The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-06-26
Rugged West RiUer Valley
Merits Tourists Notice

POI Il otIn OF famous luIlSIS OI udlloH-
wide fame who first learned the practI-
cal end of the legal profession within
the walls of the Nindham county court
house. And twice yearly the rising
generation still travel to do their share
IN administering justice. In the little
tower rests bell which peals 10 min
utes before His Honor is due to leave
the sanctity OF his room at the inn, to
cross the square and don the judicial
robes. lit IS one Of the most peaceful
courts OF Justice of which the nation
can boast
Out in front of the court house is
fountain-Newfane has a water system
and close to its rim is croquet court
From late spring until early fall group
of elderly men gather twice daily, after
luncheon and after dinner, for a never
ending croquet tournament which for
years has been the wonder of visitors.
They are dead serious in their sport
They. argue for every point, and in
welding a rogue mallet-the average
croquet mallet is scored-they have at
tanned a skill that is uncanny These
players are tOuchy upon one subject
only; one must never talk to them
while they are sighting a ball. They
will pose for photographs, explain the
game when resting, but never while ad-
dressing the ball.
Home of Eugene Field
The old house where Eugene Field
spent the greater part of his boyhood
unfortunately was burned during the
summer of 1917, but the old house has
been replaced by a house as near the
pattern of the original as possible. The
folks of Newfane are extremely proud
of their former resident, and while they
deplore the destruction of the original
house they win 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 a
quarter mile east of the center of New
fame by climbing a fairly steep hill for
a distance OF about two miles he will
come to the original site of Newfane.
This old town stood on the 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 BTattlc-
boro the people of Newfane became
alarmed. So they picked their own
town up bodily and moved it down hill.
That statement IS no eNaggeration.
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 Newfane 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 a 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 = small and
select summer colony, he viii come on
small granite markers, each bearing
number. In a conspicuous spot stands
a 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. ,. the
academy; No. 3, Townships hotel; No.
q. the whipping post; No 10. the par
soHage; No. H. the Jail; while the KEY
marker Il located on the site of the old
court house. Although the hilltop now
is oyergrown with grass it continues to
be a mecca for visitors.
Even the old cemetery is still up
there. and the Sons of Veterans of the
American Revolution make yearly pill
grimages to the hill ton 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 buryinC
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
sidehiil 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 stiu be traced,
although all of the old buildings whore
grandma once proudly exhibited quilts,
ueadlework or preserves, have long since
fallen into decay.
This much for Newfane There is
Townshend a few miles beyond, and on
the crest of q fiat hill. This is the
academy town of the valley. and MANY
a patriarch of this part of Vermont
viii tell Won proudly that he secured
his diploma from Leland and Gray SEM
mary and possibly his wife as well.
sporting world of the West River val
ley. In the fall select groups of bird
hunters flock to the town. and make vt
the center of their tramps through the
woods in the wake of the finest of bird
dogs.
Beyond Townshend is Jamaica, a
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
spinster's kitchen. and proud of its
firbears. 1t is shut in by high, pictur-
esque hills, two in particular, Bald and
Turkey mountains, with College hill
lust beyond, standing ont in bold con
trast to the lesser heights. The roads
in and out of Jamaica perform some pc
culiar gymnastics to negotiate the