FAIR HAVEN, VT
Fair Haven was chartered on October 27, 1779 to Ebenezer Allen and 76 associates, and first settled the same year. The township originally included West Haven, which was set off on October 20, 1792. In 1783, Colonel Matthew Lyon moved to Fair Haven and began building mills at the falls on the Castleton River. His enterprises included a gristmill, sawmill and papermill, in addition to a forge. This began Fair Haven's legacy as a small, prosperous mill town, which by 1859 included a marble mill, rolling mill, nail factory, papermill producing wall paper, three sawmills, a wagon shop, a machine shop, two blacksmith shops, and two shoe shops. [2]The quarrying and manufacture of slate began in 1846. Fair Haven would develop extensive quarries for the stone, believed at the time to be inexhaustible, which was supplied to cities along the Atlantic coast and in the West. Some of it was made into the framed, book-sized writing slates that students of the time used. [3]
Fair Haven is noted for its Victorian architecture, considered some of the finest in the state. [1]
MAPLEWOOD INN
The Maplewood Inn is a beautifully restored c. 1843 Greek revival style home which is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Prominent local farmer, Asahel Kidder owned the home and in 1880, Kidder's son-in-law, Isaac Wood, established a dairy and creamery on the same land, known then as the Maplewood Farm and later as the Maplewood Dairy. The Wood family operated the dairy continuously until 1979. In 1981 the old dairy buildings were torn down leaving only the farmhouse. Wynn Wood, grandson of Isaac Wood, cared for the farmhouse until 1986 when it was transformed into the warm and comfortable inn that it is today. Only two innkeepers have operated the Maplewood Inn until it was purchased in 2004 by the current innkeepers, Paul and Scott.
1. Virtual Vermont -- Fair Haven, Vermont
2. ^ Austin J. Coolidge & John B. Mansfield, A History and Description of New England; Boston, Massachusetts 1859
3. ^ Austin J. Coolidge & John B. Mansfield, A History and Description of New England; Boston, Massachusetts 1859
|
|