This small wood-frame structure sits in the middle of Derby Line Village and is a good example of a local meeting hall embellished with Classical details. This structure was originally built as an Odd Fellows Hall in 1887, where local and regional members could hold events and meetings. In 1940 the IOOF Hall was moved back on its lot so that It had a similar set back to other buildings on the street, and it was renovated to a village hall for all residents, a use that remains to this day.
Samuel Read Hall (1795–1877) was an American educator, who in 1823, started the first normal school, or school for training of teachers and educators, in the United States. He helped found the American Institute of Instruction in 1829, the oldest educational association in the U.S. He served as pastor in Brownington and Granby, Vermont from v 1846 to 1875 and would also become the principal and teacher at the Orleans County Grammar School in Brownington. He lived in this Federal style house in the village until his death. The Hall House is now a part of the Old Stone House Museum and Historic Village. Fun Fact: Samuel Read Hall is said to have been the earliest person to introduce the blackboard to the American classroom!
Built in 1834 by Cyrus Eaton, a businessman who emigrated to Orleans County from Canada, this cape house blends Federal and Greek Revival styles under a charming roof. Mr. Eaton was a trustee of the Orleans County Grammar School in Brownington, Vermont and helped African American Alexander Lucius Twilight build the Old Stone House. Two of Eaton’s sons and one daughter enrolled at the school, located just nextdoor from their home. In 1971, the property was purchased from a private owner, and has since been part of the Old Stone House Museum and Historic Village’s gorgeous campus.
Across from the Alexander Twilight House (last post) in Brownington, Vermont this massive stone structure which is possibly the first granite public building constructed in the state. Alexander Twilight (1795-1857) is reputed to be the first African American in the United States to graduate from college, where he was likely inspired by the large granite dormitories there (a private institution). Twilight served as headmaster of the Orleans County Grammar School, which due to its rural location, required many students to travel long distances for their education. As a result, they boarded with families in town, including with Twilight. Athenian Hall was built to accommodate the larger number of students attending the Grammar School. The building closed in 1859, two years after the death of Alexander. The building sat vacant for much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries until 1918, when the Stone House was put up for auction. A representative of the railroad in the state of Vermont bid on the structure with the hopes of using the granite stones for bridge abutments. Luckily for us, The Orleans County Historical Society outbid the railroad and won the auction. The building was opened as a museum in 1925 and is today part of the Old Stone House Museum and Historic Village.
The highlight of the town of Brownington, Vermont is the Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village, a collection of amazing 19th century architecture set amongst the rolling hills of the Northeast Kingdom. One of the buildings in the village is this structure, the Alexander Twilight House. Alexander Twilight (1795–1857) was born in Corinth, Vermont, on September 23, 1795. He was raised by a fair-skinned mother, Mary Twilight, and a mixed-race father, Ichabod Twilight. Twilight entered Middlebury College in 1821 and graduated in 1823, possibly making him as the first person of color to graduate from an American college. Alexander Twilight accepted the call and moved to Brownington to serve as the town’s reverend. He also served as headmaster of the Orleans County Grammar School. To meet growing enrollment needs, he designed, raised funds for, and built the first granite public building in Vermont, Athenian Hall, which contained classrooms and a dormitory. He had this Federal style house built in the village, large enough to house some students in his home. Before building his Federal style home, he lived in a much smaller, vernacular home, which was added onto the rear of this home as an ell (later separated by the museum). Elected to the Vermont General Assembly in 1836, Twilight became the first African American to serve in a state legislature in the United States. In 1847, after conflicts with the Orleans County school administrators, Twilight moved to Quebec, Canada for five years, but then returned to serve as headmaster in Brownington. He died on June 19, 1857 and is buried in the Brownington churchyard.
Welcome to Brownington, Vermont! This small, rural town sits in the Northeast Kingdom region of the state and was granted to Daniel and Timothy Brown in 1790, and named after their family. One of the first roads in Orleans County went through Brownington, connecting Greensboro to Derby. Brownington Village was once a stopping point for stagecoaches traveling between Boston and Canada. This Greek Revival style house was built in 1843 along the stagecoach route to Canada and was built for Thomas C. Stewart. Thomas Carlisle Stewart (1804-1865), an attorney and prominent member of town who was the son of Amherst Stewart, one of the town’s founders. The Stewart home has its gable end extending over the recessed front porch, reading like a temple-front home.
To me, Vermont is synonymous with Vernacular architecture. The state obviously has high-style and architect-designed buildings all over, but the character of the state (to me) is based around local builders, local materials, and local traditions. The patchwork of towns and villages in Vermont all have one thing in common, at least one general store. These buildings serve as an informal meeting place or community center where residents and visitors alike can hear the local gossip and events taking place. The general store in Whitingham, Vermont is located in the middle of the village, perfect for stopping in. The building was constructed in the first decade of the 20th century, replacing a former hotel/tavern on the site. The late-folk Victorian style store exhibits some decorative columns and storefronts, likely produced at one of the working lumber mills in town at the time. The store was originally built by Arthur and Carl Wheeler as the “Wheeler Brothers Store” but after 15 years changed hands and became the “F.W. Jillson & Son Store”. Since then, the Jillson’s opened up an antique store in the building which serves as a multi-use facility (collectively as a country store). Keep it local Vermont!
The township of Moretown, Vermont was chartered on June 7, 1763 by Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire. The original charter contained approximately 23,040 acres of land to be divided into about 65 shares of proprietors. Active settlement did not occur until after the Revolutionary War with early buildings constructed on the Winooski River (the northern boundary of the town) and subsequent development along the Mad River (which cuts through the middle of town). Saw and grist mills were built and the town developed as a rural farming and industrial community on the rivers. The Moretown Town Hall was erected in 1835 in the Greek Revival style. It has a pedimented portico with Doric columns that support a large pedimented gable peak in imitation of a Greek temple. Like most buildings in the Mad River Valley, the building is unapologetically Vernacular which means it relies on local materials, local builders, and not on architect-designed finishes. This is an aspect of Vermont architecture that makes the state so charming.
This is the first church ever built in Duxbury, Vermont. On December 18, 1854, at the South Duxbury schoolhouse, representatives from six denominations in the newly formed town, gathered to form the First Union Society of Duxbury. The participants were: the Congregationalists, Universalists, Free Will Baptists, Protestant Methodists, Episcopalian Methodists, and the Adventists. Twenty-five names appear on the original subscription list, indicating the pledged money or materials that each would contribute to the construction of the church. Samuel Cook Turner was contracted to build the church, with pews inside purchased by individual families to help fund the construction. The building is vernacular and modest due to the rural character of the congregations and town’s location, but it has a more Classically inspired door enframement. In 1890, funds were gathered for a church hall, which sits nextdoor. The meeting hall would serve as the meeting space for a temperance organization known as the “Independent Order of the Good Templar”. The church hall appears to have some deferred maintenance, but both buildings together share an early history of a rural and often overlooked small Vermont town.
In 1876, a four year old Calvin Coolidge moved to this house in sleepy Plymouth Notch, Vermont, which was purchased by his father and he lived here continuously until 1887 when he began to attend the Black River Academy at nearby Ludlow, Vermont. The house was likely built in the mid-19th century as a modest Greek Revival cape and was Victorianized in the late 19th century by Calvin Coolidge’s father, when he added the two-story bay window, dormer, and side additions. The house remained in the Coolidge family until 1956 when it was given to the State of Vermont as part of the Calvin Coolidge Historic Site.
Buildings of New England 