USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Ludlow > History of Ludlow, Vermont > Part 15
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fire to the tow beneath, which burned slowly down to the next charge.
A little west of the high-way at the foot of Orchard Hill-Hitchcock built a small log house, No. 118, in 1805. He cleared considerable land, and lived there several years. At the top of the mountain, where the steam mill stood, eleven houses were built by the steam mill company in 1864 and 1865. Four of them were loghouses and the remainder were frame houses.
Returning to the junction of the Andover and Weston roads, Paul D. Sears, 2nd, built the house now standing at the foot of the hill in 1875. James Haven built the first house on the farm where Rollin D. Sears lived. It stood about thirty rods north of the present house, in the mowing near a large rock. In 1842, Henry Warren moved the old house to the present location for an ell to the house that he built the same year. In 1896, Rollin Sears took down the old ell and built a new one. The house where Frank Fuller lived was built by Alvin Chapman in 1867. The main part of the one formerly occupied by Chas. Harris was built by George Harris in 1888. The ell was built by Paul D. Sears 1st, in 1855. Alvin Chapman built the house later owned by Orris Grover in 1870. The house that Henry Harris lived in was built by him in 1882. The first house erected on the D. A. Bachelder farm, No. 119, was built by Edward Haven about 1820. It stood about forty rods south of the present one, near the large black cherry tree. Ephriam Warren built the house now standing in 1834, and Mr. Bachelder remodeled it in 1895. The house now standing on the O. J. Taylor farm, No. 120, was built by Mr. Taylor in 1848. In 1805, Johnathan El- liot built a house on the west side of Mr. Taylor's farm. Traces of the cellar are still visible. Mr. Elliot cleared the most of this farm. It is said that he was the best chop- per ever in Ludlow, and that he would fall an acre of heavy old growth timber in a day. The most of the young men to-day would want two weeks to fell an acre.
The house once occupied by Daniel Doyle was built by
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him in 1896. A little north of the bridge, below the Doyle house, and east of the road, Hezekiah Haven built a house, No. 121, in 1812. The cellar is still to be seen. On the road leading from the bridge on the east side of the Roland Adams farm, near Henry Harris land, Zedekiah Haven, Jr. built a small log house in 1807. No trace of it is left. On the west side of the same farm, Parker Haven built a frame house in 1843. It burned in 1870. The cellar still remains. The house where Henry Fuller lived was built by Seneca Haven in 1843. The house where Clarence Warren lived is described in the history of the saw-mills. Following up the Sanders brook, Gideon Sanders built a house, No. 122, about 1802, later owned by Johnathan A. Mayo, and known as the Sanders lot. The brook took its name from him. About a fourth of a mile west of this place near the base of the mountain, and nearly in range with the Bachelder buildings, Artemas Terrill built a house in 1836. Later, Samuel Dunbar lived there. A little north of this place Abram and Sheppard Adams cleared fifty acres of land in one season. It is said that they harvested 2,500 bushels of wheat from this clearing at one crop. It is also said that they sold the wheat at $2.50 per bushel. Then bread stuff was all produced at home.
Timothy Putnam built the house, No. 123, on West Hill later occupied by Frank W. Howard in 1810. It is said that Mr. Putnam at one time owned a cross bull which once attacked him. He had a hay fork in his hand and succeeded in killing the bull after a severe struggle.
Joseph Gould, Sr. built a house on the site where Rufus Warner later lived, about 1820. In 1830, this house was moved, and is now the ell to the house later owned by H. L. Petty, No. 124. This farm was formerly known as the Thomas French farm. The main part of the house was built in 1842. A little north of this house, part way down the hill toward the brook, Jerry Goodell built a log house, No. 125, about 1795. No one in town is able to tell any- thing about where the family went. The oldest people in town do not remember them. Going down the road, east from the forks of the roads, John Gilbert built a small house, No. 126, in the orchard on the land once owned by
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Norris H. Woodward in 1820. Mr. Gilbert set out most of the trees of this orchard now standing. In 1830, Mr. Gilbert built the house once owned by Joseph Warren. He died Nov. 10, 1867, aged 88 yrs. In 1832, Ephriam Dut- ton, Jr. moved the first house that Mr. Gilbert built, to the Brook Road, and it now stands on Andover St. later owned by John Law. This house was formerly known as the Tyler Weatherbee place.
The house formerly occupied by Isaac Wadleigh, No. 127, was built by Jenne Wilcox about 1798. The house on the Oscar Warren place, No. 128, was built by Asa Abbot about 1803. A little north of the Warren place, in the lot known as the Carpenter lot, Timothy Carpenter built a house, 129, in 1815. Mr. Carpenter built coal pits and burned charcoal on this place. About 1835, Mr. Carpen- ter was killed while hauling fence-poles with a pair of steers that were not handy. One of the poles caught in the ground, and the farther end came around with such force that the blow from it killed him instantly.
David Johnson built the first house on the John Reed place, No. 130, in 1830. This house burned in 1885, and was rebuilt by Fred Thomson in 1897. North of this place, and nearly west of the Bailey bridge on Black River, Ephraim Dutton, Jr., built a house in 1825. The cellar can be seen, but the land that he tilled is nearly all grown up to young growth of timber.
Going north on Pond street we come to another West Hill road on which two houses were built. L. Barrett built a house, No. 131, in 1807. This later was owned by Mr. Colburn. East of this J. Reed built a house, No. 132, in 1791.
Coming to the old Green Mountain Turnpike road, the first house was built by Alpha Wakefield, No. 133, in 1838. Later this was owned by Nathaniel Horton, father of Gil- man Horton. Just beyond this was a house built by a Mr. Feltt. All that is now left is the cellar hole.
Continuing west, the next place was built by Thomas Bixby, No. 134, in 1790. Later this was owned by his son, Calvin Bixby. Farther up the road we come to where the
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old toll gate stood. Next to this was a house built by Levi Lawrence, No. 135, in 1786.
Crossing over to the main highway, which was formerly the shun-pike road, below Buttermilk Falls Stephen Reed built a house, No. 136, in 1789, just below where the Gil- bert mill stood. Continuing on L. Wilcox built a house, No. 137 in 1817. This was later owned by William Lawrence.
EARLY ROADS
Since the time when man began building trails, paths and roads the building and repairs have never ceased, and no doubt never will. The first road to enter Ludlow crossed the northeastern end of the town and was the Crown Point Military Road. In early July, 1760 a New Hampshire regiment was ordered to Old No. 4 fort in Charlestown, N. H., with orders to build this road. From this fort they crossed the Connecticut River into Vermont by the way of Wentworth's Ferry; which was located about one mile north of the present Cheshire Toll Bridge.
They crossed the towns of Springfield and Weathersfield, then over Cavendish Hill to Twenty Mile Stream. At this point they built a camp which was twenty miles from Old No. 4. Hence the name Twenty Mile Stream. Then they went over North Hill, about where the Ellery Dix farm was later located, to the shore of Round Pond. Then north on the east side of the Lake to the head of Amherst Lake. They turned there and went west. A marker is located in this section. From there they continued west around the south slope of Saltash Mountain.
They were forty-four days in cutting the road to the foot of the Green Mountains. On this road mile posts were set up to mark the distance, of which, before reaching the mountains, there were twenty-six. Thence the route led over the mountains to Otter Creek then on to Crown Point. The baggage was conveyed in wagons the first twenty-six miles, thence on pack horses over the heights of land. This road was built and used before the first settlers came into the town of Ludlow in 1784.
The next road in Ludlow was laid out and surveyed,
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No. Cavendith, Jan.A 1804. THIS certifies, that Salmon Detme Engr of Gaver dish in the Country of Vincion Date I Vermevil
owns one Share, or one three-hundredth part of the ftock in the Green Mountain Turnpike Company, it being No. 75 Subject to the Bye-Laws and reg-
nations of the fame: Salman Dutton President.
stephen fourth
Diredorf:
Sept. 6, 1784 by Samuel Dutton and built from Cavendish The Ludlow gate was well up to the Western end of the no further roads until the town was organized. Then it was extended to Shrewsbury and Cuttingsville. It was known as Green Mountain turnpike and original owners were Fletcher Bros., Solomon Dutton and Christopher Web- ber of Cavendish; Later it was reorganized and a charter was given in the name of the Green Mountain Turnpike Co., and three hundred shares of stock issued. There were three toll gates between Duttonsville and Cuttingsville. The Ludlow gate was well up to the western end of the town and Stephen Wright was the gate keeper for many years.
Paying toll was unpopular and shun-pikes having been built, Dr. Alexander Campbell, who had purchased the property, gave it over to the towns through which it passed.
As the early settlers came into town and settled on the hills, trails and bridle-paths leading to the turn-pike were made into roads. These roads had to be made by man and beast as there were no road building machines in those days.
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LUDLOW AS A LAKE
The idea has been handed down by geologists, that that part of Ludlow occupied by the village, and down the Black River valley, taking in the sites of Proctorsville and Cavendish villages, was once the bed of a lake, the barrier that held back the waters being the rocks which form the walls of the well-known Cavendish gorge. It is believed by many people, that the waters of the lake broke through and wore the present channel through those massive rocks. It is also said that the table-land north of Ludlow village, where the Odd Fellows' Home is located, and the one north of Smithville, where agricultural fairs were once held, were thrown up by the action of the water. It seems probable that they were, for these plateaus are exactly on water line with each other, but to a close ob- server, it does not seem possible that the barriers of the waters were at Cavendish gorge, as the rocks forming it are many feet lower than the above mentioned places. If such a lake ever existed, it must have been of much larger dimensions than it has been described as being, and the barriers that restrained its waters must naturally have existed thousands of years ago, since the first settlers of Ludlow found yellow pines growing on what is now Acad- emy hill, that were five and six feet in diameter. These trees could not have grown in the water, and the period of time that developed them, must have been hundreds of years. Imagination sometimes soars high in trying to search out the first forms of creation on this earth.
It is very evident that the Creator planned that parts of the earth's surface should be diversified with hills and valleys, and, by the law of gravitation, each valley is naturally provided with a water course, the hills drain- ing their surplus waters to the lower levels. It seems more probable that the channels through these massive ledges were left open for watercourses at the time of creation, excepting where man has made small changes in opening new channels for the water. Every rivulet has its natural course from the summits of the highest mountains to the great basin of the ocean. Since the noxious vapors rising from the earth must be cleansed from the air to
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keep it life-sustaining, so the waters of the ocean are filled with purifying salts, that they may cleanse the winds as they sweep over its surface. And as the winds agitate the waters to a comparatively slight depth, the tide brings in its aid to roll about the great body of water, keeping it alive to strain away the impurities of the earth, as the liver strains the impurities from the blood in the animal body.
FLETCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Fletcher Memorial Library was built in 1900 by Allen M. Fletcher in memory of his father, Stoughton A. Fletcher. There are few men to whom Providence has granted the advantages of wealth and eminence which enable them to bequeathe to posterity so fitting and substantial a memorial of their ancestors.
The building stands on East Main street, a part of the site being the ground formerly occupied by the residence of the late Artemas Spaulding, and a part, the place where the barns of the Nathan P. Fletcher hotel stood. This hotel, in later years was known as the Scott tavern.
The library building is a one-story structure, the out- side walls being of brick, with a base about three feet in height of paint granite, which was quarried in Milford, Mass. All the trimmings in the cornice, corner blocks, window-sills and caps, are granite of the same variety. The corner blocks are laid one above the other from the base to the cornice, projecting alternately into the adjacent walls, which gives a pleasing effect. The cornice on the front of the building which faces the north, and the door and window caps, were carved in elegant designs after the blocks of granite were put into place. In shape, the build- ing approaches a cross the south wing, (the book room), extending southward from the main part, and the style of architecture resembles the Colonial. The architect, (Freh- mer Page, 87 Milk street, Boston, Mass.) showed exquisite taste in designing the decorative finish for the inside work. At the main entrance, the door opens into a circular ves- tibule, the walls of which are finished with highly polished
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Italian statuary marble. On the east side of the vestibule, winding stairs lead to the basement. The framework of the stairs is decorative iron work, and the steps are of marble like the finishing of the vestibule. Directly over
Allen M. Fletcher
the stairs is a bronze plate inscribed with the donor's name, in sweet memory to his father Stoughton A. Fletcher.
From the vestibule, one passes into the reception room, which surpasses any other part of the building in the ar- tistic skill displayed in its decoration. The room is arched on four sides, with large, supporting pillars of statuary marble, while on the south side of the room is a beautiful marble counter connected with the book room. The floors of the vestibule and the reception room are of Mosaic stone of three colors, red, white, and green. The red and white are found in France, and the green is quarried in Ire- land. The first cost is about forty cents per pound. The stone is worked into small pieces about three-fourths of an
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inch square by one-fourth of an inch thick, and laid in Portland cement. A border about twenty inches wide is laid in straight lines at the margin of the floor. The mosaic is laid in circular form in the center of the floor, forming a medallion about six feet in diameter, from which the stones are laid in straight lines to the border, changing to curving lines in the corner to form small circles. The ceil- of this room is drawn four ways, forming a concave, beau- tifully finished with decorative work drawn in white, pink, rose, light orange, and sky blue.
At the right and left of the reception room are two large reading rooms, both finished with Georgia quartered oak, the floors being left in the natural wood, while the trimmings are stained of a dark hue. Each room is pro- vided with a large brick fireplace, with chalk-stone fronts. These stones were quarried in France, about twenty miles north-west of Paris. These fronts have a large circle carved about the center. The one in the east room bears the coat of arms of the Fletcher family, inscribed below with sun- ken letters: "Fletcher", and the one in the west room has the seal of Vermont, and is inscribed with the state motto : "Freedom and Unity."
The ceiling in these rooms, and also in the book room, is of white, hard finish. The latter is finished in natural, quartered oak, but the floor is of Georgia pine. The shelv- ing has capacity for holding about 11,000 volumes. On the west side of the book room is the Librarian's room, finished in quartered oak, and having a brick fire-place. The side walls are finished in drab colored hard finish. The windows throughout the building are of large size, of very clear glass, with arched tops. The cellar is large, and finished in cement. The building is heated by a large, modern Wal- ker furnace.
Oil burner summer of 1927
The Fletcher Library will not only be a lasting tribute to the memory of a beloved father, but a monument to a name closely connected with the early history of the town, and a fountain of knowledge, from which, for years to come the eager minds may draw refreshment, and learn many lessons of good from the great and prac-
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tical men whose thoughts are stored here for ther use. The beautiful reading rooms of this library will offer a healthful attraction from the pool and billiard rooms, and even less pure resorts of the town. Long may it stand, a monument of good and generous purpose.
LUDLOW SAVINGS BANK AND TRUST CO.
The Ludlow Savings Bank and Trust Company was or- ganized in 1903, with William W. Stickney, president, Rees W. Davies, treasurer and cashier. The capital stock was $50,000. At the present time, (1931), the bank's re- sources are about $3,000,000. In 1900, Daniel Edwards became connected with the bank, and has been treasurer twenty-two years. Homer L. Skeels is now President.
The bank commenced business where the Cloverdale store is now located. They were in this place but two or three years, when they moved to where the telephone of- fice is now located, in the old Ludlow hotel. In 1921, they purchased the old Armington store which was built by Andrew Pettigrew in 1836. They took down the building in the year of the purchase, and built the present bank building in the same year, 1921, at a cost of about $18,000. It is a very substantial, fine Bank building.
CATTLE
The cattle imported to the Plymouth colony by Governor Winslow, were brought from Devonshire, England, in the ship Charity, and landed in March, 1624. They were of the Devon breed. The bull died shortly after his arrival. The first cattle brought to Ludlow in 1783 and 1784' by James Whitney, Simeon Read, and Jesse and Josiah Flet- cher, were descendants of these.
The first short-horn Durham bull was imported to this country in 1817, by Stephen Williams of Northboro, Mass., at a cost of $1,000. He arrived Nov. 5, 1817, and was called Denton No. 2. He was kept in Northboro till 1827, when Mr. Williams gave him to Dr. E. Holmes of Gardiner, Me.
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He was kept one season there, and two seasons at Liver- more. He then was carried to Starks, Somerset Co., Me. where he died of old age in April, 1830. The descendants of this animal have been kept in existence in Maine up to this time.
In no branch of agriculture has there been greater im- provement made than in the breeding of cattle. In 1710, the average weight of fat cattle in the Liverpool market was only three hundred and seventy pounds. It is gratyfy- ing to note at the beginning of the twentieth century, that science in cattle-breeding in the past two hundred years, has surpassed any other period in the history of the world. Calves are produced now, that, at the age of three months, weigh more than the four year old steer did two hundred years ago. In 1862, John Sanderson of Bernardston, Mass. had an ox of his own raising, that, at the age of five years, weighed 3,851 pounds. Some have been raised in New Eng- land to exceed the above weight.
WILD ANIMALS
When Ludlow was first settled, wild beasts were quite numerous, such as the common black bear, the panther, and the gray wolf. The latter was not so plentiful as in some other parts of the state. The settlers on North Hill at first had to built log pens, and drive their cattle and sheep into them at night for protection from the wolves. Deer were common then, and were not protected by state laws. They were taken for the meat supply. Only one moose was ever seen in town, and that one was seen by Ephraim War- ren, Sr. in 1802, while the animal was drinking from the Jesse Fletcher spring, near the Cavendish line. The moose must have strayed from his mates, as he was never seen again. Panthers were plenty, but did no damage excepting to sheep. The sheep-folds had to be watched much of the time. Otters, also, were occasionally seen. along the banks of Black River. It is said that a few beavers were seen by the first settlers on the shores of Rescue Lake, but they, like the otter, gradually disappeared. At the present time,
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wild animals have nearly all gone, and only at long inter- vals is a bear, panther, or lynx, heard from or seen.
Up to 1866, wild pigeons were very numerous in these parts, but at that time they all disappeared at once. In the early part of the nineteenth century, they were so plenty that they would destroy whole fields of wheat, the number in some flocks reaching into the thousands. Frequently, when they lighted in the trees, their weight would bend the branches to the ground. One charge fired from a shot- gun into a flock of them would often kill two or three dozen of them, and as they were considered very palatable eating, many ways were devised by the settlers for cap- turing them in large numbers, such as spreading nets for them, or knocking them from their roosts by torch-light.
DAIRYING
Many of the first settlers and their descendants down to 1875, made money in the manufacture of butter and cheese at home. They had more milk left to feed the calves and pigs and therefore more cattle than now, made more pork, and had butter, cheese, beef and pork to sell off in the fall to bring in money where with to make improve- ments on their buildings and farms. At the present time the milk must be carried to the cheese factory that work may be made easier at home, and but little work is done in the dairy line. The cheese maker gets all the profit there is in the milk. Mr. Willard Johnson paid thirteen thousand dollars for his farm east of the village later known as the Geo. Johnson farm. We once heard Mr. Johnson's first wife say that she raised the value paid for the farm on her milk skimmer. They stuck persistently to dairying, and reaped their reward. During the past hundred years, the price of butter has ranged from six to fifty cents per pound, reaching its highest figure during the war and immediately after it, from 1863 to 1868. Cooley cream- eries were unknown to the first butter makers in Ludlow. The milk was set in large earthern pans, and was kept by many in the cellar, or underground milk rooms in summer.
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The temperature being cool, the cream was all separated from the milk. The churn used was called a dash churn. This was a tall, stone jar, or a tall firkin, with a wooden lid having a hole through the center about an inch in di- ameter. The dash was a long round stick having at the bottom either four small floats, or a circular piece of wood, perforated in several places. After the cream was put into the churn, the dash was set in and the lid slipped down in place, over the handle. The handle was then worked up and down till the cream became butter.
When more stock was kept on the farm, the tillage land and pastures were kept in a better state of production, and the farms were more remunerative to the owners, than now, when so many new methods are being put in practice by the experimental stations, and agricultural colleges. Some of the new methods are too expensive for the farmer in moderate circumstances to indulge, and derive any pro- fit. The only sure way to make farming pay, is for the farmer to pull off his coat, and guide the plow, or drive the team with an eye to strict economy, both in outgo and time.
SHEEP
With the early settlers in Ludlow, as in Vermont gen- erally, sheep and wool at different times have been a source of profit, giving a return to the farmer for his labor. But wool has always proved to be one of the first staples in raw material to rise and fall in price with the fluctuations of demand in the markets of the world. While this country was engaged in the war of 1812 with England, the scarcity of wool, and the desire for speculation, caused the price to rise to two dollars and a half per pound. In 1815, the price dropped to ten cents per pound, and sheep sold at a dollar per head. So prices continued to rise and fall in turn, from ten cents to forty cents until the war of the Rebellion, when wool reached the phenomenal price of a dollar and five cents per pound in 1866 and 1867, and stock Merino rams sold at $1,000 each. But the lack of demand again brought prices down to water-line, and remained for sev-
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