There is
Townshend a few miles beyond, and on
! The crest of flat hill. This is the
academy town of ths~valiey,. aitd many
patriarch of this part of Vermont
will tell you proudly that he secured
mary and possibly his wife as well
Townshend also is the center of the
sporting world of the West River val
ley. In the fall select groups of bird
hunters flock to the town, and make 1t
the center of their tramps through the
woods in the wake of the finest of bird
dogs.
Beyond Townshend is Jamaica, q
quaint little town, once the center of
for those DAYS, extensive lumber and
tannerv interests, chair and boot shops
and other diversified industries. These
now have gone for all time, vet the
little town stays on, still neat as a
! spinster's kitchen, and proud of its
forbears. 1t is shut in by. high, pictur
csquc hills, two in particular, Bald anc
! Turkey mountains, with College hill
just beyond, standing out in bold con
! trast to the lesser heights, The roads
| in and out of Jamaica perform some pc
cuiar gymnastics to negotiate the
grades. yet they are not impossible
and the curves have been made safe by
some discreet road building.
1t is about the same with Rawson
! vile, South Londonderry and London
| derry, although the country. changes
some in the upper reaches of the valley
donderrv is great level plain extending
from the west across the. valley t.
| Glebe mountain, great hulk of
mountain which. while not as high a
some of its neighbors, nevertheless
stands out distinctively because of tn
great level stretch extending from tn
foot of its western slope. The auto
list rides for miles before this great bull
is passed. and from every vantage poin
it offers beautiful prospect.
There are opportunities for automo
bile rides in the West River valley tina
are Slightly different" at least iron
the usual valley road trips. The Yves
River valley road can be followed t
Londonderry, where turn is made t
the east following the road aroun
Windham mountain. Up here in tn
hills is an old tale mine. now worke
hut little. but still one of the distinctly
Industries of the neighborhood. A VII
Gin forest for some reason untouched
must be traversed before the road t
Winlham is reached. From that poin
down--for the last six or seven mile
of the way is steep dpcline-the seer
cry rivals that of the Swiss Alps.
Windham Mountain Vistas
Windham itself nestles far UP I'll
hills its quaint old church standing
beacon for a. score or more of mile
while at every turn of the road beyon
deeply followed ravincs, hillside pa
lures and glorious prospects of distar
Stratton mountain. or the twin moull
tains beyond Manchester, are to
seen.
The car curves easily down the hi
! and one can pause and look down o
almost perpendicular drop to strea
hundreds of feet below with occasion
waterfalls deserving of wider adverti
ing than the casual fiivver cruiser cf
give it. Everywhere about rise loft
= peaks, or they appear lofty in this di
y trict. and one wonders why there q
:, abandoned farms scattered occasional
y along the road until the thought pc
sists that crops cannot be, raised .