House History of 6888 Route 18 Lower Waterford, VT Lise G. Moran

Home , Connected farm, Moore Dam

House History of 6888 Route 18

Lower Waterford, VT

Lise G. Moran

December 10, 2019

Table of Contents:

1. Elevations of 6888 Route 18/Introduction

2. Interior of the Cutler House

3. Greek Revival Style and Cultural Traditions of early Settlers of Waterford

4. Dewey and Cutler Families and Early Proprietorships in Waterford

5. Kinne Family

6. Sheep History

7. Transportation, Technology, and Auto-Related Tourism

8. Modern day Owners of Cutler House and Changes to the Footprint Due to the Fire

9. Visibility and the Charm of the Connecticut River

10. Water Rights

11. Comparables and Conclusion

Appendix A and Bibliography

1. Elevations

The Cutler House is located near Route 18 in Lower Waterford. The common name from the 1980 survey was termed “The Whittemore Place” but the historic name will be termed in this paper as the Cutler House and referred to as such. Originally the house and grounds contained 310 acres ascertained from the early deeds found (1808 Cheney deed from Carpenter). There was once a progression of attached farm buildings to the east looking out to the Connecticut River Valley.

The Northern elevation (front façade) has 5 bays and is 1- ¾ stories. The house is square with dimensions of 36 x 42 feet. It is consistent with the shape of its neighboring historic houses. The exterior cladding is wood clapboard.

The front door has eight panels. The design consists two rows of small square panels at the very top, then a set of rectangular panels, and lastly at the bottom, two sets of square panels. Above the door is a casing with a center tablet. The door surrounds have bullseye corner blocks on the casing, ¾ sidelights and a transom above the door. The windows on either side of the front door have double bead caps on the lintel and a decorative molding on the bottom of the sill. There is a frieze (a horizontal board) under the projecting cornice which is typical feature in New England at this time.

Attached to the house, was once an auxiliary building possibly a summer kitchen. This one story gabled- roof wing, served as a garage, and storage area. Close by, but not attached to the summer kitchen, were two barns, a silo, and a near-by dairy shed. The farthest structure was the bank barn with a ramp. The barn buildings and the circular silo were connected to each other in an “L formation” in New England Continuous Architecture style, as it was commonly known.

An earlier article in the Caledonia Record noted that a corn barn and shed were demolished due to a tornado that hit the county on June 14, 1888 but the exact location of these two outbuildings is not known. A modern-day two car garage is on part of the footprint of the summer kitchen wing. In the 1932 USGS (Littleton - Quadrangle map), the Connecticut River side shows the black square of the Cutler house. The uphill side across the street shows a dotted line (dirt road) with another black square, which could have been an outbuilding used to assist in the farming operations on that side of the road or possibly the spring house for water.

Typically early settlers in this area built a simple log house when they first arrived. In time they may have erected a simple Cape with an ell or wing attached to the earliest part of the house in the Federal or Greek Revival style. After an extensive study of deeds and property maps, there may have been an early house on this property, but it not evident where an earlier edifice was located.

The house has a medium to steeply-pitched roof with asphalt shingles. The attic level depicts a vernacular, Greek Revival three- part window in both gables. The two 6/6 windows have a casing with a tablet which is mirrored on the front doorway casing as well.

The foundation is supported by mortared blocks of cut granite. Loose rocks were stacked up below the ground level forming a 45-degree angle to help support the foundation. Layers of brick at the ground level surround the perimeter of the cellar.

This modestly- designed house is a classic cottage style with Greek Revival style embellishments. The classic cottage design is defined as having a moderately steep roof with a wide eave overhang, termed a raking cornice, knee wall construction, and a steep gable. This construction was deemed later in style from ca. 1825 forward (DeLaitrre, Margaret N., Additional Notes on Vermont Vernacular Architecture). The Cutler House conveys an exterior frieze under the roof with box cornices with cornice returns on the side gable ends. Simple corner boards flank the sides of the building. The wall structure is post and beam with plank frame construction.

The Eastern elevation underwent the most amount of change after the fire crept very close to the nook area of the house in 1964. Currently, there is a double window 1/1 and a small set of windows flanking the new doorway in the exact place where the fire damaged this part of the house. The doorway and stoop underneath was moved after the fire a few yards away toward the front of the house. The remains of the older cement stoop are still evident.

The Western elevation facing the Village of Lower Waterford has undergone the least amount of alteration. When the house was used as a tourist home, the guests parked by this side of the house and used the front entrance. The symmetric arrangement of the windows matched the Eastern elevation

6 until the fire. The same Greek revival style tri-partite window on the attic level displays a casing above the window. This window is a departure from the typical three part window. Both of the Eastern and Western elevations have fancier attic level window that are visible from the street. They are double- hung for the large central window and the two thinner flanking side windows are stationary.

The second story level below has three windows, and the bottom floor has five windows. All windows are 2/1 except the two main parlor windows closest to the front door are 6/6 and two windows closest to the front elevation in the parlor. On all elevations, attractive shrubs have been planted near the foundation sill.

The Southern elevation (rear elevation) looks onto the rear of the property toward the meandering Connecticut River and has had the most alterations. The back porch was enlarged, then enclosed and modernized with floor to ceiling windows. A doorway was added from the nook to allow access to the porch. The two upstairs bedroom windows were enlarged in the shed dormer and in the bathroom during the Whittemore tenure. Four rectangular skylights were added when the Brodzinskis’ owned this house. One was placed on the front roof slope to help illuminate the front hallway and three other skylights were placed on the rear elevation to help to lighten up the attic level area. The closet led into the summer kitchen wing from the unenclosed rear porch. It was eliminated after the fire and became the nook in the kitchen. A large picture window was placed in the nook area.

In general, during the Greek Revival period, chimneys were placed at the back of the roof slope so that the front gable would be emphasized. The chimney size was scaled down, smaller than the larger chimneys which had dominated the rooflines previously in earlier Federal style houses.

Therefore, the two brick chimneys are placed on the back roof slope as was the custom to lead the eye away from the front and focus on the pediment. Both brick chimneys have caps on the very top that serve to protect them from damage in adverse weather.

The smaller square chimney on the kitchen side was used for the large cast iron stove that was there in the Whittemore days. This square brick chimney shoot is still in place between the wall of the dressing room of the Mitchells and the master bedroom on the eastern side of the house.

The other larger brick chimney on the Lower Waterford side of the house extends up through the guest bedroom at the back of the house. This three-sided brick chimney is visible in the upstairs guest bedroom. Originally there was a wood stove below the guestroom during the Brodzinski tenure of this house.

2. Interior of Cutler House

Important clues can be gleaned from the interior design elements of the house in establishing when this house was built. The plan, the shape, the stairway, the casings, the door surrounds, the width of the floor planks, the muntins (light bars horizontal or vertical in a sash), the door hardware, and lastly, the nail evolution all provide clues in establishing an approximate date for the construction of this house between 1835 and 1845.

The Cutler House is square, measuring 4,374 square feet, in the central hall, “Classic Cottage” plan. This plan of the first floor shows a double room on either side of the central hall. A variation of this plan is outlined in Additional Notes on Vermont Vernacular Architecture by Margaret N. DeLaittre. In her plan there is a small room shown off of the upper left-hand side - a birthing or borning room (as it is also called) in the rear of both plans shown in the diagrams of the Cape Cod and the “Classic Cottage.”

The stairway is a single, one- run flight with square balusters. At the top of the stairs there is a set of newel posts side by side with a six- inch width between them. The stairway is wide with risers measuring almost 4

feet across. The second floor has a landing of wide floor boards measuring from 6 to 9 inches. This landing continues along the hallway to the front elevation with a side stair rail of balusters on the hallway. A smaller, simpler, single flight of stairs takes one up to the finished attic space.

The design of the main stairway of the house is elegant. There are ornamental brackets of a decorative wave design in the carriage. This decorative design of the stairway copies a similar wave design of the carriage also seen in the 1843 Wilcox-Cutts House in Orwell, VT. The nosing protrudes out of the rails in the stair risers and the balusters are square. The design and shape of the newel post and handrail are good stylistic indicators in determining the date of the house. The handrail width is smaller and not as wide as later examples of the Greek Revival style from 1850 onwards. New Hampshire architectural historian Jim Garvin made drawings illustrating the evolution of newel posts and other architectural components through each stylistic period. This newel post at the Cutler House is decorative and lines up with Garvin’s drawing which he states is more elongated, a less convex profile of the 1830’s.

The positioning of the stairway on the left side of the center hall would indicate that the house was intended to be entered from the front door on the façade elevation. In today’s time, due to the location of the mudroom on the eastern elevation near the driveway and the garage, the side entrance is typically used more frequently.

The hallway has an enlarged foyer leading into the main parlor. During a remodeling job in this spot, it was discovered that the walls were constructed of solid wood planks not studs, wall board or an empty spaces between the planks. Jan Lewandoski wrote an essay in the Vermont History Journal about the three types of plank wall construction that were prevalent from about 1780 to 1850 in this area of Vermont. This area ranged roughly north of Bradford to south of Greensboro, including a great predominance of plank houses northeast of St. Johnsbury. Some planks were affixed right into the sill without posts, or studs or braces. This application of planking was the most common of three types that were used during this time. Planks of sawn lumber measured 1 ½ to 4 inches thick and had an accompanying width of 9 to 26 inches in some cases. They stood up vertically like tight matchsticks to form a very sound wall structure. As lumber was so obtainable, this was a common way to fortify the house and secondly, to help insulate the house in the cold Vermont winters.

Sally Fishburn, window restoration consultant from Danville, CT, restored the windows in June of 2015. She described them as 6/6 single-hung with a lambs’ tongue profile. Three original 6/6 light single- hung windows still remain in the main parlor room in the front of the house. The original window muntins have a lamb’s tongue or sharp ogee profile and are elliptical with a thin fillet. The other first floor windows are replacements of the late 19th century in the Italianate style period with 2/1 windows having an ogee and fillet profile (Fishburn report of 6/2015). These windows measure 34” x 60.” The windows in the kitchen, nook area and the rear upstairs bedrooms in the dormer addition are modern replacements.

The top ceiling wall moldings are picture molding, not crown, cove or cornice style moldings. Finished beams in a grid pattern decorate the ceilings in both the front parlor and the dining room. Upstairs the

10 two front bedrooms mirror the same ceiling design but with a network of simpler, thinner battens which cross-sect each other to form the beams in the ceiling.

The dining room displays a small ceiling centerpiece once used for lighting oil lamps, or candles placed in a ring chandelier. During the 1840s onward when pattern book designs were first produced, drawings were shown of a circular surround or oftentimes a rosette encircling a lighting fixture chandelier. In this area of the dining room ceiling, a pendant light with corded fabric hangs down from the ceiling area. There also is a cupboard flanked symmetrically with the door leading to the back kitchen area. This type of cupboard was used to store wine or delicacies in the historic 1773 Olcott-Johnson House in Norwich, VT. This is a stylistic detail that was carried over from the Federal period (Congdon, Old Vermont Houses, 35). There are also decorative square three- part horizontal panels underneath the windows in the dining room and front parlor. The dining room windows have sill moldings that measure 4 and 1/2 feet. The front living room panels measure 6.5 feet forming a three-part “predella” pattern. All of the doorways have surrounds of either architrave, plain, central bead, raised face, or central flute trim below the corner blocks or paterae (oval discs) placed at the top. Some corner blocks are the bull’s eye type and others are plain squares depending on the location in the house.

The front door as well has the markings of an elegant portal with eight panels and may not be original. Most Greek Revival doors tended to be 4- paneled, in the Christian- cross design. The surrounds, the side lights, and overhead transom are in keeping with the standard Greek Revival design. The sidelights help to illuminate the hallway area. The front door handle of the front door is newer ca. 1900, oval- shaped with a smaller beaded – edge. As one climbs the stairs, one can see the bull’s eye molding is partly obscured by the ceiling which appears to have been dropped. The dropped ceiling of the second floor landing measures more 10.5 feet in width. The bull’s eye corner blocks that surround the front door casing show about one-half of their size.

The Calvin Ryder “White House” of 1840 in Belfast, ME, illustrates many of the same character-defining features found in the Cutler House. Though a more formal example, The White House doorway shown below has sidelights and moldings, a wave design in the carriage of the stairway, simple balusters, and a similar round rosette encircling the pendulum light fixture shown in the Cutler House dining room.

Nails that have been found in the fields or in the house itself are hand cut, tapering to a point in most places in the Cutler house. There are also some machine cut nails that generally have proven to have better holding power. The wide floor boards measure all different widths but primarily are between 9- 1/4 and 13-1/2 inches. The base moldings convey an ovolo (convex) design with a small “quirk” indentation at the top of the baseboard followed by a bead inlaid the design at the top. The 10.8- inch baseboards meet the floor with no base shoe (decorative molding) throughout the front parlor.

The door hardware throughout the house portrays either simple iron latches or more elegant Norwich latches of ca. 1830. Latches tended to be hand-cut and, in time, were mass- produced in factories. The Norwich thumb latch has an angular handle and is not curved, differing from the Suffolk latch that came earlier and had a convex shape on the handle.

Around the 1830s, as technology improved, airtight cast-iron ranges and parlor stoves were introduced and became popular for cooking and heating. Gas emissions from the flue were eliminated via a horizontal pipe often decorated in the “Greek style” with frets and floral designs. Airtight parlor stoves were widely becoming in use due to their efficiency. Stove chimneys often replaced fireplaces from the 1830 (Jim Garvin, Building History of Northern New England, p.166). Sometimes cast-iron stoves were installed inside an existing fireplace to vent the smoke. A fireplace with pediment mantel and surrounds was usually the norm in the front parlors of earlier Greek Revival houses but here in this

12 house, the kitchen and the parlor chimneys indicate that a fireplace was not built in the center of the house or later built on outside of the house on a side elevation.

Upstairs on the second level, the bathroom is in the middle of the center hall and could have possibly been a linen closet or a room for a very small child before interior plumbing was introduced. Barbara Douse remembers a bathtub here with claw feet and a small window at floor level. The two rear bedrooms have closets that abut the roof slope on the eastern and western elevations. The front bedrooms have beam moldings simpler than the more elaborate wider beams shown in the front parlor and dining room downstairs. The floor boards are wide and the baseboards measure 10 inches in the yellow front bedroom.

The front bedrooms also have very long, narrow closets facing the northern elevation. These north- facing closets serve to insulate the front bedrooms during the winter months. The front two bedrooms didn’t benefit from the warmth that the south-facing back bedrooms received from southern exposure. The front bedrooms have open cupboards with six shelves for storage in a similar design as the wine cupboard downstairs in the dining room. The ceiling design consisting of thin wooden battens on the upper second floor bedrooms are termed “Lancaster ceilings” and they are typically found in other houses on both sides of the Connecticut River. This ceiling design dates from the early 20th century and is not original.

The attic on the top floor is finished in the tray design. The two big Greek Revival windows flank the east and west elevations along with three skylights to help illuminate the attic level. The room is carpeted and the wall finishing doesn’t expose any interior rafters or purlins. When Barbara Douse’s children lived here they played in the attic when it was still unfinished. Barbara’s son Donald remembers a long light hanging from the ceiling when he was a child growing up here.

The cellar level of this house maintains a temperature of 50 degrees most of the year. The flooring is dirt and gravel based. Wide hand- sawn wooden joists support the first floor. These joists show the

14 lines of up and down or reciprocating saw marks, not later circular saw marks. There are roughly- cut granite beams to help support the first floor level as well. The foundation is made of local large stones mortared together with a row of bricks laid nearest the top of the cellar walls.

3. Greek Revival Style History and Greek Revival in the Upper Connecticut River Valley

Cultural Traditions and Trends of early settlers of Waterford

There were many factors that caused the wave of popularity of the Greek Revival style that swept the country in the years between 1820 and 1855. This style became a beacon for independence and democracy.

American people wanted their own unique style of architecture that was not English in nature as the First Period, Colonial and the Federal architectural styles had been. They wanted (an American) National Style. Moreover, this style blended in with the agrarian society not yet commercially based that was so idealist in its development at the time as an independent forming nation (Fricker, Donna and Jonathan, Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation 9/09). In deference to the Greek idea of independence, builders used some of the characteristics of the classical style - the columns, the triangular pediment, and the frieze (the horizontal area below the roof). House forms were bold but simple and were greatly inspired by classical Greek temples. Houses were also painted white to resemble marble, which translated into purity. The Greek style meant not only to convey the clean stylistic requirements of the classical architecture as much as the idea behind the architecture, the cause of democracy, freedom and independence for each individual as well.

A War of Independence occurred between the Greeks and the Turks between 1821 and 1832. The American people were very sympathetic to the Greeks in their struggle for independence from the Turks as they had lived through their own trials of the Revolutionary War.

Furthermore, the 1826 painting by the well-known French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix, “Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi,” captured an international feeling of independence. Delacroix personally was sympathetic to the Greeks in their search for freedom as well. His emotional response was symbolically reflected upon his canvas with the placing of a goddess-like figure in the midst of ruin.

After the War, there was a rise of the popularity of Grecian items exported from Britain. All things Greek were copied and replicated and became widely popular. This idea of symbolism of the Greek ideals translated into civic building - banks, post offices - which clearly supported this ideal of democracy. The Capitol in Washington, DC is a fine example of an iconic Greek Revival building, one of the utmost symbols of American democracy.

Secondly, as this National Style flourished and spread all through America, pattern books were mass- produced and became easily obtainable. Craftsman could utilize this style anywhere. One didn’t necessarily need to hire an architect if a craftsman could follow design patterns and use ready-made millwork for casings and window surrounds. A joiner also could exercise his own freedom and personal style of design by using a hand planer. The specialization that we now have at work in modern times was not as evident. Therefore Herbert Congdon states, “much of the charm of the old buildings comes from this versatility of the workmen” (Old Vermont Houses, 7).

Asher Benjamin’s Handbook, American Builders’ Companion of 1827, showed elevations, drawings, plans, and illustrated plates that were inexpensive and easier to replicate with a hand plane. Benjamin was correct in thinking that the architectural details of ancient Greece could be duplicated, and thus, used to complement existing designs. It is even thought that the upper class standards were spread through him. Another “purveyor of style” using Clifford Clark’s terminology was Minard Lefever. Lefever, a contemporary of Benjamin Asher, wrote his own book, The Modern Builders Guide. His efforts helped to simplify and make building methods in pattern books more accessible.

The Greek Revival caught on so much so, that it is thought to have been the most widely employed style of houses in the United States due to its sheer number and how widely spread throughout the country - East, South, North and West (Fricker).

Some of the character-defining features of this style are symmetry of windows placed with an equal number of windows on both sides. Doorways were usually embellished with narrow sidelights and a transom above the door. Having some of these elements but not all was the norm. “…In New England the Greek Revival style is often expressed more in detail than in overall house form” (Garvin, Building History of Northern New England, 115).

The interiors had wine cupboards, casings and panels below the windows. The newel post, balusters, and the stairways had similar features. There were wave patterns in the carriage of the stairway below the steps. Thinner window muntins (bar dividers that separated the lights or panes) window surrounds, and Norfolk latches were commonly seen. Multi-paned 6/6 windows were most common during this period.

The Greek Revival Style in the Upper Connecticut River Valley:

The state of Vermont, however, was geographically farther away from the East Coast cities of Portland, Portsmouth and Boston, and it received trends and ideas more slowly, including stylish architecture designs. Growth patterns moved from the coast and then up the river ways as Vermont and New

Hampshire colonized. Thus, Vermont builders applied some but not all of the elements of this style. In time a separate vernacular style emerged (Congdon, 3).

Thus, Vermont developed stylistically in a unique way. “Vermont as has been said, reflected the trends in the neighboring states in her own way. The Greek Revival did not flourish in Vermont in the sense of a frequent and complete use of the forms of the style. It left its mark in a general way in its effect on details and general proportions used on houses whose essential form belonged to an earlier period” (Vermont: A Mountain Guide, 67)f

Furthermore, the 1936 book Vermont: A Guide to the Green Mountain State goes on to state, “for the most part its buildings are variants on the purest types of the styles they represent.” It is distinctive with corner boards, three-part windows in the large pediments with sidelights and a transom, and a medium to steep pitch for the roof. The 4 by 5 bay formation was used for the façade elevation most commonly.

The vernacular or common style in Vermont house construction at the time of 1820-30s employed some of the Classic Cottage style and blended them with the Greek Revival style that was beginning to sweep the East Coast, and then in time, the entire country. This Classic cottage form had the eave-front, 1 ½ stories, symmetrical arrangement of doors and windows, 6/6 sash double hung windows, cornice returns with a wide entablature beneath the eaves (the wide white band below the eaves) consisting of the cornice, frieze and architrave. The hallmarks of Greek Revival style became the side lights, the wide cornice band, corner pilasters, side lights and casings flanking the front door. Choices of design for the top part of the pediment included a large three part window or, in more highly-styled Greek Revival houses, a louver, or an elliptic fan-light window. The large sloping roof with a deeper pitch and overhanging eaves are also hallmarks of this style.

Typically the exterior building materials consisted of stone, brick or wood. Wood was the most used though as it was so plentiful in this area of New England. The roof materials were most likely slate, thatch, or wood shingles.

Architectural historian Janet Foster, who has studied pattern books of the 19th century, stated that in rural areas the Greek Revival style was simplified and modified. There was a simple column, a simple triangle above the window to demonstrate the characteristics of this nation-wide, popular style of architecture.

Cultural Traditions and Building Trends of the early Settlers of Waterford

As time went by, the father, who was head of the household, needed to assign one of his sons to take over the farm operations and eventually help to support him and his spouse in their retirement years. This system was common in Vermont and, in fact, all over New England. Deeds have shown that the son paid his father for his portion and was obliged to take care of his parents and/or his sisters if they remained unmarried. Provisions were made for his mother or his father’s spouse should she become a

17 widow. In establishing a widow’s dower deed, his mother would be entitled to a room in the house, part of the stock and, lastly, part of the land. She was entitled to a one- third interest in the estate under common law. If a quitclaim deed is filed by a wife, then all dower rights are released. A quitclaim deed is a legal document to transfer interest in a real property. In both the Cutler family (1824-1866) and the subsequent owners, the Kinne family (1866-1913), one son from each respective family did take over the farm from his father.

The father, Nathan Kinne, Sr., was invited to join his son and his wife and grandchildren at the family house, or home farm, and in the case of the Cutlers, Ezekiel’s second wife Rebecca resided in the same house as her step- son and his family. This trend also helps to explain why some houses are larger than others. They were perhaps that way on purpose to house close relatives and, in some cases, lodgers and/or laborers (Light, House Histories, 199).

Craftsmen often worked and collaborated with one another on projects. Though the exact builder or architect for the Cutler house is unknown, it is very possible that Francis Rice Carpenter may very well have constructed this house. Carpenter’s name appears as the builder of the Congregational Church, and was listed as a carpenter in the Gazetteer along with two other Waterford citizens. He was paid $1,978.15 for the meetinghouse construction and therefore, in business as a local builder at this time. He lived from 1809-1883 and was a man of remarkable natural ability. He was also a joiner, a builder or construction director of many local projects. Therefore, “in almost every recorded instance, it was the leading joiner on a job who provided the plan.” Garvin goes on to say, “in a few cases, some of these craftsmen provided plans for buildings on which they were not employed themselves, thereby acting as architects in the modern sense” (Garvin, A Building History, 108).

The word “premises” is stated in the deed documents along with the number of acres and the price of the acreage. According to house historian Sally Light author of House Histories, “If the word ‘premises’ or’ farm’ is used in this description (of a deed), you can be pretty certain that a house was located on it” (Light, 115). This word is not mentioned in the 1815 deed of the Cutler House. The word “premises” is mentioned in all later deeds.

It is also unclear where the lumber was milled for the construction of the Cutler House. There were eight mills in and around Waterford. Neighbor William Brown built his house of wood thought to have come from a nearby existing sawmill as early as 1801 (Town Report 1981). The closest mill was the John Woods mill, and might have supplied the craftsmen with the wood used to build the Cutler House. As Herbert Congdon in Old Vermont Houses has stated, “materials were local, wood in some cases came right from the property, beams hewn and boards sawn from trees on the property.” S. Woods is also listed on the Beers map of 1875. He was a close neighbor and may have been able to provide lumber when needed.

4. Dewey Family and Early Proprietorships in Waterford

Cutler Family Ownership

The Dewey, Cutler and Kinne families had an important impact on the house and farmlands through the ages. In 1821, the lots that comprise the core of the Cutler/Kinne/Whittemore land were purchased.

The Dewey family, noted our study of land transactions, have three descendants of importance in the history of our country. The first descendant is George H. Dewey, Rear Admiral, well-known and honored for his victory in the 1903 naval battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Another descendant of Nathan Dewey is Thomas Edmund Dewey, the former New York Governor who ran unsuccessfully for President and lost to Harry S. Truman in the contest falsely reported in 1947 by the Chicago Daily Tribune. The third Dewey descendent of note is Melvil Dewey who is credited for the invention of the Dewey Decimal System that categorizes books in our library collections.

According to Northern Family Histories 1500 – 2000, notably The Life of George H. Dewey Rear Admiral, USN, lists the first Nathan Dewey on page 458, the seventh generation of the Dewey family. The first Nathan Dewey was born in Lebanon, CT in 1742 and died in Orford, NH in 1779. The Deweys were in Waterford as early as November 10, 1815 as shown in the 1815 deed transaction (Book 6, page 13). This $2,800 sale was transacted from the grantor Abial Cheney. The Dewey family held onto the land until the Cutlers purchased it in 1824.

The son, Nathan Dewey, Jr., was born in 1767 and died in 1841. Nathan Jr. married twice. His first marriage was to Sarah Chandler and second was to Susannah Hale from Hollis, NH in 1823. There are the two sets of husband and wife deed-holders in the 1815 deed from Cheney to Dewey father and son. Nathan Dewey Jr. (1767-1841) was the eldest son. His grandson was the Nathan Dewey III, (1791-1878) who lived in Piermont, NH. There were 7 siblings in this particular generation. Lyman Fisher Dewey, Nathan Dewey, III’s younger brother, lived just up the road currently at the house called White Village Farm. Chandler Dewey, the third youngest, married into the Buck family by marrying Digratia Buck in 1822. Reuben Buck was also early proprietor who owned Lots 59, and 60 and has been in town as early as 1810 as noted on the Census record for that year.

Early Proprietorships in Waterford

The purchase of land from Nathan Dewey and Nathan Dewey Jr. of the Lot numbers 15,26,28,31 and lastly 34 brought the Cutlers to this particular area of Waterford but, not for the very first time. The family had already visited this town in Vermont. As was the custom at this time in history, families tended to migrate together with other families to form significant migration settlement patterns. It is interesting to note that a few Waterford families all emigrated from the most northerly section of Worcester County which straddles the Massachusetts state line. Richardson Graves came from Athol, MA. Amasa Hastings came from Ashburnham, MA a few towns away from Athol. Four other early settlers of Waterford hailed from this area of Massachusetts as well. The Pikes, the Hutchinsons, the Knights, the Hemingways and the Cutlers all came from Royalston. This wave of migration happened roughly between 1792 and 1800. Three of these very families either lived at the Cutler house, owned the property on which the house stood or owned neighboring parcels of land.

A tradition was established as families moved and colonized areas. The new settlers tended to buy land near water sources, with good alluvial soil. They also looked for towns that were springing up with one-

20 room schools in districts, and of course, with the added benefit of already knowing people from their original homeland. As the soils began to be deleted and large tracts of and were harder to obtain in lands south of Vermont, this emigration pattern became more common. More land was cleared and more farming began. Oxen were commonly used to clear the fields, and wood was plentiful for building houses, barns and outbuildings (Vermont History Explorer).

The same settlement process occurred in New Hampshire whereby a proprietorship deemed that a house be built within one year, more land cleared annually, roads laid out around it, a lot given for a meetinghouse and lastly land given to a millwright for a mill (Garvin, Range Roads, Old Stone Walls Newsletter, 2002.) All of these improvements added value to the investment of the emerging settlement.

Interestingly David Page a pioneering settler of Lancaster, NH further up the Connecticut River, was one of the first proprietors of Lancaster that became a resident and not a speculator. He hailed from Northern Worcester County and traded beaver pelts for necessities such as grindstones, nails run and gunpowder. He knew the area most likely from fighting in the French and Indian War and describes the well-known Fifteen Mile Falls in his early descriptions of this area of the Connecticut River. Most of Page’s fellow grantees were coincidentally from the areas around Athol, MA as were some of the founding fathers of Waterford. From 1795 onward boundaries were set and agreed upon established from the Treaty of Paris from British Canada (Rebecca More, Beyond the Notches, 2011, p. 48-54).

Some settlers may have honestly moved to build a modest house to profit from the opportunities that farming would afford them. Others paid the modest fees for land with no intention of actually living on the lots that they had purchased as proprietors. They bought them merely for land speculation. The land changed hands quite a bit as the lots were speculated on. Tax sales were common when the property wasn’t built on, farmed and not paid for. This was the case more often than not.

The Goss family abutted the Cutler land as did the Dewey family before them. They are a good family to study as their lifestyle was mirrored by others in their community. They came from Lancaster, MA, briefly settled in Winchester, NH and then finally moved to Lower Waterford in 1796. The Goss family came to settle here to farm, ready to bear the elements. A descendent of the Goss family wrote in his family genealogy book that there were conditions involved with settling in this area as a proprietor. If a settler decided to live on the land, they would have to agree to cultivate at least 5 to 10 acres. They must also build a small dwelling 18 feet square as outlined in the original grant language of Waterford in exchange for receiving the proprietor’s right (David Goss, page xxi). In the collection of early Town Reports of Waterford, there was a three year period in which to settle the shares from the date of the Charter of Governor Thomas Chittenden for Littleton, VT in 1780. The town name Littleton later changed to Waterford, VT in 1797.

The Cheneys and the Carpenters were involved in many deeds as well. These two families immigrated from Ashford, CT to Waterford, VT. The Cheney family arrived in 1800 and the Carpenter family arrived in 1808. They, too, in keeping with the tradition, joined the Congregational church – Alatheia Carpenter

Cheney in 1810 and her father Rev. Carpenter in 1798 until his death in 1816. In 1797, Alatheia and Abial Cheney married in Ashford, CT prior to their move up to Waterford.

Abial Cheney was a mason and bricklayer. Deed research and the CE Harris’ book note that Cheney was quite the businessman who took on mortgages for parcels of land, for a saw mill for Luther Kidder and other buildings. Cheney is listed on the Hovey map shown as proprietor of various lots including lot 28, a purchase from John Goss.

The Cutler Family

The Cutler family sold the farm to the Kinne family on January 20, 1866 (Book 13, page 346). The grantors were Ezekiel, Thomas Atkins and Zeke’s second wife Rebecca Bronsdon Cutler. Willard, the grantee, took out a mortgage of $2,500 payable to the Passumpsic Savings Bank in order to pay for part of the purchase of the farm.

The Cutlers were descendants from old New England stock from Hingham, MA. They descended from John Cutler who had emigrated from England due to religious persecution, which was prevalent at that time. The surname of the Cutler family, in this case, derived the name of the family due to their occupation. In determining how surnames got their start,” long before surnames became hereditary, “bynames” were derived from Old English words for occupations; some are found in the folios of Domesday Book” (Oxford Guide to Family History, David Wey, page 28). Following in this tradition in England, a “Cutler” in the old country would have made, sold and repaired knives and scissors.

The Cutler family starts with the grandfather Pvt. Ebenezer (1760-1839) who married Chloe Brown Cutler, and both are buried in the Lower Waterford Cemetery. The Cutlers were in the migration group that hailed from Royalston, MA and arrived in Waterford in 1820. Private Cutler was in Col. John Jacob’s Massachusetts Regiment for service in the Revolutionary War. Son Ezekiel (1792-1868) and two daughters were born to them- Hannah (1790-1857) and other daughter whose name is unknown.

C.E. Harris in a Vermont Village states that the Cutler family grandfather Ebenezer, son Ezekiel “Zeke” and his grandson, Thomas Adkins were prosperous financially and made a good deal of money in the time in which they lived in Waterford. The Cutlers were thought to have raised the best oxen and Hereford steers in the country. Zeke lived on the farm for 35 years.

The St. Johnsbury Caledonian really captured the personality and traits of Zeke Cutler in the obituary of his son Thomas. It stated that Zeke was a “practical farmer and prided himself upon the excellent condition of his farm” and engaged in the raising of fine stock. His morals were also mentioned as he was interested in the “moral development of his community.”

Ezekiel “Zeke” was married for the first time to Betsey Atkins Cutler (1800-1844). Sadly, she died early on, so Zeke re-married Rebecca Bronsdon Cutler in 1846. References have noted that Zeke never got over his first wife’s death. From the St. Johnsbury Caledonian on September 23, 1844, Zeke states, “she was a faithful and affectionate companion, a kind, indulgent and watchful mother, a sincere friend and it is confidently hoped humble Christian”. To Zeke and Betsey, there were four children born- Ebenezer,

Thomas Atkins, the home boy, Ezekiel and Almira. Betsey and Martha followed but were the children of Rebecca and Zeke. The Cutlers sold the home farm to Willard Kinne in 1966 for $8,000-house and lands of 310 acres. This is sizable and the house is large - 4,000 square feet with three barns, a carriage building.

The Congregational Church of Waterford roll notes this family was in the Waterford area in 1826. Ezekiel, Sr. did support the building fund of the 1835. This became the first “real” church that was its own denomination that did not share the building with other religions. On the Congregational Church Register, both Ebenezer and Betsey are registered as of March 1837 from Royalston, MA. There is prior mention of the Cutler father and son, Richard Goss and Abial Cheney withdrawing from the church in 1829. These four men as a group disagreed on church policy due to their anti-Masonic sentiments. Thus, they temporarily withdrew financial support but did not leave the membership rolls. Friendships typically arose between fellow church members. The furthest back we can go to find the Cutler name is Nov. 25, 1826, with the position of E. Cutler, Collector of the Church. This would be the first church that was in use before the fire of 1859. Son Ezekiel, Jr. was so very involved with the Church that he bought all of the unpaid pews and raised money to have the parsonage built.

By the standards of the day, all of the members Cutler family were well-educated and made very accomplished lives for themselves and their families.

The eldest child, Rev. Ebenezer (1822-1898), made quite name for himself when he moved back to the Worcester area where they had originally come from. He graduated from the University of Vermont in the class of 1845 and the Andover Theological Seminary in 1848-49. He was asked to be the President of the University of Vermont while he was serving as a trustee of the University, but declined to take this position. After receiving his Doctor of Divinity degree, he became rector of Union Congregation Church in Worcester, MA.

Younger brother Judge Ezekiel, Jr., son of Zeke, (1827-1870) was also an attendee of the University of Vermont in the class of 1853. He married Sarah H. Bingham of Keeseville, NY. Ezekiel was an attorney in Buffalo and then settled in Amarosa, Iowa in 1857, following both his father and brother to this area. It is not known why the Cutlers moved to Iowa, but there was a national push to the western lands during this time. During the Civil War, Ezekiel rose to the position of Major in the 31st Infantry. In time, he became involved in politics and served in the Iowa Senate from his district. Education remained a priority for the Cutler family as Ezekiel, Jr. sent his son to Harvard University all the way from Iowa in 1891.

Almira, the oldest daughter, was in one of the first graduating classes of Mount Holyoke Seminary, (College) in 1851. She joined the Congregational Church that same year . Almira taught school in Waterford, Lunenburg, and Chelsea, VT, before her eventual move to the Midwest. She married Dr. A.A. McKinney of Goshen, IN, in 1861. Sadly, she died two years later after her marriage in 1863 according to the alumnae files of Mt. Holyoke.

Thomas Atkins Cutler (1925-1903) was the home boy who remained on in Waterford, bought part of the farm and became a very well-educated, self-taught, and well-read man. Thomas did promise his father

23 that his two younger half-sisters would have a home to return to after their studies were completed, plus an allowance from the farms’ proceeds. He wrote the chapter on Waterford for the Gazetteer for Abby Maria Hemenway. In this book, he outlined all of the occupations of the citizens of town and gave a general description of the town. He, too, is credited as supporting the Congregational Church during for the building campaign of 1854. Before his move to Iowa, Thomas accepted the position of the Superintendent of Schools for 10 years. He also became a member of the Vermont legislature during the War of Rebellion from 1861 to 1864.

The Cutler involvement continued to show up in the church rolls until 1864. In Lansing, Iowa, Thomas started a private school called Allamakee College and taught school in Wauken, Iowa. He was also the County Supervisor in Iowa from 1876 to 1877. His house in Boone was depicted in a 1902 print and was modeled after a house in Boston called Copeland Place. He married three times and fathered 12 children. His obituary was noted in the St. Johnsbury Caledonian on June 3, 1903.

5. Tenure of the Kinne Family

The Kinne family was, by far, the longest occupants of the Cutler House from the years of 1866 to 1913 when son Wilmot, the farm boy, sold. According to the earliest records obtained, Nathan Kinne, Sr. (1770-1857) brought the family to Lower Waterford in 1796 from Hanover, NH. The name Kinne is of Scottish origin and most likely is derived from the name of McKinney. Traditionally, the surname of people is derived from their occupation and in this case, came from the farming and labor trades.

In order to understand the nature of the relationships of the Kinne family tree, Nathan was the son of Captain Amos and Esther Utley. He was married to Elizabeth Holland Farrington Kinne (1777-1858). Grandfather Nathan Kinne is listed on the Hovey survey map of ca.1820 which outlines the very earliest settlers of Lower Waterford. His brother, Amos Kinne (1775-1849) is also listed as a co-proprietor for lot No. 10 in 1797. Nathan Kinne is listed as owning Lot no. 31 in 1796, a parcel included in the acreage of our study. Nathan and his wife Elizabeth lived in Waterford with their son Willard in this house as indicated in the Census of 1850 and 1860 until their deaths respectively in 1851 and 1857. By the Census of 1870, they weren’t listed in this dwelling anymore and had passed away.

As per (Book 13, page 346) Edward Willard Wheelock Kinne, Nathan’s oldest son, purchased the property from Ezekiel “Zeke”, Thomas Atkins, and “Zeke’s second wife, Rebecca Cutler in 1866. Willard (1819-1896) and his wife Mary Jane Parker had eight children (six surviving) who lived at the house, Lucia, Janet, Eliza Carter, Wilmot, Harvey and Nathan.

As was the custom most children stayed very close to home, by either working on the farm, working in the nearest town, and subsequently married their neighbors. Janet married her neighbor Ephraim Stoddard whose family homestead was located nearby on the road to Upper Waterford.

Sister Eliza Carter was educated at the McIndoes Academy and the St. Johnsbury Academy. Eliza was a beloved teacher to students in both Waterford and Monroe, NH. She is listed with some of her neighbors as attending and voting at the first Town Meeting in 1918 that allowed women to vote. In keeping with her industrious spirit, Eliza had the honor of transcribing deeds and from time to time, and did answer questions on school matters for her husband in his absence (Town Report, 1981). She lived in this area her entire life and married her neighbor, Elisha W. Brown, a long-established town clerk and treasurer, school director, and selectman of Lower Waterford. He is the son of Bradley D. Brown and the grandson of William, an early settler who came to Lower Waterford in 1800. The Brown house is shown in this photo. In 1911, Eliza and her husband moved to Higgins Hill in St. Johnsbury and invited her brother Wilmot to join them.

Eliza was a member of the Congregational Church and remained there until services were suspended and made it necessary for her to join the Union Baptist Church on Route 5. Through the years, the Kinnes were staunch supporters of the Congregational Church as the Cutler family had been before them. Susannah Kinne was listed on the membership rolls as early as 1821, and Bradford and Nancy Kinne as early as 1828 and Lucia Kinne Swett joined later in 1866.

Eliza’s sister, Lucia married Murray Swett of Lyndon, VT and took in her widowed brother Wilmot after his mother died in 1899. Both sisters Lucia and Eliza took turns lodging their brother Wilmot at different times. Willard was still at the Cutler house in 1910, listed as a dairy farmer with a couple living with him to help with the farm work. Harvey, the youngest son of Willard, was a shopkeeper and bookkeeper in the mercantile business, but like his brothers, was also needed to carry on farm work and is listed as a laborer on the Census of 1870. Harvey worked in Waterford as the Town Clerk and the Postmaster.

The Census of 1870 also lists the income and value of the lands of Willard Kinne. In the 1850 Census, his real estate value was $2,800. When the 1866 deed was signed from Cutler to Kinne four years later, the real estate was valued as high as $14,000, and his personal estate was valued at $6,200.

Willard had a great interest in raising sheep, cattle and hogs for the Brighton Stock Market in Cambridge, MA. This market and abattoir was the chief market for livestock in New England. It was a common site to see sheep herds driven through Brookline Village onto Brighton. The heyday for this market was between 1820 and 1870. The Gazetteer of Hamilton Child notes that Willard owned 500 sugar trees, 12 cows, 40 head of cattle in 1888. Father Willard, in following an established custom, allowed his son Wilmot, the home boy, to buy the farm from his parents. In addition to running a very successful farm, Willard was also a member of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1874. Willard was even described in Hoskins’ Successful Vermonters biography, “a very enterprising farmer and citizen of Waterford, holding many town offices.”

Willlard, Mary Jane and Wilmot all lived at the house and upon Willard’s death, Mary Ann obtained a dower’s right deed. The dower deed of Mary Jane Kinne (Book 17, page 215) details the future usage of the land as follows: Parker Young (Lumber Company of Lisbon, NH) has a right to set up a steam mill, stick up lumber and have access to the property. Parker Young Company was a major lumbering company which made bobbins, shoe pegs, and piano backs that were produced across the River. This company was founded in the 1880s by Henry Libbey, Charles Parker, and Lucius Young. The company was looking for white spruce and bought lumber in Vermont (Lisbon, NH Town Librarian, A. Fitzgerald).

At this point the 310 acres listed in the deed were divided. Mary Jane and Wilmot owned equal parts. The quitclaim deed of a dowers right (Book 17, page 215) was granted to Willard’s widow Mary Jane until she died on March 15, 1899 at the age of 78. Mary Jane had descended from on old New England family herself. Her grandfather John Parker served in the first company of militia from Pembroke, NH under Col. Daniel Wood in 1778 during the Revolutionary War.

Willard Kinne passed away in 1896 two years before his widow. His will was probated in NH with an estate was valued at $3,046. His will listed items such as bedding (linens), beds, chairs, knives, and ironware bequeathed to his son Wilmot. Wilmot, Eliza, Nathan and Mary were granted equal shares in the estate but Harvey and Lucia inherited $100 each. Lucia Kinne Swett also inherited the carpets, pictures, a sofa and the rugs.

The settlement of the will notes the division of the property Willard had purchased from Emory Hovey (Book 15, page 33) in 1873. It listed the purchase price of $1,185 for 79 acres. This acreage would have been located near Bradley D. Brown and Calvin Brown on the Carpenter line to the East. The deed noted that it once was the Josiah and Amasa Hastings place which would be near Hovey Pond today. This transaction and association makes sense that they had been former neighbors and original settlers from Northern Worcester County. This particular 79 acre plot of land is located near West Waterford and is referred to in the deed as the “hill pastureland.” This parcel is surrounded by ME Ladd and Mrs. Emilie Hovey to the North, to the East by EW Brown and FC Bullock, to the South by EW Brown FC Bullock and Mrs. Leandria Davison Church and to the West by EC Chandler and AH Carpenter. This land was originally lots 17 and 26 by original right of AB Carpenter to A. Hastings in 1797 in District 5.

Willard’s son Wilmot passed away in 1939.

Nathan Kinne (1808-1889), Willard’s brother, plays into the story of Waterford as he was involved with land and flowage rights that he sold for the eventual formation of the Moore Dam in 1907 (Gordon Hopper, Upper Waterford, A Village Lost to Progress). He was the husband of Charlotte Heywood and had a son Bradford. Nate and his family paid for a toll pass of $5.00 on the First Littleton Toll Bridge in 1892 in Upper Waterford.

After the Kinne family sold this property October 29, 1913, another well-known Waterford farmer Ellsworth Freeman “Ellie” purchased it. As early as 1809, Captain Elijah Freeman was an early member of the prior Congregational Church before it burned down. The Census of 1910 notes Ellsworth Brown Freeman, dairy farmer, living at dwelling 136, family number 143. The deed transaction (Book 19, page 397) lists the acreage amount as 179, just over half of the 310. This deed also explains that Wilmot had

26 the right to store his goods in the shed chamber. All stock and tools were conveyed to the new owner except one horse, one buggy wagon, a sleigh, and a driving harness. Ellsworth and his wife Laura were in residence with his mother Digratia Buck Freeman. Digratia married Chandler Webb Dewey (a younger son of Nathan Dewey, Sr.). She was also able to trace her roots to another early Waterford landholder Reuben Buck.

6. Sheep History – Lower Waterford and Caledonia County, Vermont

The history of agriculture in Vermont has followed a pattern from the earliest settlements until the recent past. Families who settled here practiced mixed agriculture on the family farm. Later on, they engaged in localized sheep and dairy farming. They built hotels, inns, motels and guest houses. Then gradually maple sugaring, creameries, canning and bottling came into practice. Thus the culture kept changing and eventually transformed the lives of Vermonters and the land they inhabited.

One cannot study the economic and social history of this region of Vermont without emphasizing the rise of the sheep industry and its effect on the wealth of Caledonia Country, particularly Waterford. After the settlers came, they grew what they needed to survive with a small margin of surplus. They grew primary field crops, and raised hogs, chickens and cattle as food sources. By 1825, a new animal would grace their pastures, now not only for subsistence, but also for profit.

After the introduction of merino sheep to Vermont, conditions changed economically for the better for the average Vermont farmer. Sheep farming changed the scope of farming; farmers now raised sheep for the bigger market.

History of Sheep Farming in Lower Waterford

The Goss family, another early Waterford family, settled on the southern boundary of the Cutler/Kinne future property in 1792. The account below gives a solid description of what activities and staples the neighboring farmers most likely worked with and activities they might have been engaged in.

Taken from Abel Goss of Lower Waterford, the family genealogy book written by David P. Goss which states:

“The farm was comprised of 200 acres of land and the buildings standing thereon valued at $2,500. Animals included four oxen, two three-year-old steers, four cows and three calves, two horses, twenty sheep and twenty-four lambs, four hogs and four pigs. Farm equipment included an ox cart, a horse wagon and harness, buffalo skin blanket, seventy-weight of wool, loom and loom apparatus, etc. This is the inventory taken at Abel’s death in Nov. 1825.”

Oxen were used for clearing the land and sheep-raising became more important than cows in these earlier days. The Z. Goss family lived on the road (Maple Street) above the toll house and the Second Littleton Bridge. Abel Goss, the patriarch, lived on Main Street near the Davies Memorial Library and was Lower Waterford’s first town treasurer.

In the statistics gathered from 1840, in Waterford there were was a population of 1,383. These figures also included 465 horses, 2,573 cattle, 7,341 sheep and 12,032 pounds of wool.

Charles Hemingway who lived at the Cutler House from 1930 to 1944, was a sheep and cattle raiser listed in American Shorthorn Index, a herd breeding book of 1914. He was listed in the Gazetteer as having 50 sheep in 1887 before he lived at the Cutler farm. Other livestock breeds and dealers living in Waterford Included Herbert Graves – Southdown and Cotswold Sheep, Richardson Graves- Sheep. Lastly, George Lawrence and George Winslow were co-owners of 100 sheep between them. Lawrence and Winslow were breeders as well as dealers of sheep in Waterford.

“Sheep houses” as they were referred to in Lower Waterford, were constructed as a consequence of the wealth that this industry brought to this area of Vermont. These houses are larger and look more decorative for this reason according to former Town Historian of Waterford, Eugenia Powers. Powers considered the front of the Brown house a “sheep house” and the Cutler house is considered a “sheep house” as well.

The Rise of Sheep Farming

When the Spanish Merino breed of sheep was introduced in 1809, it took a short time to become the staple crop of New Hampshire and Vermont agriculture. William Jarvis (1770-1859), the US consul to Portugal, discovered the fine heavy quality of the fleece that this breed afforded the farmers in this region. Jarvis had discovered the richness of this particular breed of sheep during his posting abroad. Spain lifted the exportation embargo of merino sheep, following with the invasion of Napoleon. These highly-valued sheep soon opened up for transport to the US. Jarvis returned to the United States and set up his farm in Weathersfield, VT with about 200 sheep (What Ceres Might Say, The Sheep Craze in Vermont’s Agricultural History, March 24, 2011).

In Edmunds Essays of the Vermont History Journal, Rob Balivet writes, “in 1820 the sheep industry was the main and most profitable industry of Vermont.” In 1833, a farmer sold cows to make room for sheep. In 1837, Caledonia County listed 58,153 sheep with the concentration in Danville. The reason why sheep turned out to be a wise bet for a farmer was based on some simple facts: Sheep grazed on the high rocky hilltops; and they only had to be sheared twice a year; they needed basic shelter in the wintertime; and subsisted on a diet of hay instead of grain. Their cleft lip enabled them to eat a wide

28 variety of food. Furthermore, Merino sheep had water-resistant wool, were hardy and took to being herded. Dairy farming eventually proved to be more complicated, requiring a barn and certain feed with the added labor of milking twice a day. Sheep farming continued until the protective tariffs were introduced, gradually strengthened and finally were abolished totally in 1846.

Moreover, the soil, the climate and the rocky-strewn hillsides were very agreeable to sheep grazing. As Nathan Hoskins noted in the History of the State of Vermont, “the soil and the seasons are so uncertain for the perfection of crops and grain that grazing is the most sure and profitable brand of agriculture when the farmer of Vermont can carry on with success.” (Hoskins, History of the State of Vermont, pg. 268). Thomas Cutler, one of the early owners of the house in our study wrote about the quality of the calca-re-mica soil in his Waterford section of the Gazetteer. The soil quality on both sides of the Connecticut River consisted of a lime composition formed during the process of glaciation. Vermont, however, had more limey soil in general than New Hampshire. Conversely, New Hampshire benefited from a more acidic soil that was as good for agriculture.

One can also see a difference in soil composition, bedrock and human landscape in Vermont different from its neighbor across the Connecticut River. The reason that Vermont received more nutrients and richer lime sediments in the soil was due to more flooding. Therefore, the rocky, gravely soils of New Hampshire didn’t hold the water as well causing the water ran off more easily.

Thus, the composition of the soil made agriculture more profitable. Chuck Wooster of Northern Woodlands states, “In 1860, Vermont farmers clipped an average of 6.1 lbs. of wool per animal compared with New Hampshire’s 5.0 lbs. Not only were there far more sheep in Vermont but also these sheep were producing 20% more wool than their counterparts in New Hampshire all because of the soil.”

As tariffs were raised on imported wool, an embargo imposed in 1808, and lastly, a gradual rise of wool from the effects of the War of 1812, the situation became ripe for a localized industry. The most successful breeds were the French and Spanish along with the British brands of Southdowners (South Downers) and Oxfordshire (Oxford Down) sheep (Sheep Boom & Bust, Larry Coffin Blogspot 4/28/2016).

The sheep craze was formidable. In 1837 Caledonia country counted 58,153 sheep on its rolls. Bob Balivet wrote in Edmunds Essays of the Vermont History Society that sheep were raised for wool and not mutton. The climate, he further stated, was very amenable to farming and grazing due to its rocky soil and hilly landscape. Also, one could also inbreed with Saxon sheep.

Between the years of 1824 and 1830, the sheep population continued to multiply and was at its peak. It became the second largest population of sheep in the union. The statistics show the peak of sheep in Vermont at 1,681,000 in 1840 compared to a population of only 291,000 people. By a decade later, there were less sheep at 1,014,122 with a rise in population of 314,120 people. It is noted that in the mid-1800s, wool was selling for around $70 a pound in our dollars today. The Union itself, it is interesting to note, had only 10 million sheep.

Hamilton Child in the Gazetteer said that the sheep number for Caledonia had dropped to 28,945 in 1880 from 58,153 in 1837.

The Rise of Dairy Farming

All seemed to go extremely well for sheep farming until a few factors gradually arose which made it impossible for eastern farmers to compete at this level. The protective tariffs were lowered and eventually abolished. The Western States rivaled the eastern prices making western wool cheaper. The competition of a flatter terrain and lower prices to produce wool in the western states made it less profitable for the Vermonter (Balivet, Vermont History Journal, 245-246). The advent of the railroad further exacerbated the decline. “Just after 1840 before milk was refrigerated, the milk was made into cheese and butter and shipped eventually by railroad to out of state markets” (academics.smcvt.edu).

Statistics showed that pounds of wool sheared in 1840 were 3,699,235 and then down to 3,102,137 by the year 1877 (Z. Thompson, History of Vermont, Vol. 111, 1842, 183).

After the conclusion of the Civil War, the demand for cloth for the uniforms greatly lessened as the soldiers did not have the need for them. The Gold Rush of 1848, railroad expansion and the Erie Canal provided access to eastern markets and greatly added to the demise of sheep farming.

Woodstock, Vermont railroad builder, philanthropist, and businessman Frederick Billings made a last- ditch effort to stabilize the decline of sheep farming in his area. In the 1870s Billings started to raise Southdown sheep from Sussex, England which easily provided good-quality meat and heavy fleece, and displayed a docile disposition. Even this measure wasn’t enough to turn the tide as local farmers were in trouble.

At this point in time from about 1860 onwards, less farming of sheep ushered in more farming of dairy cows. The cash crop now came from dairying. Bank barns ca. 1850 evolved to accommodate this change so that manure could be dropped from the top level to the cellar on the lower level. Also, cupolas built on the top ridge of the barn appeared to allow for ventilation. Maple sugaring became a viable secondary industry at this time as well.

The New England- connected farmsteads had helped to give the New England farm an edge against the less rocky soils, and cheaper costs of doing business elsewhere in the country. The connected farm was not necessarily connected as it was originally thought to avoid inclement weather rather to segregate home industry and mixed farming activities. This building configuration, so evident on our farms, gave specific definition to the places for certain chores of farm activity. Only for a time did this evolved building method and agricultural system succeed (Thomas C. Hubka, Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn, xi, xii).

The call of the West tempted eastern farmers with flatter land, cheaper production costs, and the lure of more open space. Inevitably, the West finally won out.

7. Transportation, Technology and Route 18

The Waterford Town Report of 1965 mentions that the coming of the railroad to neighboring towns changed the transportation routes that once made Waterford villages important and thus helped to cause the decline in the towns. There were ice jams of 1890 on the bridges of Lower Waterford and Upper Waterford. The Lower Waterford Bridge was rebuilt twice in 1840 and again in 1859.

The railroad did reach the uppermost part of Waterford due to the fact that the Maine Central Railroad ran from St. Johnsbury through East St. Johnsbury paralleling Route 2. There were rail stops at Concord, Gilman, and Barnet but not in Waterford. The stop at Concord was the nearest to Lower Waterford at milepost 123.5. The station agent was operating until 1949.

In 1804, the New Hampshire legislature incorporated the Littleton Turnpike Corporation which soon became an important trade route between Portland, ME and Burlington, VT. This turnpike enabled Upper Connecticut Valley and Western Vermont farm products to reach Portland and in exchange, finished goods to reach the more remote areas of Vermont (Rick Russack, Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike and its Builders, whitemountainhistory.org). The route from Upper Waterford followed the Connecticut River and eventually went up over the hill at Stiles Pond. Six-horse stages passed through Waterford carrying passengers, mail and goods. The current-day Rabbit Hill Inn located on this route was a logical stopping place for farmers’ teams especially between 1830 and 1850, which happened to coincide with the height of the sheep boom in Vermont.

Beside automobile and rail travel, pleasure boats and steamers were built to tour the upper reaches of the Connecticut River north of Upper Waterford and the Fifteen Mile Falls. In 1854, Mrs. Kate Sumner, wife of Hon. J.B. Sumner, of Lancaster, toured the Connecticut River aboard their steamer “The Lady Kate.” The steamer measured 55 feet long and had a 25 horsepower engine. It ran between Dalton and North Stratford, NH on the River. “The Lady Kate” met its eventual demise by being untied from its perch by evil-doers, floated into the rapids of the Fifteen Mile Falls, and then broke apart into pieces (Lancaster Historical Society Sketchbook, 1987, Vol. 5, No. 2).

Transportation on the Connecticut also included the method of floating logs down river from places farther north. George Van Dyke and his brother Philo were involved in so many aspects of this industry in this area.

George Van Dyke (1846-1909), a lumber baron from Quebec, died tragically in Turner Falls, MA but not before he had made an empire in the logging industry of the Upper Connecticut River. Though he lived in Lancaster and operated mill farther to the North in Guildhall, in 1876 he purchased timber lands near McIndoe Falls. In this location he owned 80,000 acres of timberland. He also managed the Connecticut River Lumber Company at the same time and became its General Manager until 1897 (Lancaster Historical Society Sketchbook Autumn, 1984 Vol. 4, No. 4).

In 1886, Van Dyke sold all of his interest in the company but stayed on as President. He is mentioned in this Waterford study as he was active near Waterford and had extensive business relations with nearly every man in the northern section of New Hampshire and northern Vermont. It is estimated that perhaps 500-700 men performed all sorts of tasks. These rugged men drove the logs, and supported workers by cooking and some even did the bookkeeping. Fifteen Mile Falls was particularly tricky to manoeuver with difficult rapids at Milliken’s Patch and at 27 Islands. It would be classified today as “whitewater.” The year of Van Dyke’s death, his company harvested an impressive 53,000,000 feet of timber and was undoubtedly one of his most successful years he ever had.

George Van Dyke was a character larger than life. His obituary stated he was “held in universal esteem not only at his home, but throughout the territory where his immense business interests extended.”

According to long-time Waterford resident, Dave Morrison, there were three main roads highlighted in the 1875 Beers map. There was the upper road (now Old County Road, Fuller Hill Road) and with a lower road (now Route 18) that skirts the Connecticut River passing by the Culter/ Kinne house up to Lower Waterford . The second road was the Maple Street road that started at the covered bridge, went up through Lower Waterford (Hurlburt Hill Road.) The third road passed along Main Street to West Waterford through Duck Pond to the current day junction of Route 18 (Center Town Road). The upper road (Fuller Hill Road) was measured as the shortest distance from Littleton to St. Johnsbury for the

32 oxen and horse teams though the grade of the road seemed much better on the West Waterford Road (Waterford Town Report of 1991). Distance- wise Fuller Hill the Highland option was the shortest most direct route through Waterford to St. Johnsbury. Furthermore, the West Waterford Road would also have been a harder road to maintain, thus more expensive as a town expense.

The 1903 Scarborough railroad map shows two roads from Littleton crossing the Connecticut to Waterford. One roadway crossed the Connecticut north from Pattenville to Upper Waterford and then followed along the river past the Cutler house up to Lower Waterford. The other road shown on the map went across the Connecticut from the NH side to the current Maple Street (now partially abandoned) up to the Lower Waterford Post Office. There was a covered bridge and toll house here until the bridge was demolished by a log jam in 1890. This road once traveled upwards to the center of Lower Waterford passing by original Goss family lands. This particular bridge was never replaced after the 1890 jog jam. Van Dyke lobbied hard not to have the Lower Waterford Bridge re-built. Without the bridge’s central pier abutment, his massive log assemblages could float downstream more easily.

At Upper Waterford, a new iron bridge was soon constructed after an old ferry was used to transport people and goods across the Connecticut River. The new narrow bridge measured 265 feet, had open metal beam sides with no central pier abutment much to the delight of log drivers. Tolls were collected until 1921. In 1935 a new cement bridge replaced the iron bridge over the Connecticut River when Upper Waterford was flooded for the Moore Dam.

The glossy cover of the annual report of Waterford of 1981 depicts an early black and white picture taken from the “Whittemore Place” around 1900. In this picture, a narrow dirt road winds its way down the hill in front of the former EW Brown house and barn. The date of the paving of Route 18 from a dirt road to a paved highway has been determined from the State of Vermont road archivist Logan Perron as 1938. It was treated with gravel mixed with oil and then compacted. Perron notes a few years later, in 1942, there was bituminous macadam with layers of crushed stone. Lastly, in 1956, there was “bituminous mix” pavement similar to what we travel on today. Former owner, Barbara Douse, believes the road was paved when they moved into the house in 1950. The map that confirms this is a town highway map of district 10 showing Route 18 as paved and the Old County Road as soil with gravel. The increased auto travel of the 1950s brought more and more people to the White Mountain region.

The three mortared embankments that are placed at the Brown, Mitchell and Wilmoth houses today were added when the road was widened ca. 1956 but the exact date is not known. The embankments serve to shore up the hillsides.

It is known, however, if the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway organized in 1919 was the Old Country Road which paralleled the current lower road (Route 18). It eventually was re- routed to the Lower Road. The 1922 Automobile Blue Book of New York and New England highlighted certain routes. The assigned route no. 463 originated in St. Johnsbury passed through Lower Waterford, Upper Waterford across the river to Pattenville and on to Littleton and the White Mountains as outlined in a bold black line. The road was described as gravel with the TR signpost of the red and white band on

33 signposts through this hilly farming country. The entire Theodore Roosevelt highway stretched from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine, 31 miles of which were in this particular area.

Route 18 in Vermont covers 7.569 miles for the Vermont section. The New Hampshire section is covered from the Connecticut River to Franconia ending in the Franconia Notch State Park area near Echo Lake.

A few years later in the 1939 ALA Green Book Route 18 is shown with a dark black line which indicated that the road had a surface of bituminous macadam or was a gravel road. Which surface had what type of pavement in which place is not indicated on the map in the tourist guide.

As far as the telephone service to this area is concerned, it is noted in the Waterford Town Report of 1904 that lines of New England Telephone and Telegraph were constructed in this area of the Connecticut River. Legend states that the Valley House (Rabbit Hill Inn) was the first establishment to actually have a telephone installed in 1899.

It is not known when electricity or electrical lines were run into Waterford, but certainly with the rise of dairying, electricity was needed in the process of refrigeration. Usually the same poles that carry the telephone lines also carry the electrical lines with the electrical lines placed higher up on the poles. By the 1940’s, it is thought that Waterford had finally received electricity.

A discussion of the history of Waterford would not be complete without a mention of the construction of Samuel C. Moore dam and the subsequent reservoir that forever changed the town of Upper Waterford and the settlements on both sides of the Connecticut River. This dam created an 11-mile Lake on the Connecticut. The former New England Electric plant, as it was originally named, generates 190,000 kilowatts of power through four large units making it the largest hydro-electric station in New England (Fairbanks Morse Printomatic Scale postcard, St. Johnsbury, VT, ca. 1960).

Gordon E. Hopper chronicled the development of the dam in his book Upper Waterford: A Village Lost to Progress. Through land was purchased the hydro-plant as early as 1909 the project slowed down due to the depression and the two World Wars.

The construction of the dam and the reservoir starting in 1954, caused everything at this site located below 809 feet to be flooded. The reservoir measured 3,400 acres and was opened in 1957 at the cost of 41 million dollars. Today the owner of the dam is Great River Hydro, LLC of Westborough, MA, having purchased all of the TransCanada properties on April 19, 2017.

Another major improvement to the infrastructure of our nation was the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System. Interstate 93 (I-93) parallels Route 18 in some places and used some of the 128 acres of Whittemore land on the upper pasture side for its construction. This section was started in 1976 and completed in 1982. This particular section was the last to be constructed in the State of Vermont, measuring 11.104 miles.

The Great River Hydro, LLC land abuts the current 12.5 Mitchell acreage on the Connecticut River along the Fifteen Mile Falls through the Barnet line.

Auto related Tourism and Guest Houses and Tourist Homes

Vermont advertised its scenic beauty and sense of place before the term was coined. As of 1911, Vermont focused on the pastoral, not wild landscape. Vermont Life Magazine was the product of the Vermont Development Commission in 1946.

Auto-related tourism brought people up to this area to partake of the incredible scenery, fresh air and in some cases, “a fine table.” The ease of the automobile on better roads with a stay in a tourist home was an attractive alternative. But the idea of better roads meant that once the traveler came to Vermont, they must have better roads within the state of Vermont (Harrison, 91).

With the gradual improvement of the roads, touring became more prevalent. The State of Vermont published an ad in the back section of the 1938-39 edition of the Green Book stating “Turn your car Vermont-ward and enjoy every mile of the way- over modern surfaced highways, playing hide and seek with mountains, valleys, streams, and lakes. Touring is alluring in Green Mountain Land…(There is) superb hospitality at friendly inns, hotels, and tourist homes.”

The 1937 Automobile Guide to the Northeast shows an assigned route number 304 (Route 18) as it originates in Montreal, Quebec and terminates in the White Mountains near Pierce Bridge in Bethlehem, NH. The surface of the road is described as “pavement with some stretches of gravel, thru hilly wooded and farming country.”

Common folk wanted to take advantage of more affordable travel, thus a guest house stay was a very attractive option. An advertisement in the back of Book of the White Mountains lists hotels of the region, along with the altitude, and the rates by the day and week. “Hotels of this region range, from ordinary roadside places to the most sumptuous establishments and the rates are, accordingly, made to suit every pocketbook” (Sterns and Morse, Book of the White Mountains, p. 267).

Motels also offered a more affordable option to hotels, resort hotels and even tourist courts that were most likely off the highway and a more informal, cheaper way to travel. The guest house, noted by Andrew Wood, offered a more home-like atmosphere. There was a trend to offer good food, and all of the comforts of home in a very non-commercial manner.

The trend of automobile travel started to emerge after the World War II when service men returned home. They felt the need to explore parts of the country. Open space and an escape from reality, took folks to the roads before the Interstate system was completed. Along with car-related travel came the extra freedom to explore and stay in homes run by couples as a Mom and Pop business (Andrew Wood, Smithsonian 6/30/2017). Tourist homes were unique and different as a house could be on a farm, a small summer cottage, or on a tree-shaded, street- side town dwelling. Many people find “Rooms for Tourists” signs in the attic of their homes as a result of this occurrence. Professor Andrew Wood outlines trends with a description of rooms for tourists which included “rooms, running water, bathing from rooms.”

Until the Federal Highway Interstate system and major highways were either completed and/or upgraded, many families, explored highways, “cruising over rolling roads that followed the curves and undulations of

35 the countryside whenever it suited them, they could easily pull off to visit farms and landmarks” (Wood, Smithsonian).

After 1920 in the area known as Waterford Hollow, Bertha Lee of the Lee family took in summer tourist guests at the Lee Farm Complex near Stiles Pond. Her house and barn buildings were entered on the National Register of Historic Places in May 1983. The main block of the house is a fine example of Greek Revival architecture ca. 1859. The land has been kept in continual agricultural use having been passed down from generation to generation.

Through the years at the Cutler House, there were occasional lodgers as various Census records have shown. Farm laborers were needed to assist with the on-going farm work at hand. The 1850 Census lists George Works as a laborer at the Cutler House. In 1860, Jane McGreavey, age 22 from Ireland, was living with the Cutlers as either a lodger or as a helper for the children. Willis Tulip from Quebec was a lodger for Wilmot Kinne in 1910. In the 1940 Census, Charles Hemingway, now a widower, housed Margaret Lamana as a lodger at the Cutler House.

During the mid-twentieth century, the Spiers served road-side guests from 1947 to 1949 and Whittemore family followed by operating a tourist home/guesthouse business. Then, in time, it became profitable to build a gas station, dairy bar, and restaurant across the street from the Whittemore house as Route 18 had more auto traffic.

The Whittemore story sheds light on how a family on vacation spotted a tourist home, spent the night, and followed a trend that was occurring throughout New England after World War II.

An interview with Barbara Whittemore Douse, who at 19 moved from the Brockton, MA, area to Lower Waterford, stated that their family was on their way home from a July 4th family vacation when they took a wrong turn. Thinking that they were approaching Route 1, they were actually on Route 18. They stopped for the night when they spied the Maplehurst Farm Tourists sign. They did have an enjoyable stay, and found out this house was for sale (the residents – a couple and their son – were looking to move).

A few years later, the Whittemore family returned and eventually bought this property. They lived in St. Johnsbury for a short time before buying the Cutler House. Earl worked at Parker’s Drugstore in St. Johnsbury during the interim.

The Whittemore family, as told by daughter Barbara Douse in her interview, had been in the food business in Brockton. They excelled in this area from their previous industrial kitchen work and could blend their skills in with the new trend in auto travel.

They soon accommodated guests at the Whittemore’s Countryside Guest House.

They did not farm the land but grew seasonal vegetables, bottled maple syrup and used the barn buildings for storage of water, timber, and tools. They continued taking in guests as their predecessors the Spiers had done, but served meals at the house as well. “Barbara helped to entertain a steady stream of guests from Massachusetts who enjoyed her home cooking, good company and the beautiful scenery of Vermont” (Obituary- Caledonia Record, April 3, 2020). Barbara’s parents decided to build a Texaco station across from their house on Route 18. Since they both had training in the food industry,

37 the Whittemores’ served snacks and ice cream from a small window area and then, in time, enlarged the gas station with an eventual addition of table service for 35 people. Gladys was an accomplished baker and her pies were served at the restaurant. Daughter Barbara worked as a waitress when needed but was employed full-time at St. Johnsbury Trucking Company.

The Whittemores’ venture was called the Countryside Restaurant. A 1960s post card states, “The best food by a dam-site” and was conveniently half-way between Littleton and St. Johnsbury. The 1963 Waterford Cookbook featured a listing for Countryside that advertised “specializing in fried chicken, lobster and steaks in a very scenic place overlooking the Connecticut River and the White Mountains.” At that time the special view was possible as the trees hadn’t grown so much as they have in today’s time (Waterford History blog, April 14, 2014).

8. Owners of Cutler House (20th Century)

Changes to the Footprint due to the Fire

The current owners of the Cutler house are Linda and Edward Mitchell until the closing date of May 28, 2020 at which time Ben and Kristen Salomon of Bethlehem, NH will be the new owners. The Mitchells purchased the house with 12.4 acres on July 18, 2000 from Carey Carter and George Brodzinski. During

38 their tenure, this house has been transformed and further brought back to its original style. They have restored the windows, re-done the sun porch roof, and enlarged the sun-porch windows. Some bluestone walkways and a brick patio have been added outside, along with the addition of an arbor trellis. Tasteful landscaping has been added in the front and back gardens.

On the interior, the Mitchells upgraded the kitchen with new cabinets, appliances, restored windows, and placed a new wood-burning stove near the western parlor elevation wall. They constructed a built- in bookcase, where the Brodzinskis’ wood-burning stove stood and piped to the roof. The birthing room, which was adjacent to the chimney, was eliminated. The battens which form the beams in the ceiling were matched up.

Another important change to the house footprint in the interior was the elimination of the birthing room that was between the back parlor and the front parlor. Though births did occur in this type of space, this room could have had other uses such as storage or use as a very small bedroom. The birthing room was a room with a closet that was adjacent to the center hall wall. The closet was removed by the Mitchells in the process of building their bookcase. The cross batten ceiling above the bookcase was re- positioned to match the existing battens of the ceiling. The door leading to the closet was left in place (now a ghost door) to keep the symmetry of two doors in the back parlor. The placement of this room is typical as it was near the chimney for warmth and heated up quickly due to its small size.

The windows were restored by Sally Fishburn of Danville, VT in 2015, as discussed in the interior chapter description. The bathrooms upstairs and downstairs were renovated as well.

Linda and Ed included the Cutler Farm garden in the Historic House and Garden tour and Rhubarb Café on June 20, 2015. This tour, which included the Lee Farm, Congregational Church and the Davies Memorial Library, was organized to benefit both the Congregational Church and the Waterford Historical Society archives.

The Brodzinski couple who preceded the Mitchells bought the house in 1992 from Eric and Beryl Charlton. During their time here, a lot of changes occurred and the property was re-named Sunset Hill Farm. For one, they enclosed the back porch and installed a series of windows on the back porch. Upstairs, they enlarged the windows in the two rear bedrooms flanking the bathroom, and the window in the bathroom looking southward. They finished the attic area, added a skylight in the front elevation to light up the second- floor stairway area, and added three skylights above the dormer to brighten the attic space. They removed the door leading up to the attic as well. In the living room, they enlarged the entrance doorway and added a casing around it. Bricks were applied to the back wall and the side of the birthing room closet wall. The sides of the birthing room were taken away by the Brodzinskis as well. The flooring planks are more slender in this place of the parlor as well. The gardens were expanded. They planted hillsides with perennials and added a simple wooden archway into the garden from the garage. They were interested in English Landscape gardening. George and Carey Brodzinski divorced in 1992 and the Carey is currently involved in the Northern Counties Health Care, Inc.

Before the Brodzinski ownership, came Eric and Beryl Charlton from York, PA. The idea of owning an inn was intriguing to them. He was an engineer and executive vice -president of a manufacturing company

39 and she was a nurse-practitioner. The Charltons were the innkeepers of the Rabbit Hill Inn from 1980 to 1986. They were mentioned in the 1988 Archives article in the New York Times which highlighted of lives of three New England innkeepers. They lived next door to the Inn when they were its owners. During their tenure at the Rabbit Hill Inn, it is noted the Inn’s history that “they added charm and hospitality to a new level.” This couple became an integral part of their new community and earned the reputation as the quintessential innkeepers (The Littleton Courier, March 18, 2020, A 14.) They bought the Cutler House but never intended to live there themselves. Their intention was to give it to their son, which also would serve to save and preserve the house. During their ownership, they up-dated the septic system, removed the front porch and re-tiled the main roof. They did rent it out for a year or two while they were owners of this house. They retired to Camden, ME and then moved into the Taylor Community in Laconia, NH in 2018. Sadly Eric passed away March 10, 2020.

The Charltons bought the house in 1987 from Earl and Gladys Whittemore. At this point, the land contained 178 acres of land on both sides of Route 18. The river side portion was 50 acres and the northern hillside portion of 128 acres. At this point, the property with its house and barns looked much the same as it had in previous years.

After they closed the restaurant, Earl Whittemore’s son-in-law Donald Douse remodeled the combined gas station/ snack bar/ restaurant into a home for Barbara and their four children. They all had previously lived with her parents Earl and Gladys in the Cutler House across the street. In 1984, the Douses moved into this new re-modeled house to save on the heating bills and Barbara’s mother, Gladys went in a nursing home until she died in 1984. Donald worked for the Moore Dam and then sold pre-fabricated houses from an A-frame structure across the street from the Cutler House which was called Countryside Swift Homes, Inc. The Congregational Church in Waterford played an important part in Barbara’s life as she had been a devoted member and served as the church organist for many years. Barbara and her son Donald were invaluable, muchly appreciated sources of the recent history of the Cutler House. Barbara passed away this year on March 29, 2020.

The greatest amount of change to the land happened during the early 1980s when Earl Whittemore subdivided the land on both sides of Route 18. The land was divided into two parts with 50 acres on the Connecticut River side of Route 18, and 128 acres on the Interstate 93 side of the road. He started a real estate endeavor, selling and dividing the land into different parcels - one acre lots on Whittemore land and larger land parcels closer to the interstate highway. The subdivision plan of May 1988 of 44.08 acres was filed at the Lower Waterford town office. Also, The Great River (Trans-Canada hydro-electric Company) abuts both the Mitchell and the former Waldron neighbors presently on the Connecticut River.

New parcels were mapped out on Route 18 or on Whittemore Lane. Eugenia Powers, Town Historian, bought one acre on April 18, 1969 for a one -story residence. In 1971, there was an application for a one- story residence on 3 acres by E. Whittemore for a residence. Brother Errol Whittemore bought two adjoining parcels for the home of Countryside-Swift Homes in 1981. Across the street, up on Whittemore Lane, Robert and Lucille Towle bought a 0.5 parcel in 1986 to build a one family ranch style house. Lastly, the Swan family bought a 1.0 acre lot.

Going back further in the history of the house ownership, the Whittemore family had purchased the house and farm from Edward and Agnes Spiers after they had had such a nice time on their way home to Massachusetts. The Spiers came from Stamford, CT, originally and operated the Cutler House as a tourist home taking in overnight guests, as previously mentioned. Census records note that Edward was a railroad clerk. Edward bought the property in 1947 and sold it in 1949. Eventually, Agnes died and Edward married for the second time to Grace Stevens. They moved to Florida and he died in 1982. Ed is buried in Pasco, Hillsborough County, FL.

Before the Spiers family ownership, the Gilbert Wright family owned the house and farmlands. Geneva Powers Wright was a Waterford girl born and raised only a mile away. Her family lived on the Powers land (now Keith) closer to Upper Waterford. She was a graduate of the Littleton High School in 1937. Geneva was no stranger to the life of living on a farm. She grew up with a dairy herd, and in her day, grew wool from sheep to sell to guests staying in Bethlehem at Jewish hostelries. On the Waterford History Blogspot, Geneva recalled activities from her youth- maple sugaring, raising sheep, packaging wool for customers in Maine - having poultry, milking cows, raising horses, making butter and ice cream. Gilbert, her husband, worked in general trucking. The town reports of 1946 and 1952 for Waterford show that Gilbert was a foreman and a former road commissioner who took care of the state aid and town highways for the towns of Barnet, Kirby and Waterford. Geneva was a dedicated member of the Congregational Church and was active on the 150th Anniversary Committee in 1948. The Gilberts’ time at the house lasted from 1944 to 1947.

The previous owner, before the Wrights’ tenure, was Charles Hemingway. Most likely at the passing of Charles Hemingway, an arrangement was made to lease the property and allow C. Priest to occupy the buildings and harvest annual crops until September 1944, right before the Wrights were to occupy the farm. Mr. Priest is also noted in the Waterford Town reports for his work on sanding, salting, thawing culverts and trucking chloride.

The Hemingway family who are well-known today in Waterford came here as early as 1800. At one time, two generations of the Hemingway family, resided at the Cutler House. Charles Luther Hemingway and his wife Marion E. Coe (1857-1935) of Burke, VT bought this house from their son Roy Charles and his wife Mildred Bullock Hemingway. They lived here from 1930 until his death in 1944. Previously mentioned as a Waterford sheep owner, Charles was owner of 13 cows, and 30 “head of neat” cattle as listed in the 1888 Waterford town directory. In the American Shropshire Sheep Record, he was also listed as a horse breeder owning a foal, “Lady Winthrop” in 1889. Lastly, Charles served in the VT Legislature, noted in the Directory of 1917.

Charles Luther was the son of Luther Hemingway and Sally Pike Hemingway who was descended from one of the earliest Waterford families. Daniel Pike was Sally’s grandfather and was in Jonas Allen’s Minute Man Militia during the Revolutionary War. Daniel and his two sons came to Waterford in 1792. The Pikes returned again from Royalston, MA later the next year. Daniel was one of the very first known settlers of Waterford and a member of the first three Selectmen of the town of Waterford. The Pikes

41 settled in Upper Waterford. Luther Pike is credited as building the 1819 Union Church as a Meetinghouse.

Hemingway’s son, Roy Charles (1894-1972) and his wife Mildred Bullock Hemingway (1891-1986) bought the house from Ellsworth “Ellie” and Laura Freeman on October 2, 1913. Mildred served as a librarian or keeper of the 494 books in 1906 before there was a permanent library building. She eventually served as Librarian at the Waterford Free Library. Mildred’s father, Frederick C. Bullock (1864-1925), was very well-known in Waterford for his barn construction. He is credited for building barns in Waterford, and in fact, a few are still remaining. Roy bought the farm on October 2, 1917 from Ellsworth Freeman and his wife Laura Mabel Hemingway and lived in the Cutler House for 13 years. In the Census records and the Waterford Directory, Roy is listed as a farmer on a home farm with his uncle Luther as well. Mildred and her mother Lizzie Davison Bullock were involved in town politics. On March 5, 1918, they took the Freeman’s Oath and thereby voted in the Town Meeting along with a few other Waterford women as the first ever to have had this honor (Town Report, Waterford, 1918).

Changes to the Footprint of the House due to the Fire

The largest alteration to the footprint, beside the development of land across the street, was the barn fire of September 13, 1964. On this Sunday as per an interview with Barbara Douse, her Danville cousin was the guest preacher that Sunday. While he was driving home from church, he saw the column of smoke which was rising up from the barn fire to the complex of buildings. Most of the neighbors, who were not attending church that particular Sunday, were all helping to take out the furniture from the house in fire brigade fashion. The barn buildings, the silo and the summer kitchen/storage building were lost in the fire. Barbara further recalls, the wind shifted just before it touched the nook area of the kitchen so that the volunteer firefighters were able to contain the fire as it reached this area of the main house.

After the fire, the closet and doorway area off the back porch were made in to an interior space in the kitchen to eat and was called the nook. This doorway led into the attached summer kitchen building. A large picture window was added to look out at the landscape. The oven and the refrigerator were placed on the back wall which today separates the kitchen from the mudroom. Currently, the stove is against the wall of the kitchen and middle utility room area. The refrigerator is in the middle room along with the washing machine, dryer and other storage cubbyholes.

After the fire, the side entrance door and stoop were moved a few feet to the middle of the Eastern Elevation, more in line with the symmetrical arrangement of the windows above. The original stoop is still extant and is shown in an early black and white photo of the Whittemore children. Modern windows flank the new side door on either side. The multi-paned window showing the boys in front of the western elevation before the fire became a four-paned-window after the fire. A modern sliding glass door was put in the back parlor during the Brodzinski tenure at the house where once there had been only one window looking out to the back of the property.

Barbara’s room when she was twenty years old is the current-day mud room, now the (side) main entrance. Son Everett Douse remembers this area eventually was used for storage and the current coat closet in this room was smaller. This room was most likely used for dry storage in the earlier days. In 1967, Donald Douse built an outdoor stone grill to bar-be-que near the road.

Gladys and her husband did use the downstairs back parlor when they were more elderly and didn’t care to live upstairs. The rear open porch served to hang laundry as shown in early pictures. The back porch was enclosed and the front porch was removed, adding cleaner lines to the Northern and Southern elevations. Another big alteration was the addition of the dormer added to the rear façade after the fire occurred discussed in the elevations chapter.

In the process of researching this house, it has not yet been established when the downstairs bathroom was added to the house. Typically, Greek Revival houses have a central hall plan in keeping with the symmetrical design of having two windows on either side of the front door. There was most likely a center hall that reached the front door to the back door in the middle of the back wall (now leading onto the enclosed back porch). The bathroom wall now truncates where the hallway would have gone straight through the end of the house. The bathroom is entered through the kitchen and is next door to the doorway leading down to the cellar.

Another change to the landscape was the removal of the dairy shed that is shown in a black and white picture with one of the Whittemore relatives re-painting the building. The footprint of this small building is still recognizable on the property area below the driveway. From the back slopes of this property, the Whittemore children and grandchildren made their way down to the rise where they could sled down to the banks of the Connecticut River.

9. Visibility of 6888 Route 18

The Village of Lower Waterford is one of the prettiest, most unspoiled villages in this part of Vermont. The Village is perched on a rise that affords a lovely view of the Franconia Range and the Connecticut River Valley. Part of the reason that this area is so pristine is, in fact, that the growth and industry of Lisbon, St. Johnsbury and Littleton, NH, passed it by, especially after the advent of the railroad moved goods and service as a transportation service. Bridges and a ferry ceased to run in time due to jog jams that caused the bridges to collapse twice. Thus, it remained small and agriculturally-based. The social fabric remained closely-knit as families tended to intermarry. Waterford became a most iconic village documented by a series of well-known photographers.

One of the photographers was Winston Pote (1910-1989) who took a particular photo later published by the Derick Studio of Orleans, VT. This photo ca. 1950-1955, was made into a mural, and currently is pictured on one of the lobby walls of the Waterford Post office. It was originally housed in The Waterford Room at the St. Johnsbury House, a senior residence. This color photo mural depicts the back porch of the Whittemore House and the large barn buildings in the upper left-hand corner. In the mural, the banks of the Connecticut River are shown at the top and the Congregational Church, and the former J.W. Davies home can be observed in the lower left corner. Also clearly seen are the cultivated fields and a copse of dense trees separate the Whittemore property from the village of Lower Waterford.

Winston Pote gained national recognition from his Hallmark greeting card photos and his postcards of this region were often reproduced by local photographer Guy Shorey. Pote was born in Lynn MA, worked for General Electric and the Boston and Maine railroad. He captured the rural essence of Vermont and New Hampshire landscapes in his work.

A later black and white photo (on the left) was taken by Pote from a higher vantage point. It shows the Cutler white farmhouse and barn buildings, contours of the land, a mill in the distance on the New Hampshire side, the LF Dewey (current-day Wilmoth) house, and the iconic Waterford Congregational Church.

The photo appeared in the September issue of Food Marketing in New England magazine in 1957.

After the opening of the Moore Dam in 1957, pictures were taken from the same spot on Main Street. Employee Alfred K. Schroeder of the Boston office of New England Electric System took this photo above in January 1961 which was published in the Contact magazine for its employees. The Whittemore house and barns are shown on the upper left corner of this black and white picture. This photo clearly exemplifies the expanse and beauty of the rural landscape in context to the buildings of The White Village.

Another fine achievement culminated in a lovely photoshoot of Lower Waterford at nighttime. The Cutler House was purposely well- lit as instructed by the photographer hired to take the photo. This colored photo entitled in the “Light of Christmas” was an advertisement of the American Cyanamid Company located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, City. It was printed in the Saturday Evening Post on Dec. 14th and also appeared earlier the week before on Dec. 9th in both Newsweek, and Time Magazines on Dec. 2nd, and Business Week Magazine on December 7th in 1957.

A large colored photograph, very similar to Pote’s photo for Food Marketing in New England article, shows the church and back of the current-day Rabbit Hill Inn lit up just at dusk with a view of the Cutler House and barns, though not lit up. Arthur Griffin is the photographer. The date is most likely in the late 50s or early 60s due to the Texaco sign visible across from the Whittemore’s house and the Ford Thunderbird parked on Maple Street.

Two postcards also accent the Whittemore property from this standard viewpoint as well. The postcard “Moonlight in Vermont” and the daytime 1969 photo from the then Rabbit Hill Motor Inn both show the presence of this farmhouse. The description on the Moonlight in Vermont postcard reads, “This magnificent view of the moon rising over the White Village, Lower Waterford truly enhances the romantic beauty and charm of Vermont.”

The Charm of the Connecticut River

One of the most important facets of this particular area in NE Vermont is its relationship to the Connecticut River and the picturesque Valley which separates Vermont from New Hampshire. The Vermont Byways program has helped to outline the most important routes to visit. The history of the Connecticut also helps to tell the history of the settlement of the people of Vermont.

“The history of New England’s longest river and most powerful river reaches back into time. It is the story of clashing continental plates and glacial ice, the story of Abenaki living lightly on the land, and the story of colonial settlement in villages among fields and forests whose architectural distinction still dominates the valley today” (Ctriverbyways.org).

The Connecticut River Byways is a Vermont and New Hampshire roadway program of scenic beauty. This Byway is one of 10 in the state which accents history and heritage, arts and culture, culinary, and outdoor recreation and shows why Vermont is so special.

The beauty of the area cannot be underestimated. Al Braden in his book on the history and pictorial beauty of the Connecticut River states “looking from Barnet, VT to Monroe, NH shows the best features of the Upper Valley’s fertile farmlands.”

Moreover, the well-known Rabbit Hill Inn advertises that this quaint romantic historic inn is located on fifteen acres in a tiny time-forgotten village, a Historic District overlooking the mountains and the Connecticut River Valley.

Part of the history and quaintness of the White Village is the uniformity of Lower Waterford and the contributing houses in the Lower Waterford Historic District. From the wealth John W. Davies made in his creameries in Littleton and St. Johnsbury, he was able to put his money to good use. This philanthropist created a milk homogenization process in this area that was previously used in Europe. Thus, he was fortunate to purchase the Bowman property known as the Valley House, and most of the houses in Lower Waterford. He painted the houses white and installed green blinds in the windows. With the widespread uniformity of houses painted white, Waterford was also known as “The White Village.” Local author Harris describes Lower Waterford as follows, “with its attractive old buildings all painted white, until a short time ago, almost entirely the property of one man John W. Davies. He further goes on to say, “The White Village is a very fine place. (It is) adorned with majesty and grace located at the foot of Rabbit Hill with a church, library and “Craftsman Bill.”

10. Water Rights

Wilmot Kinne deeded water to his neighbors Bradley D. and Elisha W. Brown down the road. The water source came from two springs on the uphill side of the property up above Route 18. The water was conveyed to them via an aqueduct (Book 15, page 468) on May 12, 1897. Repairs and the maintenance of this said aqueduct, with the right of repairs when needed, were granted with a little as possible damage to the Kinne land.

These springs were mentioned again when Willard deeded this land to his son Wilmot stating,” being one undivided ½ share of land and premises deeded me by Ezekiel, Thomas Atkins and Rebecca Cutler by the deed of January 20, 1866 excepting springs to Bradley D. and Elisha W. Brown house.” The access to the uphill side of the property on the 1932/36 USGS Littleton quad map is indicated by a dotted line (path) leading up to this side of the property across Route 18. This lane nearly follows the footprint of Whittemore Lane today. One can assume this was the lane that helped to move machinery up to the hill pastures that are mentioned in many of the earlier deeds. Up the hill, there is a black dot noted as a structure that was the spring house which served the Brown family house.

Barbara Douse stated in her interview that a new water line was installed from an uphill spring in 1953. She currently has a deep well which was installed after the Vermont section of Interstate 93 was constructed between the years of 1976 to 1982. The Town of Waterford voted 63 to 38 for the expansion of Interstate 93 expansion in 1975 which passed through Waterford from the Connecticut River to St. Johnsbury, VT (Waterford Town Report of 1988).

Currently, an artesian well serves the needs of the Mitchells at the Cutler House on the river side of the property.

11. Comparables to other Historic Houses

The Integrity of the Cutler House, Historic Contexts and Conclusion

Modern alterations of the Cutler house, without the front porch and with the addition of attractive landscaping, make this house more in keeping with its earliest neighbors on the Lower Waterford Road and in the Lower Waterford Historic District. In the early days, these neighbors all had been settlers, and farmed together.

The Brown-Cushing House on Historic Sites and Structures Survey (HSSS - 0316-8) has both a Greek Revival style façade and an earlier style “ell” addition running to the back of the property. It displays the ornamental details of a tablet placed in the front-door casing, doorway surrounds and maintains the symmetry of the Greek Revival style.

The White Village Farm, closer to Lower Waterford Village up Route 18, was also listed in the HSSS (0316-6). It was historically owned by LF Dewey, Blodgett and Emerson Barrett and currently owned by Jay and Lisa Wilmoth. This is a fine example of a ca. 1840 Greek Revival style with very few alterations to the façade. This house is constructed in the Greek Revival side hall plan with a triangular pediment, and windows arranged in a symmetric fashion on the front- gabled façade.

In the Cutler, Brown and LF Dewey houses, all display a plain window, a fan-shaped ventilator, or a more elaborate three-part window in the attic space highlighting the Greek Revival triangular pediment. All three buildings also have a recessed pediment running underneath the entablature with a cornice or, in the case of the Cutler House, a cornice return.

The Rabbit Hill Inn, on Main Street in Lower Waterford Village, is a more formal example of the Greek Revival style measuring 2 ½ stories. There is a huge half-moon-shaped, enclosed porch in the half- story gable. A closed or open porch was a character-defining feature in buildings commonly seen on both sides of the Connecticut River during this period. People used the balcony to view the street without being seen, used it as a sleeping porch, or left it unenclosed for ventilation purposes.

Another similar property across the Connecticut River, on Route 135 in North Monroe, one can find the 1854 United Methodist Church. It shows off its splendor with elegant classical lines, symmetry of windows, and Greek Revival doorway casings, corner blocks, and corner pilasters.

Further north in Whitefield, NH, the main block of the early Burns farmhouse (ca. 1847) displays the very similar Greek Revival style vernacular three-part window in the gable front. This window differs from the current Mitchell house window in that the Burns sidelight windows are double-hung. This is a good example of a 1 and 3/4 story house on Littleton Road (NH 116) that was also constructed with plank framing.

Closer to the Whitefield Common, the ca. 1840 Winch-McKean-Coppola house (NHDHR survey 100-318) another good example of the Greek Revival, is found. This house has similar massing and also displays a gable- front façade. Instead of a single three-part window, it has a set of smaller windows on the attic level in the front gable

The Burns, Cutler and McKean houses of ca. 1840-1847 have a moderate to steeply-pitched roof with chimneys perched toward the rear of the roof. All of these houses convey a symmetrical arrangement of windows in the gable front, or in the case of the Cutler House, the gables are on the sides of the house and consist of 4 x 5 bays.

Both of the Whitefield houses were surveyed by Deborah Noble of Concord, VT, in August of 1988 as part of a Reconnaissance Survey for the Town of Whitefield for their Village District Master Plan of 1989.

In addition to having a similar architectural form, the Burns, Cutler and McKean houses all share a common history evolving from a farm -based economy to eventually adding tourist cabins to their property or, accommodated guests in their house.

Positive and Negative Changes to the Cutler House, and the Integrity

The Historic District of Lower Waterford (0316-9) outlined in the 1980 Caledonia County HSSS includes the White Village houses of Main Street (Pucker Street), Maple Street, and Route 18. The 33 special buildings including the 1859 Congregational Church, the Davies Memorial Library, Rabbit Hill Inn and the Abel Goss house adjacent to the library are contributing elements. The White Village Estates measure 284 acres, surround the nucleus of town and border the Cutler House on its western property line. Allen D. Hodgson of the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation completed the original the Historic Sites and Structures Survey of the Cutler/Whittemore House in March of 1980.

Also, the Cutler House blends in with the houses on Pucker Street in the White Village, the well-known Rabbit Hill Inn, the Davies Memorial Library and the Congregational Church. The Statement of Significance for the States Historic survey notes, …”It was through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. John Wesley Davies that the historic quality of the village of Lower Waterford was preserved, so that today as in 1867, the village retains the form it achieved during the period it was associated with the Burlington to Portland stage route that opened the interior of Vermont to the seaboard.” (Town Plan, 58)

This house contributes to the visual and historic character of the town and adds to the architectural mix of the town of Lower Waterford. The property falls just outside the boundary lines of the Lower Waterford Historic District, and therefore, is in a buffer zone.

Moreover, the Waterford Town Plan of May 2016, historic resources are mentioned, and the Village Residential section describes the outcome of the buildings preservation. “The result is an historic and classic Vermont scene, which is much photographed and frequented by many vacationers and tourists. It is a fine example of functional historic and scenic preservation as an appropriate land use.” (Town Plan, 52)

The Cutler House has not been moved from its original location, has not had vinyl siding applied to its exterior cladding, nor has any modern building additions able to be seen from the street. The contours of the land can still be seen, and stone walls still grace the boundaries of the Mitchell property in the open woodlands.

The removal of the front porch has greatly added to the character-defining features of the front elevation. Three of the front parlor windows are original. The interior has been brought back to a double parlor design by the Mitchell family as a positive change. The Mitchells have added tasteful plantings around the perimeter of the house and on hillside flower beds.

This property relates to the history of the community as the Cutler family, and the future inhabitants of the Cutler House served in positions at both the local and state levels. This house was used as a farmhouse, then a guest house and currently a private home. The themes of subsistence farming, sheep farming, dairying, small farming and flower gardening have been the major uses of the property.

The periods of significance would cover two agricultural periods of 1825-45 for wheat, corn and sheep farming. The other prominent agricultural period would be from 1870-1930 for cattle and dairy farming. Thirdly, the last period of significance would be from 1947 to 1960 for the increased auto-based tourism on improved roads after World War II. As a consequence of this factor, overnight tourist guests were housed at the Cutler House by the Spier and Whittemore families and eventually a gas station, restaurant and dairy bar were built on Route 18 as a convenience to motorists. Historically, the occupations of the owners of this house were farmers, owners of mercantile businesses, and lastly, hotel and inn keepers.

Other positive elements include intact historic planks in the walls, three original windows and casings, door frames and the door hardware. The vernacular interpretation of the Greek Revival style in building methods is seen on neighboring properties and was most likely applied by local craftsmen” (Vermont Survey Methods, Lissa Reimann, Adjunct Professor, Plymouth State University, 14).

One of the unfortunate elements of this house is the addition of the rear shed dormer on the Southern Elevation which was constructed after the disastrous fire that claimed all of the agricultural farm buildings on the river side of the property. New non-traditional sized and shaped windows placed on either side of the side entrance door have taken away from its integrity. In 1966, Earl Whittemore subdivided his land holdings into two parcels with smaller lots. This density of houses on smaller lots across the street and below the house lessened its pastoral appeal.

The Cutler House is located on an official byway of the bucolic Connecticut River Valley. The classic cottage design has been coupled with the Greek Revival style. It is in the setting of some other early Vermont farms. The wood was locally-sourced, hand- sewn and either found on the property or from a nearby saw mill. Local workmen who were joiners, masons, carpenters or possibly master builders of their day who served as an architect would in today’s time. The view of the picturesque ox-bows of the Connecticut has hardly been altered from the past. One can still make an association between the house, the culture of the farming life, the community, and the way the farmers worked the land in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Due to the beauty of the Connecticut River Valley, with its reputation of fresh air, “a nice table”, and improved roads, it is no wonder that tourists came to visit encouraged by better roads and more services.

The trend of auto-related tourism really took hold after World War II. The Spiers served roadside travelers at the Maplehurst Farm from 1947 to 1949. The Whittemore family followed, serving their guests at their home, and then, across the street at the Countryside Restaurant.

Though the house and the immediate surroundings have been built up as a consequence of the Whittemore development, the ambiance and the feeling of the rural life is still evident. The Mitchell 12- acre plot, view, and wise alterations have enhanced the house and property and brought it back to its former glory as a rural vernacular Vermont Greek Revival house.

In the final analysis if Thomas Atkins Cutler returned to Lower Waterford in the present time, he would indeed be able to recognize his former home.

Appendix A: Owners of the Cutler House

7.18.2000 Edward and Linda Mitchell purchased the property from Carter and Brodzinski (Book 68, page 158)

8. 17. 1992 Carey Carter and George Brodzinski purchased the property from Charltons (Book 56, page 207)

4. 24.1987 Eric and Beryl Charlton purchased the property from Whittemores (Book 49, page 265)

11.17.1949 Earl and Gladys Whittemore purchased the property from Spiers (Book 30, page 118) 8.19.1947 Edward and Agnes Spiers purchased the property from Wrights (Book 30, page 82) 8.9.1944 Gilbert and Geneva Wright purchased the property from C. Hemingway Estate (Book 21, page 554) 9.16.1930 Charles Hemingway purchased the property from son Roy Hemingway (Book 21, page 389)

10.2.1917 Roy and Mildred Hemingway purchased the property from E. Freeman (Book 22, page 12)

10.29.1913 Ellsworth and Laura Freeman purchased the property from W. Kinne (Book 19, page 397)

8.17.1885 Wilmot Kinne purchased the property from his father Willard Kinne (Book 15, page 457)

1.20.1866 Willard and Mary Jane Kinne purchased the property from Cutlers (Book 3, page 346)

3.19.1824 Ebenezer and Ezekiel Cutler purchased the property from Nathan Dewey, Sr. (Book 7, page 70)

8.22.1821 Nathan Dewey Jr. purchased Lots 15, 33, 46, 28, Min., Ministerial from N. Dewey Sr. (Book 6, page 379)

11.10.1815 Nathan Dewey Sr. and Nathan Dewey Jr. purchased the property from A. Cheney (Book 6, page 13)

10.21.1809 Abial Cheney purchased Lot 28 (34 acres) from O. Ashley, former R. Torrey (Book 4, page 243)

12.21.1809 Abial Cheney purchased the Minister’s Lot from A. Carpenter, Ministerial Lot (Book 4, page 244)

3.29.1808 Abial Cheney purchased the other lots from Nathan Dewey (Book 4, page 168) 7.12.1799 Asa Grow from tax sale purchased by N. Kinne Lot 46 (Book 2, page 29)

4.4.1800 Asa Grow from tax sale purchased by N. Kinne Lot 31 (Book 2, page 96) 6.1.1802 Higgins tax sale purchased by N. Kinne Lot 45- partial (Book 2, page 268) 4.20.1797 Asa Grow from tax sale purchased by N. Kinne Lots 31, 32, and 46 (Book 1, page 250) The lots that make up the Cutler/ Kinne 310 acre parcel are: part of 14 Minister’s, and Ministerial, 15 Monson, 28 Goss, 31 Leonard, 32 Grampton, 45 Woodward, and 46 Palmer.

6888 Route 18-- House History Bibliography

Books:

Anderson, John and Stearns Morse. The Book of the White Mountains (New York: Minton Balch and Co., 1930), 267-278.

Blackburn, Roderic H., Great Houses of New England (New York: Rizzoli), 140-151.

Braden, Al. The Connecticut River A photographic Journey through the heart of New England (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2009) 14-16.

American Guide Series, Vermont: A Guide to the Green Mountain State (Boston: Houghton Mifflen Co., 1937), 64-67.

Caswell, Lilley B. Town of Royalston, MA. Town of Royalston: 1917, 380-381,401-445.

Memorandum Society Mount Holyoke Female Seminary 1837-187 (Springfield, MA: Clark & Bryan and Co., 1878) 28.

Child, Hamilton. Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex Counties, VT 1764-1887, (Syracuse, NY: The Syracuse Journal Company, Printers and Binders, May 1867)

Clark, Clifford Edward, Jr. The American Family Home 1800-1960 (Chapel Hill and London: U of North Carolina Press, 1986) 6-19.

Congdon, Herbert Wheaton. Old Vermont Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946), 34- 35, 57-60.

Davis, Allen F. Postcards from Vermont A Social History, 1905-1945 (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2002), 52-57, 129-133.

Garvin, James L. A Building History of Northern New England (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2001) 19,42,83,114-116,144,147,156,166,170.

Gelernter, Mark. A History of American Architecture (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1999) 131-134.

Glass, Christopher. Historic Maine Homes (Lantham, MD: Down East Books, 2009) 71-75, 78-79.

Goss, David Philip. Abel Goss of Lower Waterford (Baltimore: Otter Bay Books, 2011) xxi, xxviii-xxx, 1- 4, 6-7,17,18,114-119.

Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Buildings and Interiors 1870-1960 (New York and London: WW Norton and Co.,1985) 328,331,336,376,378,382,396,404,406,415.

Harris, C.E. A Vermont Village (Yarmouth Port, MA: The Register Press, 1941. Reprinted Canada, 2002), 35 40-41,75.

Hey, David. The Oxford Guide to Family History (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 28.

Hemenway, Abby Maria, ed. Vermont Quarterly Gazetteer A Historical Magazine Caledonia County, No. LV, October 1862, 430-432.

Harrison, Blake. The View from Vermont (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2006) 6, 21, 91-111.

Hopper, Gordon E. Upper Waterford. A Village Lost to Progress.

Hoskins, Nathan. A History of the State of Vermont from its Discovery to the Close of the year MDCCCXXX 1795-1869 (Vergennes, VT: J. Shedd, 1831),286.

Hubka, Thomas C. Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn (Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1984), xi, xii, 22,37,64

Jeffery, William Hartley. Successful Vermonters, A Modern Gazetteer (East Burke, VT: Historical Publishing, 1904) 212-228.

Klyra, Christopher McGlory and Stephen C. Trombulak. The Story of Vermont (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1999), 57-62, 67-77.

Light, Sally. House Histories: A Guide to Tracing the Genealogy of your Home. (Spencertown, NY: Golden Hill Press, 1989) 109,115,138,199,222.

McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013 xv, xviii ,pictorial glossary, 246-264

Northern Eastern Tour Book, 1937. Route 304. Automobile Club of Michigan.

The A.L.A. Green Book, Pp. 20 334,349.

The Official Automobile Blue Book, Vol. 1 (New York: Automobile Blue Books, Inc., 1922), 462, 498.

Sloane, Eric. A Reverence for Wood (New York: Ballantine Books, 1965), 25-27.

Squires, J. Duane. History of Coos County New Hampshire, 1888 (Somersworth, NH. Reprint 1972), 390- 92.

Sullivan, George. Wood Burning Stoves (New York: Cornerstone Library, 1978), 13-17.

An Informal History of Waterford, Vermont. (Waterford: The Bicentennial Historical Committee, 1976).

Williams, Henry Lionel and Ottalie K. Williams. Old American Houses (New York: Bonanza Books, 1957), 80-82.

Brochures:

Boston and Maine Railroad, Complete Rail Schedule, October, 1955.

Rabbit Hill Inn, Lower Waterford, VT, 1995.

Town Plan of Waterford, Vermont (Adopted May 16, 2016, pages 52, 58, 59).

Town Reports of Waterford - 1780-1793,1904,1918,1946,1952,1981,1988,1991.

Deeds:

Land Records of the Town Office of Lower Waterford, VT.

Journals:

Balivet, Robert. Vermont History Journal, Edmunds Essays p. 243-5.

Fricker, Donna and Jonathan Fricker. Louisiana Dept. of Historic Preservation, September 2009.

Garvin, James L. Range Roads, Old Stone Walls Newsletter, Spring, 2002.

Lewandoski, Jan Leo. “The Plank Framed House in Northeastern Vermont.” Vermont History Journal, Spring, 1985. Vol. 53, No. 2, 104-121.

More, Rebecca Weeks Sherrill, “Settlement Maps of Lancaster” Beyond the Notches Littleton, NH: Bondcliff Books, 2011.

Skidmore, Max J. “Following the Theodore Roosevelt Trail into the Heart of New Hampshire ” Historical New Hampshire. Vol. 62, No. 1, 3-13.

Sloma, Robert A. “Archeology and Architecture Vernacular in Vermont: Expect the Unexpected.” Talk delivered October 2-4, 1992.

Foster, Janet W., Lecture Notes of “Pattern Books and 19th Century American Building”. Talk delivered on March 19, 2019, Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, New York, NY.

Wilson, Harold F. “The Rise and Decline of the Sheep Industry in Northern New England ” The Agricultural History Society. January 1935, 12-39.

Magazines:

New Hampshire Profiles. Merciful Restoration of Old Houses. Part II. James Garvin. June 1976, 20-25.

New Hampshire Profiles. Dating an Old House: Elements of Technology. Part III. James Garvin. July 1976. July 1976, 24-29.

Andrew Wood. The Rise and Fall of the Great American Motel, Smithsonian Magazine, June 30, 2017.

Maps:

Beers, F.W. County Atlas of Caledonia, Vermont. New York: F. W. Beers and Co., 1875.

Carey, H.C. Geographical, Statistical and Historical Map of Vermont, 1822.

Walling, H.F. Map of Caledonia County, Vermont. New York: Baker and Tilden, 1858.

USGS Quadrangle: Littleton NH, 1932.

Town of Waterford, VT: Survey of current tax map revised 2018

Early Lot and proprietorship Hovey survey map of Waterford, VT., ca. 1820

White Mountain National Forest New Hampshire and Maine, 1942, Revision of W.I. Doty and S. Lo Jacono in 1940.

Railroad Map of the Scarborough Company of Boston, MA, 1903

Newspapers:

Burlington News

Caledonian Record, June 14, 1888

Obituary of Thomas A. Cutler, St. Johnsbury Caledonian, June, 1903.

Obituary of Barbara Whittemore Douse, Caledonian Record, April 3, 2020

Obituary of Eric Charlton, Littleton Courier, March 19, 2020

North Star Monthly

Evans, Olive. “Three Couples Who Heard the Call of the Inn.” New York Times Archives, 1988

(Architectural) Notes:

Additional Notes on Vermont Vernacular Architecture Margaret N. DeLaittre

Photographs:

Pote, Winston. Food Marketing in New England. September, 1957.

Pote, Winston/ Derick Studio. Mural of Main Street. (1960 photograph).

Fink, Daniel. Barns of Genesee County (Geneseo, NY : James Brunner, 1987) figure 16-8, pg. 347, “Carson”

Griffin, Arthur. Color Photograph of Lower Waterford ca.1955.

Schroeder, Alfred K., Contact Magazine of the New England Electric System. January 1961, Vol. 43, Number 1.

American Cyanamid Company. December 7, 1957. Full-page advertisement In the Light of Christmas” Time, Newsweek, and Business Week Magazines, December 14, 1957, Saturday Evening Post Magazine.

Collection of Barbara W. Douse (former owner) barn, house 8-1/2 x 11

Collection of Edward and Linda Mitchell (current owners), four elevations

Personal Interviews:

Barbara W. Douse, interview by author. February, 2019.

Beth Kanell, interview by author. February 2019.

David Morrison, interview by author. February, 2019, October, 2019, and March 2020.

Andrea Fitzgerald, Town Librarian, Lisbon NH November, 2018

Records:

Congregational Church of Waterford, VT

Survey:

Historic Sites and Structures Survey Caledonia Country, Waterford. 1980, survey by Allen D. Hodgdon.

Survey Forms:

Liisa Reimann, Plymouth State University, Adjunct professor

Postcard:

K-153 – New England Electric’s Moore Dam and Powerhouse Littleton, NH

Websites: www.ancestry.com

Waterford History Blogspots of April 4, 2014 “Vermont History”, April 14, 2014 “Countryside Restaurant (Drive-in)”.

Old House Web

www.uvm.edu

www.bahistory.org/cattleindustry.html.

Sheep and Boom Blogspot

Blogspot of Helen Pike

Old House Journal, History of the Fireplace, Mary Jane Polson, Nov. 6, 2013

Northern Woodland.org, March 17, 2002. “There’s Something in the Soil”

Ctriverbyways.org

Whitemountainhistory.org, rick russack,” The Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike and its Builders”

Academies.smcvt.edu/vtgeographic/textbook/agriculture/agriculture_in_vermont

Vermont History Explorer – New Hampshire Grants

What Ceres Might Say, The Sheep Craze in Vermont’s Agricultural History – Blogspot