Tidbits

Vermont Trivia & Tidbits - Page 3

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

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—Royall Tyler, a resident of Guilford (pop. 2,046) and later of Brattleboro (pop. 12,005), wrote The Contrast, a play first performed in 1787 by professional actors. He also served as chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1807 to 1813.
—Born in Enosburg Falls (pop. 1,473) in 1886, baseball player Larry Gardner drove in the winning run in the Boston Red Sox’s 1912 World Series victory over the New York Giants. Gardner batted .289 with 1,931 hits from 1908 to 1924.
—The Bennington (pop. 15,737) Battle Monument, commemorating the Battle of Bennington during the Revolutionary War, is more than 306 feet tall. The cornerstone was laid in 1887, and the finished monument was dedicated in 1891. An elevator takes visitors to the observation floor for spectacular views of historic Bennington and three states.
—Carl Christensen, the first men’s soccer All-American at the University of Vermont in Burlington (pop. 38,889) in 1976, was inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988. He subsequently played with the Dallas Tornado and San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League.
—Cross-country skier Laura Wilson of Montpelier (pop. 8,035) earned four individual NCAA Nordic titles at the University of Vermont—two in 1990 and another two in 1991. She also was a participant in the 1994 and 1998 Olympic games.
—The Rockingham (pop. 5,309) Meeting House, built between 1787 and 1801, is Vermont’s oldest public building in nearly its original condition and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
—Born in Holland (pop. 588) in 1830, Horace Tabor moved in 1859 to Colorado where he later became wealthy by mining silver. Known as the “Silver King,” he held various political offices in Colorado, including lieutenant governor and senator, before losing his fortune in the panic of 1893.
—On March 9, 1954, Sen. Ralph Flanders of Springfield (pop. 9,078) led an effort to censure Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin by proposing two resolutions—one removing McCarthy from his committee chairmanships and the other calling for his censure.
—During the Montreal Olympics in 1976, Tad Coffin of Strafford (pop. 1,045) and his mare Bally Cor won the first American gold medal in the three-day individual equestrian event.
—“Rokeby,” the home of the Quaker writer and folklorist Rowland E. Robinson (1833-1900), now is a museum filled with memorabilia of the blind author’s career. The Ferrisburg (pop. 2,657) home also is believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
—Author of children’s books, Katherine Paterson of Barre (pop. 9,291) has won numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal in 1978 and 1981 for Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, respectively.
—Joseph Battell, a Middlebury (pop. 8,183) resident and Morgan horse breeder, published the first volume of the Morgan Horse Register in 1894. The register contained nearly 1,000 pages of history and pedigrees for the breed.
—Following the Civil War, artist and photographer William Henry Jackson of Rutland (pop. 17,292), accompanied a geologic survey to Wyoming, becoming the first photographer to capture the natural beauty of the area that is now Yellowstone National Park. Jackson’s photos were instrumental in Yellowstone’s designation as the first U.S. national park.
—Born in Newport (pop. 5,005), millionaire merchant Charles Francis Adams founded one of the National Hockey League’s original six teams, the Boston Bruins, in 1924. The NHL’s Adams Division is named for him.
—Landmark College in Putney (pop. 2,634) is an accredited institution established to provide students with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other learning disabilities with a liberal arts college education. It occupies the campus that once housed Windham College.
—The year 1791 was a notable one for Vermont: It became the 14th state, the University of Vermont in Burlington (pop. 38,889) was chartered, and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison paid a visit. A total of 85,341 people called Vermont home that year.
—John Godfrey Saxe, born in Highgate (pop. 3,397) in 1816, twice ran for governor but is best remembered for his poetry. Among his best known are The Proud Miss McBride and the Rhyme of the Rail.
—Asahel Hubbard of Windsor (pop. 3,756) is credited with inventing the revolving hydraulic engine, which features two meshed gears revolving in a watertight casing. Patented in 1828, the pumps were built by inmates at the Vermont State Prison.
—After building his own tree house retreat overlooking Lake Champlain, Bill Allen realized such childhood treasures weren’t accessible to disabled children. That knowledge inspired him to build a handicapped-accessible tree house at a Colchester (pop. 16,986) summer camp in 2001. Since then, his nonprofit Forever Young Treehouses has erected 15 similar structures in 13 states.
—One of the nation’s first schools exclusively for the preparation of teachers was established by Samuel Read Hall in 1823 in Concord (pop. 1,196). tional Wildlife Refuge along the Tennessee River near Decatur (pop. 53,929) provides habitat for wintering and migrating birds. The state’s largest duck population winters at the 34,500-acre refuge.
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