USA > Vermont > Washington County > Waitsfield > History of the town of Waitsfield, Vermont, 1782-1908, with family genealogies > Part 4
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
down to the river. We find that there will be another wanting to leave the above road on lot No. 90 or 88, and turn down to the river, to strike what is called the Great Eddy, from thence down the river to Moretown line."
In October, 1790, a tax of two pence per acre was voted, one-half of which was to be expended for roads and bridges, and although no elaborate roads were then surveyed, it is certain that bridle paths, at least, were constructed substantially in accordance with the above vote, except that the first road was not extended to the Moretown line, but turned down to the river near the north line of lot 123, where a small bridge was constructed on or near the site of the present bridge on the Wilder farm, to communicate with the road on the west side of the river. A bridge was also constructed at the "Great Eddy," on the site of the present bridge in the village-at least a bridge had been constructed there prior to the first formal survey of a highway in 1796.
There must also have been an early road running southerly from a point not far west of the "Great Eddy" to Heaton's Mills, and thence over the brook and up Dana Hill. In fact, the earliest recorded reference to a bridge is found in the town records under date of August 25, 1796, when Henry and Foster Dana were instructed "to cover the bridge over the Mill Pond," an act that was accomplished by them at an expense of $25.83.
The first survey of a highway within the town limits is dated March 11, 1796. This road entered the town on the Moretown line in lot 119, substantially as at present, and came up the west side of the river. Indeed there seems to have been little variation from the present highway location until it reached the foot of the ledge near Gen. Wait's house, where, instead of taking the present turn to the south, it kept straight on -to a point at the foot of the terrace in the rear of the present Methodist Meeting-house, whence it swung over the easterly edge of the terrace, across the present site of the Methodist parsonage, until it struck the upper edge of the open square in the village. Here it took a sharp turn to the left and ran as now laid out to the bridge at the "Great Eddy" and beyond to the top of the present "Mill Hill." Thence, with probably no great varia- tion from the present layout, it ran through lots 135, 102, 99, 97, 92, 91, 46, and the gore lands, to the Warren line, a distance
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A BIT OF THE VILLAGE SQUARF.
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SURVEYS, DIVISIONS, ETC.
of 92 miles. This was known as the Roxbury Road, and was so used for many years, although travel to that point now goes by way of East Warren, which is reached by the so-called Kingston Road that was surveyed March 12, 1796. This road began at the last described highway in lot 91, at the top of the hill to the south of Fay's Brook, and ran in substantially its present course to the Warren line, whence it continued through the wilderness (Warren was then unsettled) to Kingston, now called Granville, and the settled communities to the south.
On the same date the surveyor laid out the old north and south road, which started at the Roxbury Road, in the southerly part of lot 90, near the present School-house No. 4, and continued thence with little variation from its present location through lots 90, 88, 86 and 84 to the northwest corner of lot 103, a little easterly of the present School-house No. 3, where instead of running up the hill to the Common as it now does, it took a sharp turn to the northwest, along the northerly line of lot 103, for some rods, and continued thence through lot 105 to the Common.
The next year (June, 1797) the road along the north line of 103 was extended westerly to the road running from the "Great Eddy" to the Common, and easterly to Palmer Hill, while ten years later the early road across lot 105 was discon- tinued and the present highway was built directly from the northwest corner of lot 103 to the Common.
From the Common the old road continued northerly on the line between lots 107 and 108, and thence through lots 11o and 112, to the northwest corner of lot 114, where it took a sharp turn to the west, as at present, and crossed the river to the road on the west side by the bridge already mentioned. It was not until March, 1797, that it was laid out through lots 116, 118 and 119 to the Moretown line, as contemplated in the original vote of the Proprietors.
Ten years later (1807) the Mad River Turnpike was surveyed, beginning at the mouth of Mad River in Moretown, thence up the river to Waitsfield line from which point it followed the North Road over the Common to the Warren line and thence through Warren and Granville to the bridge over the White River, near Lord's Tavern on the Centre Turnpike in Hancock; but so far as can be ascertained nothing further was done in the matter.
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
In January, 1797, the road from the "Great Eddy" to the Common was laid out. It did not run as now located, but branched from the Roxbury Road at a point near the present gristmill, some 36 rods east of the bridge, and ran through the present mill-yard to the top of the terrace along Clay (then Sherman's) Brook in a course that may now be easily followed. Thence it followed the edge of this terrace to a point a little below or northerly of the present bridge across Clay Brook, where it crossed the gorge upon a rude structure and proceeded through the woodland to the old James Joslin place, in the northeast corner of lot 103, from which point to the Common, and thence easterly through lots 107, 109, 78, 76 and 74, to Amasa Skinner's buildings in lot 72, its course did not differ materially from the present location. In 1803 this road was extended through lots 72 and 70 to the Moretown line, but the extension was abandoned in 1822. In 1808 the location along Clay Brook was abandoned and the road constructed as now laid out from the bridge over the brook to the Roxbury Road, at the present junction in lot 133.
The next main artery of travel to receive attention was the road leading southwesterly to the mills and thence up Dana Hill to the homes of the Dana family on lots 143 and 144. Here we find material change from the present location. The highway was laid out January, 1797, and commenced at a point on the Roxbury Road near Ezra Wait's house just at the foot of the terrace back of the Methodist Meeting-house. Bearing thence westerly, it hugged the ledges until it pitched down through the present sugar orchard on lot 136, in the rear of Newcomb's shop. Crossing the brook at a point southwest of the little mill pond it bore to the south, and near the southerly line of the lot struck and followed the edge of the terrace above the river to a point near the cemetery of today, where it swung down into the valley of Mill Brook and turning westerly again to the mills bore directly up Dana Hill.
Soon after this the river road along the south side of lot 138, and thence through 139, 96, 94, and the gore lands, to the Warren line, was laid out.
These were the main lines of travel in the present township. Business centered on the Common, on the south road in lot 88, and on the ledges northeast of General Wait's house. In the present village there were no houses, and not for many years was
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SURVEYS, DIVISIONS, ETC.
our main street laid out. On September 20, 1820, the road to Green's Mills was relocated northerly from Jeduthan Wait's buildings to a point in the present village near where the house of Hiram Freeman Stoddard stands, and on April 16, 1833, it . was extended to a junction with the old Roxbury Road at the present village square.
In that year the question was nrst agitated of a road leading from this point northerly through the meadows. In 1835 it was surveyed 3} rods wide from the "Brick Store" N. 44 East 96 rods, then N. 23} West 48 rods, then N. 31 East 20 rods to the old Roxbury Road, but not until 1837 was it actually laid out, and not until July, 1838, was the old road leading from Jeduthan Wait's to General Wait's house discontinued.
In 1848 the meadow road, so-called, extending from a point near the present village school-house to another junction with the old road in lot 130 was laid out by commissioners who reported that it should be constructed through the land of Dan Richardson, George B. Carroll and Daniel Nourse to the land of Orson Skinner, and thence through his land to the road leading from Waitsfield to Middlesex. Even then the town would not proceed with the construction of the road until Orson Skinner, Samuel Chipman, Ira Richardson, James M. Richardson, John Walton and Calvin Fullerton offered to give bond that they would build it for 50 cents a rod and construct all necessary culverts, the road "to be built one rod wide from the centre of the ditches and well built and turnpiked."
Just when the upper and lower bridges, as they were called, were thrown across the river we cannot say, but doubtless very early, as they are spoken of in the surveys of 1796. In the fall of 1798 they were carried away, and were rebuilt at a cost of $200.38. A tax was levied to cover this expense payable in wheat at 83 cents a bushel and corn at 50 cents a bushel.
In 1802 the bridge near Heaton's (then called Green's) Mills, was moved, probably to its present location, and in the same year a bridge was constructed across the river near Dr. Simeon Stoddard's-a matter that the worthy doctor had agitated since I799.
The report of the committee chosen to view the proposed site was that a bridge might be built against the ledge on the west side of the river 15 or 20 rods south of the Stoddard house "with two pair of Trustles Posts, one on each side of the stream,
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
and that an abutment ought also to be built on the east side of said river about 40 feet from the Trustles Posts about 5 or 7 feet in height, and that the Bridge ought to be so high as to be laid from said abutment to the top of said Rocks."
We have already noted the hesitation with which the town obligated itself to construct new bridges, especially where but few residents were materially accommodated thereby. In case the pressure became strong it was customary for the town to vote a specific sum toward the building of a bridge, as, for example, in September, 1819, when it was voted to appropriate $35 toward building a bridge over Pine Brook, near Joel Skinner's sawmill, provided any individual should care to erect it to the satisfaction of the selectmen. Elsewhere it appears that Ezra Jones had assumed the obligation to construct and maintain a bridge over the river, and in May, 1829, a vote was passed relieving him of the obligation to maintain it in the future if he would release the town from any claim for the construction of the bridge.
In 1806 all the bridges on the river seem to have been severely damaged by floods, as John Burdick, Salah Smith and Phineas Rider were chosen a committee to repair or rebuild them, if necessary. Repairs were at first made, but in 1807 the bridge at the "Great Eddy" in the village was rebuilt, and in the following year the bridge over Mill Brook at Green's Mills was renewed.
Cheaply constructed, these bridges were an easy prey to floods. In fact, no tax was levied more regularly than that to rebuild and repair bridges. In April, 1814, the bridge in the village and the Stoddard bridge were again destroyed, but the town felt poor and refused to rebuild the latter until late in 1815.
In 1816 the lower bridge over the river was condemned and rebuilt, and in 1824 every bridge on the stream was carried away, while in 1830 the same catastrophe occurred again, and, in addition, one bridge over Shepherd's Brook, one over Fay's Brook, and two over Mill Brook had to be rebuilt.
These frequent losses from floods brought home to the voters the necessity of more permanent structures, and in 1830 provision was made for erecting the present covered bridge at the "Great Eddy," a work that was completed in 1833, the tax therefor being payable in labor at 8 cents an hour for "good common labor."
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SURVEYS, DIVISIONS, ETC.
In the same year the erection of the mills at the village made it necessary to construct a bridge over the canal, a matter that resulted in a controversy with the mill company, but was finally adjusted to the satisfaction of the town.
The present bridge over Clay Brook, known as the "high bridge," was constructed about 1855, and the "lower bridge" was made permanent in 1852. The bridge across the river in lot 129 dates from 1855, there having been no bridge at that point until the connection between the old north road and the river road was constructed in the year named.
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CHAPTER IV.
ANCIENT LANDMARKS.
To one interested in our local history, there is no more fas- cinating occupation for a summer's day than tramping through the meadows or over the green hills, exploring brooks and long abandoned roads, seeking out the locations of early homes, and noting here and there the fast vanishing traces of the life of a hundred years ago, as all the while he revels in fresh vantages from which to view the beautiful panorama of mountains, hills and valleys, waving fields of grain, herds of sleek, lazy cattle and rural life and labor in its most pleasing aspect. As in no other way can one become so well acquainted with things of interest in the history of the town, let us spend a few days in this delightful manner, taking our start each morning from the village square, which is itself a part of the old road "looked" for the Proprietors · in 1789, and formally surveyed March 11, 1796.
That road, as we have seen, ran from the Moretown line at lot 119, to a point near this square, where it turned down to the river at the Great Eddy, which was the designation of the spot where the bridge in the village now stands; running thence southerly to the Warren line, it there connected with a road long since abandoned, which led directly over the mountains to the town of Roxbury. At that time the main street of our village did not exist, for the road just referred to and the road running up the river lay several rods to the west, under the ledges back of the terrace that rises from the square. In fact, not until 1833 was the street to the southwest laid out and not until 1837 was it extended from the corner by the "brick store" to the northerly end of the village.
No business whatever centered here until Roderick Richard- son the elder moved his store to this locality from the Common about 1817. Under the elm on the southwest side of the square stands his house, with one exception the oldest now extant in the village, and owned for many years by the Fullertons. Just west of the house and upon the lower slope of the terrace stood his store, now moved to the northwest corner of the square, and
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ANCIENT LANDMARKS.
forming the residence of the late John W. Gregory. A brick store building was erected by Richardson in 1831 directly across the street from his house. It was occupied by him and his son, Roderick, jr., until destroyed by fire in 1845, when the present brick structure took its place. The latter building served for some years as post-office and town clerk's office.
Now we will follow the course of the old road northward directly across the site of the present Methodist Episcopal parsonage and along the slope to the point where the terrace bends sharply to the west against the hill. Here one may note where the road that ran up the river to Green's Mills branched off. On this spot stood the board on which for many years all public notices were posted in accordance with the following vote of March 7, 1795. "Voted, that the crotch of the road by Mr. Ezra Wait's be the place for setting up advertisements for the year ensuing." Here, too, in 1801, was set the first sign-post to guide the traveler, the second being erected at the crotch of the roads on the Common later in the same year.
Within the angle of the roads, but a little above, on the level land of the terrace, stood the house of Ezra Wait. In it were held the town meetings from 1798 to 1803, and in 1802 women's rights were recognized to the extent of voting to Mrs. Wait the sum of six dollars for the trouble caused to her thereby. Here also, in 1800, was organized the Congregational Society. For some years after 1805 the house was occupied by Gilbert Wait, and here he kept the earliest tavern of which any trace may now be found, his old sign-board being still preserved, although considerably defaced. No trace of the house now exists for it fell early into decay or more probably was moved to the other side of the road to become the home of Dr. Joseph Whitcomb who was in turn followed by Ira Richardson, sr. Nearby were potash works operated probably by the Waits, although some years later Ralph Turner seems to have become the proprietor.
Now, bearing northeasterly through the pasture, we may easily trace the course of the road about one hundred rods to the spot selected by the first settler for his home. Here is the cellar of his house, the old well, curbed with stone, and remnants of the orchard planted by his hands. Tradition says that General Wait's first house was rolled up in the meadow to the southeast of us, on or very near the hillock where he and several
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
of his family are buried; but very soon he builded the first frame house in town upon this higher ground.
The visitor pauses instinctively to revel in the view of river, hills and woods, with the little village nestling at his feet, and wishes he might step back for a little into those earlier days and see the noble forests undulating to the mountains and dotted here and there by the new made clearing of the pioneer.
The General Wait house was square and very commodious, although but one story high, and looked out over a large and fertile farm. Here the town was organized in 1794, and all meetings held until 1798. Here the first church was gathered, and in the spacious barn was held the earliest preaching service. After the General's death in 1822, the farm passed into the hands of Roderick Richardson, who was already the owner of the Ezra or Gilbert Wait farm, adjoining on the south. About 1830 the old house was moved and stands down there on the meadow, a few rods north of the school-house. It has been remodeled, a story added, and is now occupied by Ervin S. Joslin.
Just beyond the spot where we are standing was the early business center of the town. The first road bore a little to the east around the foot of the big ledge, and then northerly again onto the terrace, but after a few years a filling (still visible) was made, and the road was extended from the Wait house straight across the brook and over the ledge, where it remained until the village street was laid out in 1837, when it again took its original course around the foot of the ledge and the second location was abandoned.
Near these ledges and on the west side of the road was erected, in 1802, the first store in town. Samuel Chandler of Worcester, Mass., and Henry Mower, of Woodstock, Vt., were the proprietors.
Nearby, and upon the same side of the road, stood the home of Edmund Rice, cabinet-maker, merchant, surveyor, petti- fogger and town clerk, where were born a family of children that produced a United States Senator and a Member of Con- gress, leaders in the development of the great state of Minnesota.
At the top of the ledge stands a little house built probably by one of the younger Wait boys, and later occupied by Capt. Jesse Carpenter. It is now at some distance from the highway, but at that time, as we have noted, it fronted directly on the
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THE FIRST FRAMED HOUSE IN WAITSFIELD, ERECTED BY GEN. WAIT. RODERICK RICHARDSON'S FIRST VILLAGE STORE. COVERED BRIDGE AT THE GREAT EDDY.
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ANCIENT LANDMARKS.
road, while just across the way was Carpenter's tanning and cordwainer's establishment, of which no trace may now be found, and to the west of that, near the brook, stood the potash works of Chandler & Mower, not to be confounded with the potash that stood farther to the south and has been already referred to.
Just beyond this old house, and under the northeasterly end of the ledge, stood the school-house of District No. 6, built in 1816. This was burned a year later, and another was erected on the same location, the district taking the precaution to buy sheet iron to put before the fireplace. This second building stood until a more pretentious structure was erected on a more convenient site about 1848.
To the right, on the east side of the present highway, and a few rods back in the meadow, stood the blacksmith shop built by the Durkees, and kept for some years by Captain Ros- well Horr.
Our way now lies for several miles along the old highway, and we will hurry on. Here on the left is the farm now occupied by Walter C. Joslyn, first cleared by Benjamin Wait, jr. It was occupied for some years about 1825 by Garinter Hastings, and the old house now standing was then a tavern. Just south of this house, and on the same side of the road, one can make out the cellar of the store occupied in 1815 by Hebard, Baldwin & Woodward, in which our first post-office was established three years later. A few rods farther on, just where the road to centre Fayston branches off, is the north line of the original Wait farm of six hundred acres. Here stood the house where Ezra Wait lived at the time of his death, and to which, later on, Lynde Wait, first settler of Fayston, came, residing there until his removal to Ohio.
Over to the right, just at the Fayston line, where the road crosses Carding Machine Brook, Daniel Nourse had a small sawmill, and Hiland and Ransom G. Lockwood built a small chair factory on a lot that lay in the angle between the brook and the road. In 1850 they sold it to Abram S. Adams. The remnants of the sawmill dam may still be found farther up the brook.
On the left, just before we reach the junction of the old road and the present meadow road, is the Asahel Rider house, identified in later times with the Dale family, while this little
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
house just in the angle of the roads was the "Rex" Tewksbury place.
On the east side of the main road, under that giant pine, stood the house of Shubel Burdick, occupied in later years by Zadock Smith. In 1802 a road was surveyed directly from this house to the Common, but it was never opened. To the left, in the pasture as we cross Carding Machine Brook, now called Russ Brook, used to stand the carding plant from which the brook took its name, but we will not seek it, for every trace has disappeared. Gaius Hitchcock was the first to settle on this farm, and built the little brown house that nestles over there under the trees, well back from the highway. Our older residents remember it as the home of Amasa Russ, and the present generation will connect it with Charles Darwin Smith. This is one of the school lots, and therefore leased land, but the term will not expire "so long as grass grows and water runs."'
Next comes the Ministry lot, mostly leased to John Burdick, farmer, lawyer, bridge-builder and player of the bass viol in the old meeting-house on the Common.
At the top of the hill lived Enos Wilder, killed by the fall of a tree in 1810. Tradition says that Justus Burdick, then a mere boy, felled the tree and was so overcome by the misfortune that he left home at once. Certain it is that about this time, he went to Woodstock where he engaged for twenty years or more in merchandising and then moved on to the West to become the first settler and founder of the city of Kalamazoo, Mich.
Below us at the foot of the hill is the Wallis place where stood the house of David Symonds, an early settler, and just beyond under the big maple is the house of Dr. Frederick T. Minor, who sold out his "ride" to Dr. Orange Smith in 1825.
The Palmer buildings mark the site of the first town clerk's office, the house of Dr. Moses Heaton, who departed in 1796, leaving the place to become better known as the farm of Jared Skinner and his son, Col. Orson Skinner.
We are now at the top of another hill and near its brow on the west side of the road stood the first school-house of the Northwest District, erected in 1799 at a cost of $73.56. This served until 1821 when a new building was erected just north of Capt. Phineas Rider's house, where it still stands, although completely remodeled in 1850.
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ANCIENT LANDMARKS.
Down below us to the right is the "lower bridge." We do not know just when it was erected but it was there in 1796; not the present structure to be sure, for Mad River, true to its name, has played havoc with our bridges, and this one has been rebuilt at least five times, latest in 1852. One wonders where the river got its name. Samuel Williams, the first historian of Vermont, marks the stream upon his map of 1793, but does not name it. William Strong, the surveyor of the town, called it by its present name in his field notes of 1788, and one guesses that his party gave the name because of some unhappy ex- perience with its uncertain habits.
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