Mail Order Lockups - 10 Elm Street
You might think this quaint-looking, Queen Anne-style building was designed to be the residence of some wealthy Montpelier family, but in fact it was purpose-built in 1900 as a jail house. It was an early example of a pre-fabricated kit, obtained by mail-order from the Pauly Jail Building Company, which is still going strong out in Noblesville, Illinois. This wasn’t the first jail built on Elm Street. It was commissioned when the deterioration of the original jail reached such a state of decay that it was judged unfit for habitation, even by prisoners. At this time, the Pauly company was putting up state-of-the-art, steel-cage facilities all over the country and many of their turn-of-the-century designs have the same, rather grand and whimsically decorative architecture as this one. It gives the buildings a more welcoming aspect than anyone would really expect to find in a jail, but its residential appearance might also be because in those days the jailer and his family usually lived on site.Birthplace of Our Farmers MarketThe jail closed in the early 70s and eventually, the county sheriff’s department moved in. The parking lot here was also the first home of our Farmers Market. The markets really started taking off throughout the country during the early 1990s, but ours has been a Saturday morning since 1977. It's moved locations several times over recent years, so best to ask a local where it currently resides. Let’s go a few steps further up the street, where we’ll get a look at the site of the city’s original jail, and I will tell you the riveting story of a honeymoon that ended in murder.
The Old Love Triangle - Jailhouse Common Pocket Park
Laura Cutler was born in 1851 on a farm in East Montpelier, which is a few miles outside of town. Whether she had other suitors in her early 20s is unknown, but we do know that sometime in the 1870s her father took on a hired hand named James Sherman Caswell, and “Sherm”, as he was called, fell in love with her. With his heart set on marrying Laura he started wooing, and since he was a handsome Civil War veteran with a pension, Laura was not opposed.Her father, Willard, was a different story. Sherm was known for wandering off into town to take a drink or two…or ten, and he was known for being a mean drunk, so although she was well into her 30s, on a farm in the middle of nowhere with no other particular prospects on the horizon, Willard Cutler – God love him – thought his daughter could do better, and he put his foot down. No marriage.Then, Willard died. You might think we’re heading for a happy ending now, right? Well, hold on. While her father’s estate was getting sorted out, Laura took on extra help to run the farm. Another hired hand named George Gould arrived on the scene, and by the end of the summer she’d decided to marry him instead. Poor Sherm was kicked to the curb and asked to clear out while the newlyweds were on their honeymoon. He didn’t, though. Instead, he got himself a bottle and sat drinking in his room, which did not improve his mood.When the couple returned from the honeymoon, Sherm poked his head and a very big shotgun out from a second story window and shot George Gould dead. It was such a powerful charge of ammunition that the newspapers report it swiped the mustache right off George’s face. Laura fled to a neighbor’s while Sherm, immediately filled with remorse, turned himself in to a neighbor, who hitched up his horse and wagon and calmly drove him in to Montpelier for booking.The trial was quite a spectacle, but the real show-stopper came after it was over. On the same day that Sherman Caswell received his life sentence, he got married. To Laura. Throughout the trial, the widow of the man he’d murdered visited him faithfully in jail, and held his hand through the bars of the cell while the vows were recited. A few years later, apparently feeling there wasn’t much future in the relationship, Laura sued for divorce. She remained on her farm for the rest of her life, while Sherm was eventually pardoned through the efforts of a group of Civil War veterans. He spent his remaining days in the Union House Hotel in Montpelier.
Birth of a Broadway Hit - Corner of Elm & Langdon Streets
That does it for jail talk. We're going to continue up Elm Street, but before we start cross the street for a look at the house on the corner of Elm and Langdon streets. It was built in the 1850s by James Langdon, who I mentioned in the last tour, and it’s another of the city’s moveable houses. When first constructed it sat at the other end of Langdon Street on the corner of Main. It was also the city’s police station at one time. The police are all gone now, and for many years it's served under various owners as an intimate venue for live music of every genre. From 2005-2011 it operated as a quirky, friendly bar called the Langdon Street Café. It was an important inspiration to notable Montpelier native Anais Mitchell, the creator of the Tony award-winning musical “Hadestown”, and many of the songs from that show had their début in this building.
Welcome to the Jungle Room - 41 Elm Street
This building had a bar in it for many years starting in the 1950s, but then in the early 80s, a new business moved in that had the townsfolk intrigued. It was called the Blue Heron Hot Tub Spa. They seem ubiquitous now, but in the 80s hot tubs were a fascinating novelty and these spas were popping up all over, renting “tub time” to their customers. The Blue Heron had a “bathing suits optional” policy and theme-based environments with names like “The Jungle Room”. It quickly earned a racy reputation and was the talk of the town for a while. It all went bust before long, though. It might have been hygiene issues – the early days of hot tubs were known for that – but there were also rumors of unsanctioned videotaping. Whatever the reason, the owners slipped away under cover of darkness one night and were never seen again, and that was the end of the “tub-timing” in Montpelier.
Route to a Million Dollar View - Corner of Elm and School Streets
Here, where Elm and School Streets intersect, is a brick building that’s had a corner store in it for as long as anyone can remember, and that’s going back to the 1800s. On the diagonal corner is a house set on a slope with several flights of stone steps leading to its front door. It doesn’t look as old as it is, but it was built in the early 1800s and the entire area that encompasses the corner house and the Victorian next to it was once a single estate that had a croquet court on the lower part of the lawn.If you are game for a short but steep hike, next to that Victorian house is Hillside Avenue, which leads to Cliff Street, which will take you to one of the most-photographed views of Montpelier. You may have seen it featured in some website story about us. It seems to have become the go-to photo for any story about the city, but that’s really only been in the last few years. I know the first time many of us saw this view, it was in a photo featuring a gorgeously twilit scene filled with church steeples in a town surrounded by forested hills, and we said “Oh, how beautiful! Where is it?” Hillside Avenue and Cliff Streets are not extremely busy, but you do need to take care on the hike because there are no sidewalks. If you were to continue past the viewpoint, you’d come to a sign directing you to another of the many entrances to Hubbard Park.Tour #4 Extended Loop Walkers Exit Here!Back down here at this four-way intersection, we have also reached the point where you can continue the mini-loop tour or switch to Tour #4, which continues straight up Elm Street and connects to Main Street farther up. The list of stops for Tour #4 will tell you what’s in store along that route.For those of us staying on the mini-loop, we’ll turn right here and cross the bridge over the North Branch of the Winooski River.
Rose Lucia Bridge: Recognition for an Early Champion for Education
In the early 1990s, this bridge became the first structure in the city to be named after a woman. The VT Legislature renamed it the Rose Lucia Bridge. It honored the Vermont teacher, principal and supervisor of local schools who lived most of her life in Montpelier.She was passionate about improving the quality of education in rural schools and was an early adopter of the Montessori method. She was also the author of the “Peter and Polly” series of children’s books. Written between 1912-1915, they told the story of two siblings growing up in St. Johnsbury, VT. They were distributed internationally, and recently the Kellogg-Hubbard Library published a combined edition of the series and they have copies available for purchase.Our next stop will be at the corner of School and Main Streets, in front of the Unitarian Church.
Our Scenic Spires - Corner of School and Main Streets:
At this intersection, we have in our sights all four of the church spires that are a major feature of the scenic hilltop view I spoke about earlier. As you face the library, to the left is the Trinity Methodist. You may want to capture a photo of its steeple, colorfully decorated with hearts and chevrons. If you are lucky enough to be here in October, you may be in time to experience their annual chicken pie supper. This is an October tradition for churches throughout Vermont. Don’t call them “pot pies”! It’s just “chicken pie” and it’s cooked with biscuits on top rather than pie crust.Further down School Street you can just get a peek at the First Baptist Church, built in the classic New England Gothic style in 1868, and on the corner opposite the library is the United Church of Christ’s Bethany Church. It was also originally built in 1868 but when it became unstable its red stone blocks were taken down, stone by stone, and then reincorporated into the more modern church that was completed in 1959. The interior includes a chapel with a labyrinth that is open to the public at scheduled times.Let’s cross the street now for our next stop at the library. Its origin is a story of high drama, greed and redemption, with yet another little ghostly angle thrown on top. There are some benches on the lawn if you’d like to rest your feet while I tell you all about it.The Unitarian church at this corner is on the site of the first tavern and inn in Montpelier, operated in the 1790s by none other than the ubiquitous Davis family. It became known as the Union House, and several versions of this accommodation literally went up in flames over the years. The last version was across the street where the bank is now, where Sherm Caswell spent his last years, and that eventually burned also.When the Unitarian Universalists first formed a congregation in Montpelier, they had an arrangement that will probably never be repeated in the modern era. They held their meetings at the State House. This didn’t really suit anyone, though, so a committee of businessmen in the congregation commissioned Boston architect Thomas Silloway to design this church in 1865. It was originally painted a light gray. At some point it was painted all over wedding cake-white, which oddly enough seemed to make it almost invisible. More recently it was repainted in this sage color with white accents and when it was finished it was like it had suddenly stepped from behind a curtain and we were all stunned to realize how beautiful it was.The Itinerant Organ MakerIf the church is open you should have a peek inside for a better look at the hand-painted windows, the dark walnut pews, and their gloriously restored 1866 pipe organ, built by George Stevens of Cambridge, MA, who was a sort of Johnny Appleseed of organs.He is said to have installed about 800 of them in churches around the country. This church is also the venue of choice for many classical music concerts. If you are a fan of chamber music, check to see if anything is on during your visit, because for a fraction of what you’d pay in larger cities, you will get to hear world-class musicians in an amazing setting.
The Unitarian Church: An Itinerant Organ Maker
The Unitarian Church is on the site of the first tavern and inn in Montpelier, operated in the 1790s by none other than the ubiquitous Davis family. It became known as the Union House, and several versions of this accommodation literally went up in flames over the years. The last version was across the street where the bank is now, where Sherm Caswell spent his last years, and that eventually burned also.When the Unitarian Universalists first formed a congregation in Montpelier, they had an arrangement that will probably never be repeated in the modern era. They held their meetings at the State House. This didn’t really suit anyone, though, so a committee of businessmen in the congregation commissioned Boston architect Thomas Silloway to design this church in 1865. It was originally painted a light gray. At some point, it was painted all over in wedding cake white, which oddly enough seemed to make it almost invisible. More recently it was repainted in this sage color with white accents and when it was finished it was like it had suddenly stepped from behind a curtain and we were all stunned to realize how beautiful it was.If the church is open you should have a peek inside for a better look at the hand-painted windows, the dark walnut pews, and their gloriously restored 1866 pipe organ, built by George Stevens of Cambridge, MA, who was a sort of Johnny Appleseed of organs.He is said to have installed about 800 of them in churches around the country. This church is also the venue of choice for many classical music concerts. If you are a fan of chamber music, check to see if anything is on during your visit, because for a fraction of what you’d pay in larger cities, you will get to hear world-class musicians in an amazing setting.Let’s cross the street now for our next stop at the library. Its origin is a story of high drama, greed, and redemption, with yet another little ghostly angle thrown on top. There are some benches on the lawn if you’d like to rest your feet while I tell you all about it.
The Kellogg-Hubbard Hubbub - 135 Main Street
The saga of Montpelier’s public library begins in the waning months of 1889 in a fashionable neighborhood of New York City, where Martin Kellogg, a Barre VT native who’d struck it rich in the real estate market, suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. Less than three months later his wife, Montpelier native Fanny Hubbard Kellogg, followed him, and Montpelier soon learned their entire estate had been bequeathed to the city for two projects – the construction of a chapel and gates at Green Mount Cemetery, and the building of a public library in the center of town.Hubbard Has His Day in CourtAny celebration was short-lived, though. Fanny’s nephew, John Hubbard, knew a thing or two about real estate himself. In the mid-1800s his family owned more real estate than anyone in Montpelier, including a substantial area of town known as Hubbard’s Meadow, which the family had laid out in streets and developed. You can visit that neighborhood on Tour #4.John had been hoping for something quite a bit different from his aunt’s will, and he was a sore loser. When it was brought up for a ruling in probate court, the two witnesses to the will were present. They were learned men, not just some strangers who’d been pulled from the street and presented with a pen. One witness was Fanny’s physician and the other a law clerk, but once in court Fanny Kellogg’s attorney listened, no doubt with his jaw hanging open, as the two men suddenly sounded very unclear on the concept. “Will? That was a will? I had no idea that was a will.”The will was declared invalid.No Peace in the VillageThe city erupted in outrage, cried foul and filed a suit, but just before the ruling was expected, the town selectmen suddenly calmed down and agreed to a compromise. They withdrew their claim in exchange for Hubbard’s promise to grant Montpelier a very modest sum to build the library.There were enough suspicions over all this to rip the city apart. As construction of the new library continued, an effort was mounted to fund a rival library, hoping to ensure the Hubbard-funded library’s failure. The revered local artist Thomas Waterman Wood was recruited to the cause. He agreed to give 42 oil paintings to establish a gallery in the rival library.Even after both libraries opened in 1896, the conflict continued. There were heated town meetings where Hubbard factions and anti-Hubbard factions hurled abuse at each other. Then, a most extraordinary thing happened.Hubbard Has the Last WordIn 1899, John Hubbard died, ostensibly of liver cancer, but perhaps also from the strain of living as the town pariah. When his will became public, the people of Montpelier learned it had been dated two years before his death, and that Hubbard had left the bulk of his estate to the city. Not only was there a sizable bequest for the library and cemetery, he had also gifted the city 100 acres of the land known as Hubbard Hill, along with enough money to turn it into a city park.Presumably, there were a lot of sheepish faces around town at the time, and the Montpelier Evening Argus reported what many must have been thinking: “Even those who have said very hard things about him previously are softened today, and some have acknowledged that they might possibly have judged him too harshly.”With that, Montpelier’s love affair with its public library took root and has never faltered since. As to the building itself, the exterior is made of rusticated granite blocks quarried in Dummerston. The columns in the first and second story porticos are pink granite from North Conway, NH. The inside is gorgeously restored with oak staircases, marble fireplaces and an overhead central skylight, and there is a collection of marble friezes on the second floor, which ironically at one time housed the Thomas Waterman Wood collection!Another large bequest in the 1990s made it possible to add a large wing to the back of the building. With the added capacity, there is ALWAYS something going on – language club meetings, spelling bees, lectures, book sales, author talks, you name it. If you walk by on an early winter evening, you’ll see all the lights are on, and the golden glow pouring out its many windows make it look like a lantern in the darkness.It’s well worth a visit, and don’t forget to snap a selfie with the library mouse near the front door.A Ghostly CodicilAt Green Mount Cemetery at the lower end of State Street, high up on its hillside you’ll find John Hubbard’s gravesite and the expansive memorial dedicated to his memory. There is a bronze sculpture of a seated male figure, weathered with verdigris. Its official name is Thanatopsis, a Greek word meaning “a consideration of death”, but the sculpture’s more popular name is Black Agnes. The folk tale is that the statue carries a curse, so that anyone who sits in the figure’s lap when the moon is full at midnight, will be haunted by misfortune and an early death. You can find out more from a book called Montpelier Chronicles by local historian Paul Heller, and yes, they do have a copy of it in the library.Before we continue down Main Street, I’ll invite you to make a quick side trip with me to the house on School Street that’s right next to the library. I make it a point to visit this house often, and if you follow me, you’ll see why.
A Baker's Dozen...Of Lawyers?! - 28 School Street
We have arrived at the home of Manghi’s Bread, which opened in Montpelier in 1981. With the explosion of the local food movement over the past few decades, we are spoiled for choice in Central Vermont when it comes to homemade bread, but before any of that got rolling there was the Manghi family. Elaine and Paul started the business in their home in North Randolph in the 1970s before moving the operation to Montpelier, and the bakery is now under the direction of their daughter Maria. Inside, you are immediately in the midst of a real, working bakery and enveloped in the sights and fragrance of fresh-baked loaves. There’s no café or fancy display case, and everything is so informal that you may think they aren’t set up to serve retail customers but they most certainly are. You may very well walk away holding something still warm from the oven.Such a Clan of Attorneys!The house they are in is one of the oldest in Montpelier, built in the early 1800s by Samuel Prentiss, who lived there with his wife Lucretia, who gave birth to no less than 12 children. Two died in infancy, but the rest, all boys, grew up in the house, and all ten of them studied law, following in their father’s footsteps. As an earlier guide for the city remarked, “Montpelier will probably never again bring forth such a clan of attorneys!”
The Ancestors of Your Guide - 30 School Street
Before leaving this area, I can’t resist giving a shout-out to the large white house next door and my own family’s roots. Established in 1921, the Guare & Sons Funeral Home is the oldest family-owned business in Montpelier that is still in operation. It was established by my grandparents, Thomas J. Guare and Florence Emmons Guare, and although I can’t prove it, my grandmother was almost certainly the first female licensed embalmer in the area.We’ll head back now and cross Main Street to reach our next stop but pause at the corner for a peek at the large “Restaurant” sign on top of the building facing us. This is a historic neon sign and it is fitting that it still blazes bright over a site that has housed a restaurant since at least the 1870s. Once we cross the street I will tell you how ironic it is that the Vermont State Liquor Store ended up on this corner.
From Near Beer to Craft Beer - 118 Main Street
This building was at one time the home of the New England Culinary Institute's restaurant, where diners could get a bird’s-eye view of the culinary students learning their craft. The Food Network's celebrity Alton Brown graduated from NECI in 1997, and likely spent many an evening in this restaurant whisking sauces and braising meats.In the 1960s and 70s, this was the Lobster Pot, which had a bar on one side and a restaurant on the other. The neon sign that spanned the two doorways was nearly as big as the one on the roof and had the added feature of a neon-lit lobster. The restaurant had the area’s first salad bar – a true “salad boat” in keeping with the nautical interior, and it was THE place for dining out in Montpelier for a couple of decades.Now You See Them, Now You Don’tEarlier still, this was the site of Miller’s Inn, which got rolling in the 1880s, in the middle of Vermont’s Prohibition era. William Miller was the proprietor, and the inn was an expansion of his grocery and bottling business. He bottled a number of different beverages – ginger ale, cider, club soda – but his most popular item was a near-beer called “Uno”. It operated on something of a legal razor’s edge. A lengthy court case had not been able to determine if it violated the liquor laws or not. He was raided in 1892 but nothing illegal was found. There’s an old folk tale that Miller kept his “special stock” on a hinged shelf above a covered hole in the floor. A flick of his wrist and all evidence disappeared at the first sign of trouble.It’s interesting to note that while federal prohibition ran for 13 years between 1920 and 1933, Vermont’s law was enacted in 1852, so we were dry for over 80 years! It’s hard to believe we lasted that long, but we seem to be making up for lost time. If you are looking for some of the famous Vermont-made craft brews and distilled spirits, you will find a wide assortment in Yankee Wines and Spirits. On shelves that need no hinges.If you’ve been walking while I talk, you should be at the corner of Main and Langdon Streets now. This will be our final stop, where I will share the secret of one of Montpelier’s earliest – and biggest – homegrown industries.
It Ain't the Ritz - Corner of Main and Langdon Streets
If I say the words “cracker barrel”, it might make you think of that family-friendly restaurant chain that has an outpost off highway exits all over America. But at one time the meaning was a literal one. There were actual barrels filled with actual crackers, and like the pot-belly stove, they served as a gathering point for chatter and gossip at local country stores in days of yore. These barrels were not filled with crackers of the Ritz, saltine, oyster, or Keebler variety. They were shaped more like a biscuit, hard and round and about an inch thick, and they could be stored for months if not years. They were known as “common crackers”, and from 1828 until 1959 most of them were baked right across the street in a building long since replaced.A Horse-Drawn Oven It was known as Cross & Sons Baking Company. It was originally started by Timothy Cross, but his brother Charles took the business to a new level. In the early days, he baked three days a week and delivered on the other two. He had a horse that worked the same schedule. Three days a week it pulled a revolving stone oven that baked the crackers, and two days a week it was hitched to the wagon for the deliveries. As time went on Cross was joined in the business by his sons and continued the partnership with his brother Timothy. Gradually they added more rooms, more ovens, and then finally a cracker-making machine that turned out to be a game-changer. By the end of the 1890s, they were reportedly turning out 50,000 crackers a day.After Charles died at the age of 93, his son Bart carried on for a few years, but then sold the business to George L. Edson, whose family is directly descended from – guess who? Our old friend and founding father, Jacob Davis. George, and later his son Landale, continued the business under the name of Cross & Sons, and for decades they made “Montpelier Crackers” a household name throughout New England. The company was also known as a progressive employer, one of the first in the country to offer insurance and a retirement system for its employees.The years after the Second World War were not as kind, however. The Montpelier factory closed and operations moved to Claremont, NH, and by 1966 the company closed for good. But that wasn’t the end of common crackers. They sold the recipe and all their machinery to Vrest Orton, the famous founder of the Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont. So, the Vermont Common Crackers you can buy today are essentially the same as the Montpelier Crackers that originated right here, over 190 years ago.What do they taste like, you might ask? Well, they are not known as having a robust flavor on their own, but they have a way of making everything you eat with them better. If you toast them with some melted butter and Vermont cheddar, you might never eat a Ritz cracker again.James Langdon’s Shopping MallWe’ve come just about full circle now, and if you turn down Langdon Street to head back to our starting point at the Court House, you’ll be strolling along one of Montpelier’s early urban redevelopment projects. In the late 1800s, James Langdon had a vision for a fashionable shopping district in this area, and he’s responsible for the building directly across from Down Home Kitchen. It’s a handsome piece of architecture that fills the block between State Street and Langdon, and you’ll notice the decorative granite blocks running up the building at each corner. These are called “quoins” and you can see the style repeated in the other buildings on Langdon Street.And that’s it for the mini-loop tour! If you continue across the Langdon Street bridge, you’ll find yourself back where we started, or you can do a little more exploring along Main Street. If you decide to skip the bigger loop of Tour #4, you can catch up with me in front of Charlie-O’s on Main Street for Tour #5. See you there!
