Vermont Trivia & Tidbits - Page 2

Looking for Vermont trivia? Try our list Vermont little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

—Born and raised in Bellows Falls (pop. 3,165), playwright Ernest Thompson is best known for adapting his original play On Golden Pond for the movie screen. He was recognized by the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Writers Guild of America for the 1981 box office hit.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

—Hockey player John LeClair, born in 1969 in St. Albans (pop. 7,650), was acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1994-95 season, and by 1998 had become the first American-born hockey player to score 50 goals in three consecutive National Hockey League seasons.

first appeared: 12/29/2008

—The Green Mountain state has earned a reputation for being progressive. In 1779, the state gave women the right to own property, and in 2007, it was one of the first states to join the Climate Registry, a national effort to address greenhouse gas emissions.

first appeared: 11/30/2008

—The first American Revolutionary War soldier to draw the blood of a British soldier was New Haven (pop. 1,666) resident Solomon Brown at the Battle of Lexington on April 18, 1775.

first appeared: 11/16/2008

—The Vermont Teddy Bear Co., begun in 1983 in Burlington (pop. 38,889), was inspired when John Sortino noticed that his son’s collection of teddy bears were all made in foreign countries. The company’s first bears were made in Sortino’s wife’s sewing room. Today, the company makes more than 350,000 bears annually for its “Bear-Gram” gift delivery service.

first appeared: 11/2/2008

—In the early 1800s, commerce on Lake Champlain grew, prompting the Champlain Transportation Co. to establish a shipyard at the harbor in Shelburne (pop. 6,944) where it launched steamships.

first appeared: 10/19/2008

—Andrew Ellicott Douglass, born in 1867 in Windsor (pop. 3,756), was an archaeologist and astronomer best known as the father of dendrochronology, the method of dating events by analyzing tree rings. In 1937, he founded the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree Ring Research in Tucson.

first appeared: 10/5/2008

—The MacDonough Shipyard in Vergennes (pop. 2,741) undertook the construction of the ships and gunboats that defended Lake Champlain against the British during the War of 1812. The location was chosen for its protected harbor and accessibility to raw building materials.

first appeared: 9/21/2008

—Neshobe Island in Lake Bomoseen in western Vermont served as a weekend escape in the early 20th century for members of New York’s elite literary set, which frequented author and critic Alexander Woollcott’s summer retreat. The group of writers met regularly at New York’s Algonquin Hotel and came to be known as the Algonquin Round Table.

first appeared: 9/7/2008

—Completed in 1899, the current Barre (pop. 9,291) City Hall and Opera House still functions as it was originally intended—with city offices on the first floor and the opera house encompassing the upper floors. When the opera house opened, it was considered the finest theater in the state and attracted celebrities such as John Philip Sousa, Helen Keller and Tom Mix to entertain audiences.

first appeared: 8/24/2008

—The 1908 Fisher Covered Railroad Bridge is a 103-foot span across the Lamoille River in Wolcott (pop. 1,456). The structure is unusual in that it sports a full-length cupola, which allowed the venting of smoke and steam from railroad locomotives.

first appeared: 8/10/2008

—Known for more than 30 years as TV program host Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan retiried to Norwich (pop. 3,544), where he worked with the Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation. Keeshan died in 2004.

first appeared: 7/27/2008

—In the 1840s, Brattleboro (pop. 12,005) developed a reputation as a resort town after the discovery of pure springs. The Brattleboro Hydropathic Establishment, more commonly known as the “water cure,” was a popular attraction for wealthy patrons from around the world.

first appeared: 7/13/2008

—Ray Collins of Colchester (pop. 16,986) pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 1909 to 1915. He consistently ranked among the American League leaders in allowing the fewest walks per nine innings. A gradute of the University of Vermont, he is a member of the university’s Hall of Fame.

first appeared: 6/29/2008

—Millionairess Hetty Green (1834-1916) is buried in the Immanuel Cemetery in Bellows Falls (pop. 3,165). She reportedly was the world’s richest woman of her time.

first appeared: 6/15/2008

—A tireless crusader for black equality, Frederick Douglass delivered a fiery abolitionist speech at the “Great Convention” in Ferrisburg (pop. 2,657) in July 1843. The meeting was one of 100 such events organized by the American Anti-Slavery Society.

first appeared: 6/1/2008

—A historic marker at Island Pond (pop. 849) denotes the halfway point in the town of the Grand Trunk Railway route connecting Montreal, Canada, to the ice-free harbor of Portland, Maine. The international railway’s first run was July 18, 1853.

first appeared: 5/18/2008

—The memorial at the grave of Barre (pop. 9,291) racecar driver Joey Laquerre Jr. is a half-size replica of racecar No. 61. Laquerre, who died in a snowmobiling accident in 1991, is buried at Hope Cemetery.

first appeared: 5/4/2008

—Lifeskills Housing at Morningside Shelter in Brattleboro (pop. 12,005) recently was the recipient of a new clubhouse, built by 25 young girls known as Rosie’s Girls. The group, named for icon Rosie the Riveter representing women who worked in defense plants during World War II, constructed the clubhouse as part of a two-week summer camp.

first appeared: 3/9/2008

—The state bird is the hermit thrush, which was adopted officially in 1941. Some objected at the time because the bird doesn’t inhabit the state year-round; it migrates to the South in the winter.

first appeared: 2/24/2008

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