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Work on the Crown Point Road National Register Nomination is progressing. Over half of the Socialborough section has been walked extensively. When it warms up and dries out a bit we plan to finish walking over remaining areas. We also plan on visiting a few areas outside of the Socialborough area for comparison. GEOARCH is continuing to accumulate and read background material on the French and Indian War, military enginering, road construction and other aspects of this project that we have to write about. It is taking some time to locate copies of the few archaeological reports that exist for other similar places; specifically, good examples of roads and military encampments. We are in the process of obtaining archaeology reports from New York and Connecticut on early military roads and encampments that have been professionally excavated. This information will help us write sections on the CPR that will more accurately describe what different types of features will look like at the surface or buried below ground along the road corridor. Writing of the MPS and NR forms is progressing well.
Our historian Al Ransom passed away unexpectedly in June 2001. He is sadly missed, not only as our most avid researcher and explorer, but also as a special friend. A new CPRA marker, 41 -A, to be erected in Clarendon, will be dedicated to Al's memory. The marker will be located approximately on the Socialborough south line at Creek and Horton Roads in sight of the 1759 road. This is especially appropriate in that Al located and surveyed the line last spring in accordance with his research of surveyor Cockburn's field notes. In addition, the Socialborough area is at the center of the CPRA's efforts to nominate the CPR to the National Register of Historic Places. Al had accomplished much of the preliminary work as project manager. A dedication ceremony is planned for Sunday, May 26, at 1:00 p.m. Re-enactors from Whitcombs Rangers will be present to recognize Al's contribution in documenting Vermont's military history.
Al Ransom was not only our historian, but also our archivist. He had found time to sort, file and store the association's large volume of research at his home. The collection includes over forty years of dedicated work by early members such as Flora Weeks, Phyllis Humphreys and Sanborn Partridge, among others. In searching for a suitable repository for this irreplaceable material after Al's passing, board members were fortunate to reach an agreement with the Starr Library of Middlebury College. Our material will be included in the library's Vermont Collection. Under the direction of librarian Hans Raum, the material will be catalogued and receive archival storage. The collection will be available to our members and the public during library hours. In time it will also be available on the college web site. Middlebury College, with its central location and proximity to the Crown Point Road seems to be a mutually beneficial partner.
Thanks to arrangements by former president Bill Allen, our traditional May visit to a historic site will take members and guests to Historic Deerfleld, MA, on May 11. We plan to visit the Flynt Center and Memorial Hall. There is a nominal fee for each museum. A $12 ticket includes house tours. We will meet at Hall Tavern Visitors Center at 10:00 a.m. For more information call Bill at 4 13-774- 2566. If interested in car pooling call Dennis Devereux at 802-259-2460.
The association now has a slide program that is available to be shown to interested groups. The program provides background history of the CPR and features images of interesting sites one would see while hiking on the road from east to west. The association has purchased a projector and has put together a narrative script. Anyone interested in scheduling the program, which takes approximately 45 minutes, should call Elaine Purdy, 802-773-6819.
This past June the association took part in Vermont History Expo at Tunbridge Fairgrounds. The Fourth Grade Class of Clarendon Elementary School provided our exhibit which was a detailed and colorful diorama of Clarendon showing how the town grew up near the Crown Point Road. There were many favorable comments on the artistic and educational results of the children's year-long project. We are grateful to their teachers: Denise Gonyea, Robert Snarski and Christine Redman. Expo 2002 will take place June 22-23 from 10 to 5, again at Tunbridge. The CPRA plans an exhibit of antique and modem maps and artifacts. Anyone wishing to assist or to loan artifacts may call one of the CPRA officers.
The association is still looking for artifacts found on or near the road. It would be invaluable to our grant project and general research to be able to photograph and document military or domestic implements and establish the location of the find. Several members responded to our request last year and we now have records of ox shoes, buttons, coins, hoes, cannon bales, and even a portion of a Brown Bess musket.
OUR VOLUNTEERS APPRECIATED
Thanks to our hike leaders we had a very successful hiking season in 2001. Space doesn't permit a description of each hike but the weather cooperated and several enthusiastic new hikers were in attendance as well as the regulars. Thanks are also due to members who care for the many CPR markers. They are:
Call if you wish to help in any particular section.
An updated version of this journal is now available for $10 plus $2 shipping and handling. Barbara Jones, historian at Fort No. 4, in cooperation with the CPRA, has produced an attractive book that features a great deal of information not included in the earlier edition. Footnotes, bibliographies and maps have been added, as well as lists of the men in Col. Goffe's regiment and a McClintock biography. The book is available at local book stores or by calling Dennis Devereux at 802-259-2460.
Phyllis Humphreys, longtime researcher and hike leader passed away last summer. Phyllis and husband "Bud" spent many hours in the field and in town archives searching out traces of early roads. They would then painstakingly plot out deeds and boundaries to establish documented locations. The association owes the Humphreys a huge debt for their ardent pursuit of primary sources.
