The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1922-01-17

Win pViiltHtNsr~~ J. III ubHHut, VIII
commanded the sun and moon to stand
still, and they obeyed.' Joshua learned
the trade Of milIwright and later
built gristmill and iron foundry in
which he employed quite number Of
men. These are the buildings 81
Smith, W1litcomb & Cook Co., machine
shop to-day
This was the first machine shop and
foundry doing fine work In the state
OF Vermont and in 1910 was sending
its castings all over the United States.
The large brick house at North Barre,
a fine specimen Of Colonial architec-
ture, was also built by him, and it's
hospitality was widely known.
! The two principal parts Of the town
4 in the early days were the upper viii
| lage and the lower village. The first
was what Is now Ncalled South Barre,
and the latter was where the business
section now Ia. The former was the
more fourishing for some time, and it
was here that Ira Day, prominent
merchant Of his time, built and occu-
pied the house made famous by the
visit Of Lafayette.
Lafayette Dined at South Barre.
When Lafayette, in 1925, was on his
way TO Burlington, he was entertained
at dinner BY Mr.. Day. Upon his de-
parture for Montpelier the general
gave Mr.. Day two lemons. These
were preserved in alcohol for long
time, until BY accident years after,
the Jar was broken, when the lemons
spoiled.
Mr.. Day was the principal owner in the
turnpike road, which he built by way
of Williamstown gulf and which took
much of the travel from the Chelsea
pike, of which Chaplin Keith previous
" mentionedl was one Of the pro-
moters. This last road was chartered
and built il the early years Of 1900.
This road began at The "Checkered |
store so-called, building standing |
where the Aldrich block now stands, |
and erected III 1902, and ended in Chel- |
sea. The gate to the pike was in
Washington. This was for time the /
main tIoroughfare leading toward
Massachusetts.
Mr. Day, together with Mr.. CottrellI
OF Montpelier, owned the first stage
and mail route between Boston and
Burlington. Vermont
Travel was heavy In those days and
six and eight horse coaches passed to
and fro. I find this statement There
were AT least six taverns in town
lBarrel at one time, all doing an ex-
tensive business, owing to the large
amount Of travel which went through
town
lit may not perhaps be well known
fact t.lat Washington was not always
the name oil our county,
After sessions % the Legislature were
at Montpelier, and that be
same 4 thriving town, the legislature
Jaw fit In 1911 To organize new
,ountg, III which. Montpelier was near
he center. II
This was named jefferson, and con- /,
aimed rs towns taknn from the adj I
dining counties Of Orange, Caledonia /
md Chittenden. In 1874, when the !,
federal party predeminated, the name
if the county was changed to WASH
ngton. There were IL counties be-
ore Jefferson county was organized |;
An interesting fact recorded Il that
b I7DT d state tax of one cent per acre ],
vas lcvied On each acre OF land with
n the state, excepting lands sequcs !.
cred to public, pious or charitable i
se. Iii said tax remained unpaid on
april I, lTa8, rnough Of the land was /,
old to pay the tax and the amount
ad to De paid into the state treasury Il
ii DR. before june 1. 1898. in specie q
ard money. A good deal Of land in
,arre WAS SO sold.
Jockey Hollow another old name
ras applied to the fiat lying beyond
ur new SoHth Main street bridge and
outh Barre. 1t owes its name 10 the
net that Mr.. Justin Robinson, BLACK
mith) and several other men were
in tlH older days.
Mr.. Robinson tfm relative Of the
ustin Robinson. later of South Barre
adj a blacksmith shop down under
he hill where the wooden mill later
tood, and he also had foundry
lere.
The following story has been told by
he older people
Mr.. Robinson was rough man. A
L.
,rse difficult to shoe, but said Rob
son was able to do it better than
hers. One day, having had more
ian usual difficulty with the horse,
. swore considerably.
After he had finished work the min
ter said he would like 10 ask him q
iestion.
Fire away said the smith.
"What good does il do you 20
fear!r
The smith said he would answer by
king the minister another-"ls it
Nv worse for me to swear and not n
can any harm by it than for you to q
ay and not mean any good by it,"
This Robinson used TO make what
Is calle1 a fiat land pillow. This could
used to pillow round and round
zee Of ground but could not be turned
turn a furrow the other way. These
e said TO be the first plows made
ywhere in this section.
A few words regarding the principal
-eams OF our town-Stesens branch.
wing from Williamstown and after
Ird uniting with the Winooski river ii
tween Barre and Montpelier, re-
we'd its name from the fact that
svious to the settlement of the town
hunter from Corinth) by the name
Stevens was found dead, near his
mp. on what we call to-day the Mar
farm. The body. found by two
Ter hunters passing through, was
ried l.y them. but the bones were