History of Cavendish

Pre-Recorded History

Vermont was home to Paleo-Indians 12,000 years ago. Artifacts found in and around Cavendish, indicate that this area was being used as a hunting site as long as 11,000 years ago.

These early people are thought to have traveled in small extended family groups of 20 to 40 people. Exceptional toolmakers, they used stone from other areas, including northern Maine and Pennsylvania. It is not clear if they traveled that far or if they traded with other groups. Due to the acidic quality of Vermont's soil, there is no cultural evidence remaining.

During prehistoric times, a large lake filled the Black River valley until the water escaped and plunged through the Cavendish Gorge, where the river still tumbles over the 100 foot waterfall. Along the river, then called Kaskatchawack, ran an Indian trail, which crossed the Green Mountains and continued up Otter Creek towards Lake Champlain.

While the Abenaki Indians, part of the Wabnaki Alliance, did hunt and fish in the Cavendish area, their permanent villages were generally located in the northern part of Vermont.

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Crown Point Road

In 1759, the British defeated the French at Fort Crown Point on Lake Champlain. In order to link this outpost with Fort Number Four, now Charlestown, NH, the British decided to build the first wagon-road across the mountains, a military highway 90 miles long following the old Indian trail. Later that same year, Major John Hawks and 250 rangers cleared a roughhewn road through the forest, felling trees, dragging boulders to one side, and laying stone causeways or log corduroy on uncertain ground. A path was cut across the elevation in southeastern Cavendish, now called Hawks Mountain. Soldiers traveling along this section of the road soon complained of its roughness. Another route bypassing Hawks Mountain was laid out during the next spring. An encampment twenty miles from Charlestown on the road gave the tributary of the Black River its present name: Twenty Mile Stream. Portions of the Crown Point Road, now over 200 years old, can still be found in the wooded areas of Cavendish.

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The New Hampshire Grant

The first road across the mountains opened the area west of the Connecticut River to speculators who clamored to purchase the land. Consequently, Benning Wentworth, the governor of New Hampshire, began a profitable undertaking for himself by making grants in present-day Vermont, an area which then belonged to New York. In 1761, he deeded 26,000 acres of land, named Cavendish, to 66 proprietors and kept for himself the transaction fee. Within this town, he set aside public lots, one each for: the Church of England; the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; the first minister who settled in the town; and for the town school. In addition, as was his practice, Governor Wentworth set aside 500 acres in southeastern Cavendish for himself. In 1764, after considerable dispute between the two colonies, the King awarded Wentworth's grants to New York. Neither the settlers nor the proprietors of this town were eager to pay for a New York charter, which cost more than ten times the amount charged by New Hampshire. Eight years later, proprietors re-purchased Cavendish from New York, having raised funds by selling the town's Witherspoon tract. Yet the land dispute continued, and Vermont fought New York as well as Great Britain for its independence. Finally, in 1791, when no colony or state could any longer make claim upon its territory, Vermont joined the United States and the land question was settled.

First Settler

The first permanent settler brought his family and possessions along the Crown Point Road into the wilderness of Cavendish in 1769. That June, John Coffeen drove an ox-drawn wagon until the way became so difficult that he was forced to proceed on foot, with his family, for the last 10 miles. They remained the only family in Cavendish until settlers arrived from Massachusetts two years later. During the Revolutionary War, Captain Coffeen provided food and lodging for American soldiers, and at one time housed 300 soldiers.

The Two Villages (Proctorsville and Duttonsville)

In the early 1780's, Leonard Proctor and Salmon Dutton arrived from Massachusetts and gave their names to the two major settlements on the Black River, Proctorsville and Duttonsville. The first recorded town meeting occurred in 1782. At these town meetings, two land disputes arose. Because Hawks Mountain interfered with communication between the main part of the town and its southeastern corner, this area became a separate town, Baltimore, in 1793. However, the proposed location of Cavendish's public lots in this corner would have burdened Baltimore with untaxable land and deprived Cavendish of revenues for the minister and school. According to final agreement, Cavendish set aside plots for the support of the minister and the Gospel Propagation Society within its boundaries, but remained without school land to provide revenue for its Academy, the fifth in Vermont, established in 1792. A second problem developed because squatters from Chester had occupied 2,000 acres of land in the southern part of the town. The claim by Cavendish to this disputed land was upheld in 1797, but in 1841, the Vermont Legislature awarded it to Chester.

Turnpike and "Shunpike"

Salmon Dutton laid out the main road of the town in 1784, from Duttonsville along the Black River to Ludlow. Fifteen years later, Dutton helped establish this road as part of the Green Mountain Turnpike, a private company charging tolls at gates. It ran from Bellows Falls to Rutland, bringing Boston coaches north up the Duttonsville Gulf to the village and then west along the present route 131 through Proctorsville. When the six-horse stagecoach came over the hill, the driver would blow his horn as many times as there were passengers, so that Dutton, the tavern keeper, would know how many plates to put on the table for dinner.

Later Jabez and John Proctor built the "shunpike," a toll-free road through the Proctorsville Guild, now route 103. Consequently, the north-bound traffic from Boston came directly to Proctorsville, and thus bypassed Duttonsville, creating a situation, which could not have pleased that village. In Proctorsville, at the Eagle Hotel, built by Jabez Proctor, as many as 50 guests and nearly 100 horses would stop for the night on the stagecoach route. In 1817, the "shunpike" route officially became part of the Green Mountain Turnpike. Another toll road still passed through Duttonsville from Weathersfield, but all pikes were eventually surrendered to the public.

The various roads facilitated migration to the town, so that the population of Cavendish almost doubled between 1791 and 1800, when there were 921 inhabitants. Epidemics of "spotted fever" and "lung fever" broke out between 1811 and 1813. Summer snowfalls in 1816 contributed to crop failure and poor hunting. The combination of factors resulted in some families moving to the West. They moved to New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio - a generation or two laer to the Midwest.

Early Industry and Agriculture

The first settlers in Cavendish were farmers who lived off the land, producing most of the necessary implements and provisions in the home. Several grist mills were in operation by 1800, and a potash works processed the ashes from hundreds of trees to make alkaline salts, which Boston merchants exported to England until 1810. When the demand for potash ceased, many farmers sold potatoes, corn and hops to local distilleries making whiskey. These industries increased the economy of the town and stimulated the growth of other enterprises. By 1824, Cavendish had eight saw mills, three grist mills, three tanneries, two distilleries, and small factories producing hats, nails, stoves and tin ware.

The two woolen mills built in the town in 1832 and 1835 provided a wool market for the locally raised Merino sheep. By 1842, when Vermont ranked second among the states in wool production, Cavendish produced 14,279 pounds of wool from the fleece of its 7,124 sheep. In that year, the Black River Canal and Manufacturing Company in Duttonsville employed 75 workers making broadcloth and at the Proctorsville Woolen Manufacturing Company, started by Jabez Proctor, 35 workers made cashmere.. By 1850, a tariff reduction on imported raw wool, coupled with the lower cost of sheep herding on the Western plains, severely depressed the price of wool, forcing Vermont farmers to find another use for their land, raising dairy cows instead of sheep. The two woolen mills continued to operate, and with other local industry brought prosperity to Cavendish.

Mid Nineteenth Century

Prior to the arrival of the railroad, Cavendish's 1,576 residents enjoyed all the amenities typical of a small New England community. The town received mail by stagecoach and had a bank, five stores, nine one-room schools, and a Town Farm for the poor. Several churches -- Baptist, Methodist and Universalist -- were built, and by 1869, both towns had libraries. The marriage of Redfield Proctor and Emily Dutton in 1858 joined the leading families of the two villages and promised to put an end to the former rivalry. As Redfield said of his first son, Fletcher Dutton Proctor, "if the old names and blood had the old inclination left to stir up strife, it would have created a fearful internal commotion." In fact, the merger of these families proved to be a propitious event for Vermont, since three governors and United States Senator issued from this Dutton-Proctor line.

Railroad and the Civil War

The Rutland Railroad, built in 1849, ran through the two villages on the Black River. Irish work crews laid the tracks, and with the advent of the railroad, Irish families settled in Proctorsville, where they founded a Catholic church in 1860. The railroad had mixed consequences. It increased the sale for agricultural goods, benefiting the dairy farmers. However, it ruined one local business, the starch mill. During this time Duttonsville's name was changed back to Cavendish.

As the controversy over slavery arose, bringing with it the threat of civil war, Cavendish became part of the eastern trunk of the Underground Railroad between Brattleboro and Montpelier. Along this route, runaway slaves from the South found safe refuge on their journey northward to Canada. During the Civil War, Captain Tuttle commanded the Cavendish Light Infantry, and 187 men from the town served the Union. A monument to their bravery, donated by Vermont's former governor Redfield Proctor in 1883, stands next to the Cavendish Historical Society Museum.

In the decades following the Civil War, most of the diversified local industries began to dwindle and the largest employers could not offer sufficient jobs. The population of Cavendish, after rising in 1870 to the highest point in the history of the town, 1,823, declined during the next ten years to 1,300. The two main woolen mills grew into large mechanized factories, employing hundreds of workers, often as young as 12, working 10 - 12 hours a day, 6 days a week at very low wages.

The old Proctorsville factory, reorganized in 1878, became the second largest mill in Vermont under the management of Taft, Burbank and Murdock. In 1886, the Gay family moved its operations from Tunbridge to Cavendish, attracted by the railroad facilities, the town's offer of the factory building, and a ten year exemption from local taxes.

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World War I

With the United States entering the war in April 1917, 57 men and one woman from Cavendish, joined the military. The flu epidemic of 1918 took the lives of three of the four Cavendish servicemen who were to die during the war. Food and coal were rationed. The latter was not an issue for local farmers, who burned wood, but it was difficult for those in the villages.

The mills operated at full tilt for the war effort. Business boomed through 1920. On March 5, 1918, Cavendish elected its first woman, Gertrude Foster, as a selectman. Whether they saw Paris or not, most of the Cavendish servicemen returned home and the population of the town increased to 1,319 in 1920.

Depression Era

Just prior to the Depression, two severe storms brought about "The Flood of 1927." The Black River broke cut a gully through lower Main Street that was one-quarter mile long, 100 to 600 feet wide, and 25 to 150 feet deep. Seven houses, ten barns, four garages, automobiles, land , and trees were destroyed in the flood.

The stock market crash of October, 1929, did not have an immediate impact on Cavendish. Few people had investments to lose, and for the Gay Brothers Woolen Mill, 1929 was the best year, financially, in the history of their business. It took several years before the Depression was felt. Cash was scarce, but for many farmers that had always been the case. In many ways, the farmers were the best off as they owned their homes and could rely on the land for their food. Frugality was part of the depression, but not caused by it. But many lost their farms during the Depression.

1932 was he worst year throughout the US. The Gay Brothers Mill had its worst year in 1932. In 1933, with the forming of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) by the Roosevelt administration, a camp was set up in Proctor-Piper State Forest in Proctorsville. One hundred twenty-five unemployed unmarried young men between the ages of 18-25 were sent from New York City to join local men in clearing trails for horseback riding and hiking and to create a recreational area.

World War II

As soon as war was declared, residents attended classes on how to spot enemy planes, rules for air raid drills and blackouts; the Red Cross had War Drive, and Springfield machine shops announced that they would train women for the work force. Two observation posts for aircraft were set up in Cavendish and one in Proctorsville. Many women served as volunteers and learned to identify both friendly and enemy airplanes. The community banded together, adopting the resolution "We dedicate ourselves to the cause of Liberty, Freedom and Unity." The Mill employed 300 people, who worked in shifts round the clock producing woolen blankets, Navy uniform cloth and khaki trousers. By 1945 hardly any young men were left in Cavendish; as soon as they turned 17, many of them enlisted.

Post War Era

The 1950s brought significant change to Cavendish. The Gay Brothers Woolen Mill, once the leading employer for the town, was sold, and the new owners closed it in 1957. Other businesses closed, including the largest store in town. Even though a new fire district was established in Cavendish, there was no longer passenger and freight train service. The one-room schoolhouse gave way to two central elementary schools. The town adopted the Town Manager system. The town lost a lot of its youth, as they looked elsewhere for opportunities. By 1960, Cavendish had a population of 1,223, the lowest figure since 1910.

Today

The seeds of change in the economy of Cavendish, and Vermont, were sown in the mid 1930s, when the Depression caused some to lose their farms and move away, the state began to view tourism as an economy boost. Initially, Cavendish did not court tourists, even though many visitors came for a week, a month or even the entire summer. However, this began to change when Okemo Mountain, approximately five miles away, started to expand its ski area in the mid 1980s.

Cavendish is still a rural community, with a year round population of around 1,400. Barbara Kingsbury, in her history of Cavendish Chubb Hill Farm and Cavendish Vermont, writes

There has always been, since the town was first settled, a great deal of population movement in and out. Each time that there was much migration outward, there were worries of decline and ruin. Each time there was a wave of immigration, there were worries that the outsiders would disrupt the sense of community. Somehow, Cavendish has survived, and with a strong community. Some periods had more movement than others. The 1860s and 1870's were such a time and perhaps the present period is another.

The community cohesiveness is threatened when too many people with shared values move out and too many with different values move in. It is impossible to determine how many is "too many." People like to know their neighbors over a long period of time and not have strangers moving in and out frequently. But Cavendish is not a closed society. Its history shows again and again that the town has assimilated strangers with different backgrounds and that these "strangers" have often proved an asset to the community. Many who are now the "old-timers" were actually born in other places.

The composition of Cavendish population is very different than it was a hundred years ago. It was more homogeneous then, with a majority being farm families with English roots. Now there are people from many ethnic backgrounds, from different levels of education and income, and with a great variety of occupational and artistic skills.

In the early years of Cavendish, the economy was home based and centered on farming. While Cavendish was a mill town for many years, it has once again returned to a home-based economy, as can be seen in the current Cavendish Busiess Directory

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