Volume 58, Issue 1 Winter 2018 Vermont Old Cemetery Association Founded by Prof Leon Dean (1899-1982) Oct 18 th 1958 TABLE OF CONTENTS County Representatives 2 Dues 8 Footstones 2 Headstones 2 Letter to the Editor 6 Logo Contest 3 Membership Update 1 Past VOCA Banners 4 Photo Gallery 7 President s Report 2 Spring Meeting Preview 1 Trivia 8 Vermont s Hidden History 5 Good News VOCA! Our active membership increased significantly in 2017. We now have 407 active members. New members this year: 56 Lifetime members: 111 Members who renewed in 2017: 87 Vermont members: 303 Out of State members: 104 Institutional members (towns, cemeteries, historical societies, businesses, etc.): 52 Members whose membership expires on 1/1/2018: 84 As these numbers show, 84 members are up for renewal right now so be sure to check your mailing label. The renewal form is on page 8. Thank you all for your continued support and for the generous donations received last year. It is due to the members and their contributions that we are successful in providing grants and work projects. The Spring meeting will be held in Northfield on May 6 at the Brown Public Library. The program will be on the cemetery restoration projects conducted in the area. The Northfield Historical Society located next to the Library has exhibits on cemetery restoration and we will also take a tour of the cemeteries to see the completed projects for ourselves. These projects were done with the help of VOCA grants. Mark you calendar and look for the reservation form in the April newsletter. Over the years many methods have been tried to preserve grave markers. Some are more effective and more attractive than others. The slate stone shown here was sheathed at the top in a metal cladding. Without knowing the history behind this marker we cannot know when the cladding was added. In any case the stone is whole and legible 196 years later. 1
VOCA Officers President:Tom Giffin tgifvt@msn.com 802-773-3253 Vice President/Grants Manager: Dianne Leary Dleary123@yahoo.com 802-881-2754 Treasurer: Chris Book 802-773-6252 Asst. Treasurer: Whit Mowry whit05048@gmail.com Membership / Webmaster: Barry Trutor btrutor@burlingtontelecom.net Secretary: Jeni Newman newman.jeni@gmail.com 802-999-6031 Newsletter Editor: Jane Fletcher janesinterests123@gmail.com 802-579-6903 FOOTSTONES Ruth Barton: 802-254-1128 Richard Howrigan: 802-827-6513 Charles Marchant: 802 365-7937 Wesley Mowry: 802-436-3383 Clayton Trutor: 802-658-3273 Nicole Vecchi: 802-649-7117 COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES Addison: Dianne Leary Bennington: Vacant Caledonia: Nicole Vecchi Chittenden: Dianne Leary Essex: Clayton Trutor Franklin: Jeni Newman Grand Isle: Clayton Trutor Lamoille: Deanna French deannafrench41@gmail.com 802-522-2050 Orange: David Phillips davephillips61@gmail.com 603-252-7363 Orleans: Wanda Webster 802-525-3550 Rutland: Vacant Washington: Nicole Vecchi nsvecchi@yahoo.com Windham: Charles Marchant Windsor: Ken Barrett 802-875-2941 VOCA website: voca58.org President s Report Winter 2017/2018 As I am writing my winter report the temperature in Rutland, Vermont is - 18 and although the promised nor easter is not headed our way by the end of the week, we are still looking at sub-zero weather for many days ahead. It is difficult to contemplate cemetery projects when looking out at the frozen tundra, but as I have reiterated many times in the winter report, now is the time to line up volunteers, put in for VOCA grants and schedule the time/date for your anticipated project(s). In 2017 we had more restoration events, from more VOCA members, than in the 34-year history that I have been associated with the organization. I will not be able to list all of them in this forum, but many are well-documented in our web and Facebook sites. Personally, my first restoration project was in Danby in April and my last one was in Tinmouth the week before the Vermont November deer season. There were very few weekends last summer that I was not involved in an exciting community project. I have already committed to several towns for the 2018 season and looking forward to working with new volunteers and signing up more VOCA members. If you wish to help out on a project, please contact me once spring decides to come back to the Green Mountain State. Unfortunately, we did have two cases of cemetery vandalism in burial grounds that were restored, but we already have volunteers committed to repairing the damage once spring arrives. Thanks to everyone who updated their membership. The response was outstanding and special thanks to webmaster, Barry Trutor, who mailed out the reminder postcards and did the membership updates. We continue to have exceptional, unpaid volunteers that do all of the VOCA work. THANK YOU for everything you unselfishly do for the organization! Please check your expiration date on your newsletter and, if expired, please renew your membership. If you have news items or events you would like to put in the newsletter, please contact VOCA Editor, Jane Fletcher. VOCA is always looking for new members to join our organization. If you could recruit one (or more) members for our organization that would be wonderful! I am also available for presentations on VOCA. If an organization is in need of a speaker, please call/email me. We do have VOCA officer openings if you are interested in helping out the organization. The information on our spring 2018 meeting is in the newsletter. Our 60 th year begins in 2018 and I am excited for the future of VOCA! Tom Giffin VOCA President 2
On the next page are examples of the logos that VOCA has had over the years. 3
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VERMONT S HIDDEN HISTORY (Part 1) By Laurie Jordan We live in Essex along the river, between where I grew up in Essex Center and Joe in Williston s village. Since we already enjoyed the local history and scenic Vermont back roads, we decided to explore all 251 towns. Like our own, most town centers developed at the crossroads with a meeting house (or church), a schoolhouse, and a burial ground. We chose to visit the cemeteries, which we most likely would find in each town. The steeples, crossroads, and renovated schoolhouses helped; but we often needed to travel beyond to discover the more hidden burial grounds along Vermont s beautiful back roads lined with tall maples and old stone walls. We referred to the Vermont Atlas and GPS and searched for Cemetery Road or Church Road. Later, the Vermont Historical Society Index to Known Cemetery Listings in Vermont made it easier to locate a road named after the listing of a family named cemetery. Thus we discovered Willis Cemetery at the end of Willis Road in Stratton. Another time, I needed to ask a Brookline resident mowing his lawn for directions to any local cemetery. He pointed and explained, Down by the bridge, there s a cement wall. Go up that bank and on top you ll see it. If you go past the round brick schoolhouse, you ve gone too far. The Austin-Martin Cemetery was abandoned, but about twenty five markers with dates and names were still standing. In Victory, Joe just could not find a cemetery after driving in vain on the town s only visible two long roads to nowhere. So we parked at the abandoned schoolhouse at the crossroads and got out to search. There in back of the school, a hidden bushy path up a steep bank led to the burial ground on a stony slant of land that was caving in. (This story will continue in the April 2018 issue) 5
Letter to the Editor received July 26, 2017 First I would like to thank you and all of the volunteers of the VOCA. My name is Don Von Nostrand and I recently became a member of VOCA. I am indebted to you and all of your members for the incredible work you have done across your state. I have been a direct beneficiary of your deeds and would like to tell you in what manner. I grew up on the East End of Long Island, in the Hamptons to be precise, and I was aware of many old cemeteries containing the remains of many Pre-Revolutionary war citizens and soldiers. These old graveyards stoked my passion for the reverence and history of old cemeteries. I distinctly remember a history professor in High School telling us how the East End of Long Island has more in common with New England than with the rest of New York. Some may be aware that in 1640 a group of Separatist left the colony of Lynn, MA an landed in Southampton, NY at a place called Conscience Point. These founding fathers of our town left an indelible New England mark on the history and architecture of the East End of Suffolk County. Of course having never traveled to New England at the time I had no frame of reference to draw upon. As fate would have it I was working for a company that was relocating to Somersworth, NH and spent the next 8 years in the Southern New Hampshire/Seacoast area. It was during this time frame that I truly understood the connection between my home town and New England. On random sunny days I would stop and stroll through the old graveyards that I found in the Seacoast area and began to closely read the epitaphs carved into the headstones. This was an incredible revelation to me that carved into these monuments was such incredibly beautiful poetry and that yearly they are being lost to time and the elements. I resolved to transcribe and photograph these headstones along with their epitaphs in order to preserve them. At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with them when I had completed my project but I knew that someone had to capture them in the race against time. My endeavor was cut short when in 2000 I took a job with US Customs and was transferred to the US Virgin Islands. 6 years later I was transferred to Vancouver, Canada. Another 6 years sent me to Key West, Florida and I began to wonder if I would ever complete my project. While in Key West I was fortunate to be offered a Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY) to Burlington, VT in 2014 and again in 2015. While back in New England I was able to once again explore the old cemeteries and graveyards in the Northeast Kingdom and all down Western Vermont along with the Northeast NY area. The result of my endeavors is my book: Stone Poets Headstone Epitaphs: Ruminations, Recollections & Farewells. It should be out by this Fall/Winter. In the introduction I gave a nice word about the Vermont Old Cemetery Association for all the work that you folks do. (Continued on next page) 6
I personally saw the care given to these headstones by the dedicated people or your organization and just wanted to let you folks know. I now live in Washington State and have many other epitaphs that I collected in 2000 that I must return to Southern New Hampshire and photograph. I really have no idea what condition these will be in after all these years but I can only hope that the caretakers and volunteers in the Seacoast areas of New Hampshire and down on Long Island have given the same love and dedication to their charges that I witnessed in Vermont. Thank you and all your volunteers for all that they have done and continue to do. They have enabled me to capture these beautiful poems for posterity long after they have been lost to time and the elements. Respectfully, Don Von Nostrand Anacortes, WA Photo Gallery Time and the elements wear away more than the words on the stones. The stone to the right is being eroded away. Documenting stones while they are still relatively new will help preserve their art as time takes its toll. 7
Jane Fletcher 535 Sunset Lake Rd Brattleboro VT 05301 Dues Reminder TRIVIA A well known English author spent some time in Vermont. His house and one of his books in which you will find the quote below, share the same name. The end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased. And the epitaph drear: A fool lies here who tried to hustle the east. Dues are for a calendar year: 1 year $10.00, 5 years $40.00, and lifetime is $200.00 (individual members ONLY). A new member joining in Oct, Nov, or Dec will have the dues paid applied to the following year. I want to make a donation to the Leon Dean Permanent Fund in the amount of $. Make check payable to VOCA and mail to: Barry Trutor 31 Matthew Avenue 8