KENNETH N. TONEY
Mastodon Post

Kenneth N. Toney obituary, Brattleboro, VT

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/kenneth-toney-obituary?id=54854476

While I never had the good fortune to know Kenneth Toney, I can say that a person who has been around Brattleboro for a long time ought to recognize his face in the obituary's illustration. He was all over town. His sister, Theresa Toney, who I did know, walked at a slow pace. Nonetheless, she covered a lot of ground. She was a character who many people will remember.

When I first moved to Brattleboro, Toney's Market, where Gouger's Market and Deli now resides, was a going concern. It was much more than just a neighborhood convenience store. The Toney family was a big part of old Brattleboro.

RiP

The attached elderly photograph, which was originally posted by the Brattleboro Historical Society, shows Toney's Market in a state of transition that may have been before my time here. I arrived in 1970. Decades later, the man in this photo lived next door to me.

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistoricalsociety #brattleborohistory #gougersmarket #kennethntoney #kennethtoney #kentoney #theresatoney #toneyfamily #toneysmarket

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HILDA WEYL SOKOL, 1928-2022

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/vnews/name/hilda-sokol-obituary?id=38426284

A 1981 symposium co-sponsored by Hilda Sokol of Dartmouth Medical School called to our attention, hereabouts, a sometimes neglected local hero, the Brattleboro Rat. The Rat has been a very useful creature in various medical research fields, ranging from diabetes to learning differences to depression. When I bring up this topic, people typically think I am joking; but actually it is very serious. We should raise a giant Brattleboro Rat statue in Pliny Park.

Brattleboro Rat Wikipedia short article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brattleboro_rat

Many prestigious institutions and publications have posted learned articles about the Brattleboro Rat.

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #brattlebororat #clinicaldepression #dartmouthmedicalschool #diabetes #hildasokol #learningdifferences #learningdisabilities #learningdisability #medicalresearch #medicalscience #plinyparkbrattleboro #westbrattleboro

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SAUNDRA MALLET AND THE VANDELLAS
"IT'S GONNA BE HARD TIMES"

Sandra Mallet And The Vandellas
from Will You Still Love Them Tomorrow? Courtships and Confessions of the Early Girl Groups and Pop Divas by Various

https://fidelitymasters.bandcamp.com/track/sandra-mallet-and-the-vandellas-2

originally on the Tamla label

This is a great rock 'n' roll oldie that, being an oldie myself, I don't remember.

In this area, we used to have the best oldies radio program I have ever heard. It was called "Saturday Morning With the Oldies" and it was hosted by John Ashley on WTSA radio in Brattleboro, Vermont. The program was as close to perfect as it gets. Ashley mixed well remembered hits with others listeners may not have heard or, at the very least, may not have heard for a very long time. For many, "It's Gonna Be Hard Times" would be an example.

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#1960smusic #bandcamp #brattleboro #brattleborohistory #johnashley #motown #musicnews #oldies #rockandrolloldies #saturdaymorningwiththeoldies #saundramallet #saundramalletandthevandellas #tamlarecords #thevandellas #vandellas #wtsaradio

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@jeremyosborn

Another fine watercolor.

I moved to Brattleboro in 1970 for a job at Bratteboro Retreat. Many stories of the flooding of the Retreat Meadow were still around in those days. Before the Vernon Dam was put in, that whole part of the Retreat property was a very big vegetable garden. Back then, the Retreat had a large number of state funded chronic patients. So many decades later, memory is frail; but I swear one of the patients told me he had worked on that part of the Retreat Farm. Two of the people I worked with were born at the Retreat, their father, Mr. Mitchell (not sure I ever knew his first name) having been the Retreat farmer.

In exchange for allowing its land to be flooded, the Retreat got a permanent really, really low electricity rate. The Retreat's Comptroller, Charlie Landry, used to encourage us to turn off lights, not to save electricity but to burn out fewer light bulbs.

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #brattlebororetreat #charlielandry #charleslandry #retreatfarmbrattleboro #retreatfarmerbrattleboro #retreatfarmermitchell #retreatmeadowbrattleboro #vermont #vernondamvermont #vernonvermont

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FORT DUMMER
Early Brattleboro Settlement

Brattleboro Reformer

Local History
Local History: Fort Dummer provided protection and warning for Massachusetts

By The Brattleboro Historical Society

Saturday, January 20, 2024
(though I first saw this article on January 19)

https://www.reformer.com/history/local-history-fort-dummer-provided-protection-and-warning-for-massachusetts/article_9ed24f3c-b6cf-11ee-af4e-bb5b329ce388.html

If this link does not work and you don't have a Reformer subscription, you can still read this article by way of the Brooks Memorial Library's subscription, if you have a library card.

I will attach one of the pictures from the slideshow that illustrates this article.

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #brooksmemoriallibrarybrattleboro #chiefgraylock #fortdummerbrattleboro #graylock #kewahcum

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@PennamitePLR @wikiwomeninred @barnardcollege I will be circulating your Wikipedia link to my family here in Vermont and also in New York City. It ought to be of interest. Thanks!

Just a thought, but it looks as though you may want to edit your post to hashtag your subject as I have done in my reply.

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #constancefriessholman #constanceholman

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Travel2Next

20 Things To Do In Brattleboro

By Steve Burden -
21 December 2023 Updated on Dec 21st, 2023

https://travel2next.com/things-to-do-in-brattleboro-vt/

Steve Burden

Steve Burden is an avid traveller and experienced writer. As a former pro wrestler, Steve used to travel frequently for work throughout the USA and Europe. Having spent the last decade travelling all over the world in search of new sights and experiences, he has turned his love for travel into a new career helping others decide on the best places to visit, as well as what to see when they get there.

This piece gives credit to attractions that I do not recall ever seeing in any similar treatment of the Brattleboro area. I shall make some special note of the Estey Organ Museum, as I have resided in the Jacob Estey homestead since 1985.

When I came across this piece, running a Google Advanced Search, the hitlist headline read, "20 Things To Do in Brattleboro VA." Rest assured that this piece is actually about Brattleboro, Vermont. One little error in the article, itself, might amuse you. Check out the illustration by the block about the Creamery Covered Bridge. (The caption, in very fine print on this screen anyway, clears up the confusion.) Don't want to make too much of it, though: - this article has a lot going for it.

The Madame Sherri Forrest is one of the sites covered. Cap'n Bullfrog (Tim Sherry) of Cap'n Bullfrog's record store had terrific interest in Madame Sherri. Tip of the hat to Ms. Sherri and to the Cap'n.

A quick note about the haunted Jacob Estey homestead. I thought it was between the Estey family and me, personally, as to who lived in this building longest. It turns out I was almost certainly wrong. A nurse named Eva O. Bell moved in here, from the Bell farm in Whitingham or Jacksonville (sources differ), before World War 1, and operated this place as a private hospital. Her daughter, Corena Wentworth, later operated the building as a boarding house and stopping off place for tourists. If she remained here until her 1967 death, as seems likely, then the Bell/Wentworth family lived here longest. [I have since learned that the tenant who preceded me here in 1985 was Eva Bell's granddaughter.] A lot of locals would still remember her son, Carroll Wentworth, who taught English at Brattleboro Union High School for many years. I did not have his acquaintance but I do remember seeing him around town. Sorry for the digression but this interests me to no end.

Hurray for the town we live in and love!

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#bostonandmaineforthillbridge #brattleboro #brattleborocommon #brattleborofarmersmarket #brattleborohistoricalsociety #brattleborohistory #brattleboromuseumandartcenter #brattleboromusiccenter #brattlebororetreattower #brattleborosummerfarmersmarket #brattleborounionhighschool #capnbullfrogsrecordstore #captainbullfrog #carrollwentworth #corenawentworth #creamerybridgebrattleboro #creamerycoveredbridgebrattleboro #evaobell #evaolivebell #esteyorganmuseum #fortdummermonument #forthillbridge #graftonvillagecheesecompany #harrishillskijump #jacobesteyhomestead #jellymillfalls #jesteyandcompany #livingmemorialparkbrattleboro #madamesherriforest #oldjellymillfalls #oldjellymillwaterfall #retreatfarm #retreatfarmbrattleboro #retreattowerbrattleboro #santaslandusa #scottfarmorcharddummerston #stonechurchbrattleboro #timsherry #whitinghamvermont

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MCNEILL'S BREWERY LOT ON ELLIOT STREET

Brattleboro will take McNeill land

The town will rescind its claim for cleanup expenses in the aftermath of the 2022 fire that claimed the life of brewmaster Ray McNeill

By Virginia Ray
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 — Issue 744

This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.

https://www.commonsnews.org/issue/744/744McNeills_Lot

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This article has since been republished in the Vermont Digger, under the headline,

Brattleboro to take McNeill’s Brewery land

https://vtdigger.org/2023/12/13/brattleboro-will-take-mcneill-land/

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#bobfisher #brattleboro #brattleborofiredepartment #brattleborohistory #brattleboroplanningdepartment #brattleboroselectboard #evenyrhinen #iangoodnow #johnpotter #leonardhoward #mcneillsbrewery #raymcneill #robertfisher #stevensandassociates

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CHELSEA HOUSE
West Brattleboro, Vermont

The big red barn in its heyday - Chelsea House was at the forefront of folk music scene

November 4, 2023 | Brattleboro Reformer (VT)
Page: B07 | Section: News
766 Words

Credited to the Brattleboro Historical Society.

The Chelsea House was a music venue, mostly folk, that operated in West Brattleboro, Vermont, from 1974 to 1981. It drew heavily from more populous areas to the south. The second petroleum crisis and new competition in Northampton, Massachusetts, did much to sink Chelsea House finances. Bill Gehman told me the recording studio was the only part of the operation that was making money.

Margaret MacArthur initially thought a Brattleboro folk coffeehouse would not work. Soon, though, she started making valuable suggestions about ways to make this project succeed. She was the featured act on opening night.

One of the "local" opening night musicians, referenced in the Reformer article but not named, was and still is John Roberts of the folk duo, John Roberts and Tony Barrand. Of John, Tony once said, "John is not a true basso profundo but he's very smart."

The Brattleboro Folk Festival started in the Chelsea House. In later years, it was moved to the West Village Meeting House and then outdoors. The outdoors festival featured the most amazing custom-made speakers one could ever hope to see, made up of countless small speakers. As unorthodox and odd looking as this concoction was, the sound was remarkably good.

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Chelsea House Founders

William Howard Gehman (1939-2007)

Carol Margaret Levin (1941-2020)

Tony Ashe was also very important to the Chelsea House.

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Brattleboro Reformer articles, behind a paywall, are available to subscribers as well as to people who purchase the newspaper. There may or may not be a set number of free articles online. I am posting this publication information here for the benefit of anyone who can and who wants to hunt up the article.

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#billgehman #brattleboro #brattleborofolkfestival #brattleborohistoricalsociety #brattleborohistory #brattleboromusic #carollevin #chelseahouse #johnrobertsandtonybarrand #margaretmacarthur #nemsbk #newenglandmusic #tonyashe #tonybarrand #vermontmusic #williamhgehman

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DR. RICHARD THOMAS BURTIS, 89

Richard Burtis Obituary

Obituary published on Legacy.com by Atamaniuk Funeral Home, Inc. on Oct. 20, 2023.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/richard-burtis-obituary?id=53390667

RiP

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #brattleboromemorialhospital #drburtis #drrichardthomasburtis #richardthomasburtis

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VTdigger

Then Again: Brattleboro man founded an unusual Community

John Noyes wanted his Perfectionist society to adopt something he called Bible Communism, which required the sharing of all property and profit from the community’s endeavors. The sharing didn’t end there.

by Mark Bushnell October 8, 2023, 7:42 am

https://vtdigger.org/2023/10/08/then-again-brattleboro-man-founded-an-unusual-community/

#associationofperfectionists #biblecommunism #brattleboro #brattleborohistory #freelove #harrietholton #johnnoyes #johnhumphreynoyes #markbushnell #oneidacommunity #oneidaglassware #oneidanewyork #oneidasilverware #perfectionism #perfectionists #pitneycorporation #putneyvermont #theperfectionists

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SAM'S IN BRATTLEBORO IS CLOSING IN 2024
Sad News

VTdigger

Brattleboro’s largest, longest-operating downtown store plans to close next year
“Losing Sam’s is like New York losing Macy’s,” former Gov. Peter Shumlin said of the nearly century-old business scheduled to leave its 30,000-square-foot Main Street location upon the end of its lease in April.
by Kevin O'Connor September 25, 2023, 9:37 am

https://vtdigger.org/2023/09/25/brattleboros-largest-longest-operating-downtown-store-plans-to-close-next-year/

#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #samsoutdooroutfitters

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THE LATCHIS
Brattleboro, Vermont

VTdigger

At 85, a Brattleboro movie palace offers a picture of storm resilience

“We’ve come through an awful lot over time,” says the head of the Latchis, “a town within a town” theater, hotel and business block that opened during the Great New England Hurricane of September 1938. “That just makes us very empathetic to others.”

by Kevin O'Connor September 22, 2023, 6:02 am

https://vtdigger.org/2023/09/22/at-85-a-brattleboro-movie-palace-offers-a-picture-of-storm-resilience/

The accompanying photograph of Tropical Storm Irene flooding is less dramatic than video shown on national television, though the still photo gets the point of localized immersion across. The other end of Flat Street, over the Elm Street parking lot, and throughout that whole area was the most amazing mass of mud.

#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #irenethetropicalstorm #jonpotter #latchis #thelatchis

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