Today we began our very cold trip in Jericho (history, demographics): On the Underhill-Jericho town line is Underhill Flats, one of the few villages in the state which lie in two towns.
In what could be called an early variant of gerrymandering, the story is told of Jedediah Lane, who moved here from Connecticut, eventually to become the town's representative in the Legislature. When a land survey was completed, it was discovered that Lane actually lived in Underhill. Not wanting to lose his job, Lane had his house moved a few feet west, over the line into Jericho.
Jericho was home to "Snowflake" Bentley.
To Stef's left (uh...your right) is Elizabeth of the LATimes and her photog, Alden (who lives in VT). Both were very nice--Cairo accepted them into the pack--and we asked them to be in one of our "official" photos. A fun trip with special guests!
After Jericho,we took a scenic ride down to Richmond, home of the Round
Church (which I'll note appears to be 12-sided, not round) (history, demographics): Richmond was created from lands in what had been three contiguous towns (Jericho, Williston and Huntington); a piece of a fourth (Bolton) was added later. How a new town came to be created from some of the best land in four others is buried deep in petitions and laws of the young state. The whole thing has the distinct odor of politics, with the Allens, the Chittendens and other members of the Onion River Company involved. How the name was chosen is not known, though we can reasonably rule out honoring royalty.
Richmond Center has always been the chief village, though Jonesville, to the south on Route 2, was a close second for a number of years. Ransome Jones was a prominent village merchant in the 1880's.
In front of the famous Round Church. No, I didn't take a shot of the church, but Alden did--maybe that will be in the article...
And the day ends at Appalachian Gap in Buels Gore (history, demographics): Buels Gore had its big year in 1840 when the population totalled 18, with 3,500 more sheep than people. There has never been a recognizable village, no post office, and no representative in the Legislature. Like the state's other gores, grants and unorganized towns, business affairs are administered by a State-appointed supervisor.
The greater part of Buels Gore is taken up by Camels Hump State Forest and other mountains.[Appalachian Gap is] where Route 17 passes between Stark and Baby Stark Mountains, a cleft known as "Appalachian Gap". The Long Trail crosses Route 17 here, at just under 2,400 feet.
A little departure from the usual picture. There is in fact a sign with Buels Gore on it along Rt 17 up the mountain, but it was -12F and windy, and we didn't want to get out of the car more than once per town today! And no second shots, either. As it was, Cairo's pads were pretty frozen after she dug in the snow.
And now we're snug and warm at home as the mercury drops again.
ntodd
PS--Unclear when the article will be published, but rest assured you will be the 4th to know!
Sounds like good LATimes were had by all!
Posted by: gootch | January 21, 2005 at 09:03 PM
Hurray! Will be watching for it!
Posted by: ellroon | January 22, 2005 at 12:59 AM
Hey! That's my old buddy Alden Pellett! Formerly of the Free Press and my old climbing partner. We had many an adventure climbing in VT and NY. Good times, good times. We also worked at the Free Press together. He went to full time staff, when I semi quit and went to part time.
He's a great guy, a great photog and a great climber too. He even climbs ice-THAT'S muy macho!
Posted by: MarkS | February 20, 2005 at 11:42 PM
Article's up!
Mark - yeah, Alden told about his ice climbing. Wicked cool, and an excellent photog. We liked him a lot.
Posted by: NTodd | February 23, 2005 at 10:57 AM