That's worth something...
Tonight was a school party at the Elton Tavern in town. That would be a historic site, not an actual tavern. It was for the kids who participated in the historic society's "town passport" project. A few weeks ago, they gave the kids "passports" to various historic sites in the town that they should visit, either take a picture of or draw a picture of, and write two sentences about.
I was NOT happy. They gave us two and a half weeks to get to ten sites scattered all over town, and one of the weekends was Memorial Day - because no one already has plans. Sigh. Not to mention - driving her all over town. Cranky. But we got to as many as we could. The last on the list was "choose a historic site of your own." Baffled.
But we finally decided to go look at an oak tree. Years ago when we first moved in, I noticed this massive, gnarled oak tree right at the Bristol/Burlington line, and was kind of amazed that the highway crew and electric company were tolerating it. Then I noticed that it had a plaque. Never got down there to look at it, because it's *right* up against route 69, and there's not much in the way of a shoulder. But we needed an entry, I was curious, so we went. It turns out that it is the "Peaceable Oak." Before Bristol or Burlington were towns, when they were just two parishes, route 69 was "Peaceable Street,) and town meetings would be held at the Bartholomew Tavern, which was right across the street from the oak tree. I'd seen the marker for the tavern, but given that I'm usually going through there at 50 mph, I never noticed that they were right across from each other. Apparently, in the summer when the tavern would get stuffy, they would hold the meetings outside under the tree.
That tree is a LOT older than I thought.
So I snapped a couple of pictures, she put it in her book, and away we went.
At the presentation tonight, the lady from the historic society mentioned that she's always interested to see what families pick for their "other." She mentioned some facts someone had turned up about Hogan's cider mill, and then mentioned that someone had written about a site just over the line in Bristol - the Peaceable Oak. She had Charlotte say a little bit about it - and then mentioned that *she had never heard of it.*
We stumped the lady from the historical society! Pretty cool.
It was a fun project. I learned a fair bit about town.
So here she is at the graves of Silas Brooks and Katherine Gaylord, respectively:
The Nepaug Dam. I suppose there are some recreational areas more within the town limits, but I figured the dam would have a historic plaque. She was supposed to write two sentences, and I wanted her to do them on her own. Plaques helped.
The state fish hatchery:
The one-room schoolhouse and the Elton Tavern:
And the oak tree in question. I'm *quite* pleased about that. The lady from the historic society announced an intention to go see it.
I was NOT happy. They gave us two and a half weeks to get to ten sites scattered all over town, and one of the weekends was Memorial Day - because no one already has plans. Sigh. Not to mention - driving her all over town. Cranky. But we got to as many as we could. The last on the list was "choose a historic site of your own." Baffled.
But we finally decided to go look at an oak tree. Years ago when we first moved in, I noticed this massive, gnarled oak tree right at the Bristol/Burlington line, and was kind of amazed that the highway crew and electric company were tolerating it. Then I noticed that it had a plaque. Never got down there to look at it, because it's *right* up against route 69, and there's not much in the way of a shoulder. But we needed an entry, I was curious, so we went. It turns out that it is the "Peaceable Oak." Before Bristol or Burlington were towns, when they were just two parishes, route 69 was "Peaceable Street,) and town meetings would be held at the Bartholomew Tavern, which was right across the street from the oak tree. I'd seen the marker for the tavern, but given that I'm usually going through there at 50 mph, I never noticed that they were right across from each other. Apparently, in the summer when the tavern would get stuffy, they would hold the meetings outside under the tree.
That tree is a LOT older than I thought.
So I snapped a couple of pictures, she put it in her book, and away we went.
At the presentation tonight, the lady from the historic society mentioned that she's always interested to see what families pick for their "other." She mentioned some facts someone had turned up about Hogan's cider mill, and then mentioned that someone had written about a site just over the line in Bristol - the Peaceable Oak. She had Charlotte say a little bit about it - and then mentioned that *she had never heard of it.*
We stumped the lady from the historical society! Pretty cool.
It was a fun project. I learned a fair bit about town.
So here she is at the graves of Silas Brooks and Katherine Gaylord, respectively:
The Nepaug Dam. I suppose there are some recreational areas more within the town limits, but I figured the dam would have a historic plaque. She was supposed to write two sentences, and I wanted her to do them on her own. Plaques helped.
The state fish hatchery:
The one-room schoolhouse and the Elton Tavern:
And the oak tree in question. I'm *quite* pleased about that. The lady from the historic society announced an intention to go see it.