Museum Hours:
Tues: 9 am–4 pm;
Apr. 6 – Nov. 16;
Located in Eaton Hall, 3399 US Route 7.
Address mail to:
PO Box 423, Pittsford, VT 05763
(802) 483-2040
Curator: Anne Pelkey 483-6178
Membership: Doris Hoare 483-6470
Newsletter Editor: Peggy Armitage 483-2108.
peggy.armitage@gmail.com
Pittsford Historical Society, Inc.
PO
Box 423, Pittsford, VT 05763
802.483-2040
www.pittsfordhistorical.com
Members’ Meeting & Program ~ Sunday June 10, 2012
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The next members’ meeting will begin with a potluck supper at 5:30 p.m. in
the Pittsford Congregational Church Fellowship Hall, on Route 7 in the
Village. Please bring a dish to share.
The business meeting will start at 6:30 p.m., followed by a program on
Vermont airplane crashes at 7:00. Society member Bill Powers and Brian
Lindner, a veteran plane crash hunter, will relate their search for a plane
that went down in Chittenden in October 1957: an Army Beaver L-20 aircraft
en route from Manhattan to Burlington, Vermont crashed in the Chittenden
mountains. The accident claimed the lives of four Army officers. Lindner and
Powers will discuss this crash and the amazing story of their search for the
crash site 50 years later.
The two make a good team: Lindner, nearing retirement age, has spent spare
time for over 40 years finding and documenting remote airplane crash sites
in Vermont. In 2000, Powers published “Leicester, Vermont’s Silver Lake -
Beyond the Myths.” Through diligent documentary research and walking the
site, he has become the authority on Brandon’s first settlement, then called
Neshobe, on Hawk Hill. He serves on the Board of the Rutland Historical
Society and is a member of our society.
The program is open to the public. Anyone interested in the history of
Pittsford and Chittenden is welcome to attend.
Memorial Day ~ May 28, 2012
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The Society will host this year’s Memorial Day ceremonies in conjunction
with volunteer firemen Rod Drown and Chief Tom Hooker of the Pittsford Fire
Department. The parade, led by the Brandon American Legion Post 55 color
guard, will leave the Village Green at 12:30 p.m., arriving at Eaton Hall in
about 30 minutes. Pittsford resident James Carvey will give the main
address.
Since Arch Street is still closed to thru traffic, the Town manager
decided we shouldn't stop Route 7 traffic longer than 20 minutes max.
So the parade will turn off Rte 7 onto Pleasant St. and end at the
Firehouse. The program will take place there. At the close of ceremonies
Anne Pelkey will invite people to come over to the Museum Open House for
refreshments.
Come view a new exhibit on Pittsford stores and
storekeepers through the ages.
Sprucing Up Eaton Hall
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Former trustee Kit Hudson’s son Todd scraped and painted Eaton Hall in 1997
and again in 2005. This year we have hired Todd to perform the job again,
promising -- weather permitting -- to have everything visible from Route 7
finished by Memorial Day. That includes repainting the red front door and
the new window boxes that Ernie Clerihew built, and a coat of water seal on
the front steps, porch and ramp.
A 501(c)(3) Organization since 1960
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PHS 2012 Calendar of Events
Museum Open 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesdays April 3 through mid-November; also 1- 4
p.m.
Sundays July
1 through October 7
Monday May 28 - 12: 30 p.m. Memorial Day (see above)
Sunday June 10 - 5:30 p.m. Members’ potluck supper, meeting & program (see above)
Saturday July 21 - 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Annual Tag & Bake Sale, Eaton Hall (See below)
August members’ meeting - date, time & program to be announced in the next Newsletter.
Also, watch for our news releases in local media for updates
October potluck supper, annual meeting and program; date and place to be announced
Pittsford Day 2012 See below
Pittsford Day
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will be spread over three evenings this year: Friday June 1,
Saturday July 14, and Sunday August 12. Games and family entertainment will
be featured every night. Town organiza-tions and local vendors can reserve
booths on one, two or all three nights. There will also be a live musical
group each night, and an ice cream social on June 1. Our Board will decide
what we will do at their next meeting.
The Model Ts are Coming!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you love antique cars and trucks, mark the week of July 15 on your
calendars: The 56th Annual Summer Tour of the Model T Ford Club
International will stay at the Holiday Inn in Rutland overnight and take day
trips through western and southern Vermont all that week. On Tuesday morning
the 17th between 150 to 200 Model T drivers will visit the Vermont Marble
Museum in Proctor, then come through covered bridges to Pittsford. Expect to
see the cavalcade on Elm Street in Pittsford village about mid-morning
heading to the New England Maple Museum. However, Model T Club members Ernie
and Melanie Clerihew have invited them to stop by our museum, so be on the
lookout!
PHS Annual Tag & Bake Sale
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In case our members want to take part in both the Pittsford Town-Wide Yard
Sale, on June 9, and our Annual Tag & Bake Sale, the Board decided to hold
ours on Saturday July 21.
We need fresh baked goods, china, glass, kitchen ware, curtains, linens,
books, sports equipment, baskets, garden tools, jewelry, vintage ephemera.
Please, no clothing, Readers Digest books,
textbooks, encyclopedias, used electrical appliances, large furniture. It
would be helpful if you priced your own things (minimum 25 cts.) Please
bring them to Eaton Hall on Tuesdays or call
483-2040 for pick up. Thanks!
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Curator Anne Pelkey and her helpers are mounting a new exhibit for the Museum on early Pittsford stores and storekeepers. It will be on display for the first time during the Open House following the Memorial Day ceremonies. If you have any pictures relating to this subject and are willing for us to scan them, please call Anne at 802 483-6178 or e-mail her at HANKPGOLF@aol.com.
We recently received two wonderful gifts from Catherine Fallon Warner in Florida. She is descended from the Falloons and Carrigans of Pittsford. Starting with James and Bridget (Carrigan) Falloon, Cathy is compiling the history of their families who moved from Pittsford to Connecticut in the 1890s. Her second gift is a copy of a booklet, “Aunt Janie’s Notebook,” who tells her own story of her Lowth family of Pittsford who left town in 1850 for Wisconsin. The notebook is included in a partial copy of “Pioneers in Early Wisconsin.” Cathy wrote, “I have a copy of “Pittsford’s Second Century” and that is like a bible to me. It is so helpful and full of wonderful stories. Please thank the historians for me for that one.” She hopes to visit us sometime this year.
Karen Lemes and her brother from California visited Eaton Hall in March in search of their Pittsford families named Adams and Matson, Matson and Hendee, Bresee and Burkhardt, Stevens and Shaw, Stevens and Adams, and Halladay/Matson and Ellsworth. Karen has greatly enriched our genealogical records with the results of her research to date, for which we are most grateful.
In Memoriam
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One of our oldest Pittsford members passed away in April. Frank A. Kurant
was 92. He was an unusually versatile man in his many occupations and in
other interests, especially the ghost of an American Indian woman who once
laid a curse on his home in Florence. We send our sympathy to his family.
Chittenden native and good friend of our Society, Captain Arthur L. Wardwell
died January 26, 2012 at age 104. He was a Pittsford High School graduate
and, in 1930, of the University of Vermont. He served for four years in
World War II as a Lieut. Commander in the US Navy. He summered in
Chittenden. With his cousin Betty Atwood, he attended our events, relating
his 1920s memories of working at Newton & Thompson’s box factory in
Pittsford. We will miss him.
A Warm Welcome to Six New Members
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It’s a pleasure to report that six friends recently joined the Society:
Debra Camarota of Saratoga Springs, NY is descended from Philip L. and Emily
(Pelkey) Dutelle.
Mary E. “Betsy” Hendrick of Randolph, NJ is descended from Joseph and
Elizabeth (Rowley) Wright.
John and Claudia Hays and son Clay live in Brandon, VT. Clay is also a PHS
Junior History Club member.
Elizabeth Simpson of Collinsville, CT recently bought the former
Congregational Chapel in Florence for a summer home. Welcome to all!
Memberships
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Membership in the Society extends over a calendar year. Your dues support
the annual operating expenses of Eaton Hall. Please send your check, payable
to Pittsford Historical Society to: (Welcome to the new Membership Chairman)
Stephen P. Belcher IV. Send dues to
Stephen P. Belcher IV
PO Box 423
Pittsford, VT 05763
We thank you for your continued support.
Name(s)
_______________________________________________________
Street/Apt. #
_______________________________________________________
Town, State and Zip
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Please check amount enclosed:
Single $15_____ Family $20 _____ Contributing $25_____
Sponsor $50_____ Life Member $200 (per person) _____
A 501(c)(3) organization
since 1960
