The 1907 L.S. Gordon Storefront Restoration: Our Future Vermont Music Archive

Fall colors were BRILLIANT in Starksboro this year - the hills (the valley is surrounded by them) were all shades of orange and red, and the color lasted for weeks. We've had snow now and will be spending the winter planning for spring work crews to clear the brush from the new creamery property, more planting of perennials, and fundraising to even the foundation and make basic repairs. Cross your fingers for the grant applications we've submitted to help with the repairs and painting!

The land given to Big Heavy World in Starksboro by Saputo to help us create a scenic overlook at the Vermont Music Library archive building on VT Route 116 will soon have beautiful interpretive exhibits for travelers thanks to a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

The Lake Champlain Basin Program Wayside Exhibit Design Grant Program has given Big Heavy World a grant that will support creating the design of two exhibits, published in English and French. The subjects are the Cold Mountain Creamery and the Lewis Creek Valley.

The Cold Mountain Creamery (also know over its hundred-plus years in business by several other names) played an important role in the village center, both in business and socially; for a century farmers brought their milk to the facility to be processed. The exhibit area overlooks Lewis Creek Valley, the headwaters of a creek that travels for miles before emptying into Lake Champlain. It's a verdant, wildlife-filled region with a history of human habitation that pre-dates European contact with Vermont.

Big Heavy World will be gathering historic photographs and working with historians in the community to draft the narrative for each wayside exhibit, and the design work will be accomplished by Maja Smith of MajaDesign.

More spring flowers blooming in the front lawn.

Here's a photo of Starksboro's latest landmark: the kissing trees! They appeared as brush was cleared from the old creamery land. They're on the west side of the road, growing just over the edge of the rock ledge above Lewis Creek Farm.

For fun, here's a picture of the ditch that drains toward the west from a culvert under Route 116. For a drainage ditch, it's very pretty. We'll build an old fashioned arched pedestrian bridge over it.

The spring clean-up has begun! We'll be raking and removing scrub from both the L.S. Gordon Store lot and the new Saputo area over the coming weeks, and getting our lawnmowers ready for action. Looking forward to getting more flowers into the ground, too.

The Green Mountain Cold Spring Creamery, circa 1910.

International dairy processor Saputo donates Starksboro property to Big Heavy World:

Big Heavy World, a volunteer-staffed organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Vermont-made music, has received a donation of property in Starksboro.

Saputo, one of the top twenty dairy processors in the world, offered the gift to help support Big Heavy World's effort to restore a century-old general store on a site overlooking the Lewis Creek Valley. The property sits on a stone ledge overlooking the oldest homestead in the village and an agricultural valley that's been farmed for over two hundred years. It adjoins the site of the L.S. Gordon Store, a general store constructed in 1907, presently undergoing restoration to become an archive space for the Vermont Music Library, a program of The Big Heavy World Foundation. The Saputo land will aid the project with an addition of safe parking and a beautiful natural setting.

Saputo, founded in 1954, has 47 plants in five countries and is one of the top five producers of cheese in the United States. One of its plants is located in Hinesburg.

"We are delighted to give this property to Big Heavy World," said Terry Brockman, President, Saputo Cheese USA Inc. "We find their vision compelling and are glad to contribute to the community by participating in a project that will bring people together."

The Starksboro property is the site of the Green Mountain Cold Spring Creamery, founded in 1898 and in operation for almost 100 years as a major village industry. The creamery structures have all been gone for decades, but the old creamery is the inspiration to create a park with interpretive signage describing the historical stories of industry and agriculture in the Starksboro village center.

The gift was facilitated by the Vermont Historical Society and Lisman, Webster & Leckerling, P.C. Site planning is being aided by the Addison County Regional Planning Commission, Freeman French Freeman, and architectural students at Norwich University.

James Lockridge, Executive Director of the Burlington-based Big Heavy World Foundation, said, "The generosity of Saputo awes us; this gift is wonderful on many levels. And it's a pleasure to build friendships in other countries by sharing an idea - it's nice to know the world works that way."

Photo of the archive this week.

Things have been moving slowly but surely at the office this winter, with grant applications to write and planning for the spring. Somehow this past week we've spent a lot of time at the archive, thinking about the stone wall we want to build on the ledge (there's no fence or barrier there at all), and visiting with a group of architecture students from Norwich University and their professor Daniel Sagan, pitching in with site planning.

Photo of Norwich University architecture students with their professor, Daniel Sagan, visiting this past Wednesday.

By Tonya West

A defining – and missed – characteristic of the now-Vermont Music Library Archive is the two large plate-glass windows that were eventually boarded up over time. Back in the 1970's, it was the home front of Hervey and Olive Hanson and was often photographed by folks traveling through Starksboro.

“They’d think it was a flower shop,” laughed grandson Brady Hanson, 42, of Williston. The windows were filled with “everything, you name it: Geraniums, African Violets, La Hoya with its pink clusters draped all around. They smelled so sweet,” recalls Ada Pierce, 85 of Monkton, Olive and Hervey’s eldest daughter. “People would always stop and take pictures. Daddy said she used to talk to her plants.”

(Photo: Ada Pierce, Olive and Hervey Hanson’s eldest daughter, shares memories of what visiting her parents was like.)

Olive was known for more than her green thumb. She was called “The Doughnut Lady” in town and known for her “huge chicken pies.”

“All of her sisters were like that,” said David Mason, 79, who moved nearby when he was eight years old and still lives in the same house. “They could make something out of nothing. Little bit of this, little bit of that.”

(Photo: David Mason, longtime resident of Starksboro and neighbor to the soon-to-be Vermont Music Library & Shop Archive.)

David says the ruins on the VMLS property are the remains of the Post Office and one of Ada’s sisters, Lois, can remember when it was there. “It moved so many times and used to be in the General Store,” said Ada.

Ada also remembers Fred Currier’s barber shop being there and another couple living there. “I don’t know how they stood it,” she laughs. The home had a history of being very cold. “They had an old-fashioned oil pot burner and the kitchen had a neat old stove that was converted. My nephew has it now.”

Both Brady and Ada remember the Sunday family gatherings with fondness. The Hansons’ eight children and their children would converge on the village every Sunday. “It’s just what we did,” said Brady. “And, you wouldn’t believe the Thanksgiving Day dinners we’d have there,” said Ada. At some point the small home was so overwhelmed with family and guests the dinners were moved to the Meeting House.

Brady’s weekend travels to visit family still take him through town. At first, it was difficult to drive by his grandparent’s house. It hadn’t occurred to him it was being restored into the VMLS Archive; rather, he thought it was being torn down.

One of the most often asked questions about the storefront is whether the windows will be replaced. And the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

(Photo: Olive Hanson making her signature doughnuts in the kitchen of her home.)

Mowed the lawn for the last time of the season this week, getting ready to close things up for the winter. This summer was a busy one, though it's hard to tell from looking! We just submitted a grant application to the state for support to restore the exterior; many groups in Starksboro helped us by providing letters of support. To them, thank you! Tonya has begun to 'interview' Starksboro residents kind enough to help us gather the history of the L. S. Gordon Store - I'm sure notes from her experience will end up here. The Starksboro Historical Society has helped direct us to people who might remember when the building was a store, before becoming a residence.

The photo of the sunchokes was taken this morning - they surprised us, just popping up and blooming naturally on the north side of the building.

Above is what the floor looks like now, after the May repairs. Below is a photo from 2006 before any work began at the building. I expect you'll see a lot of 'Before' and 'After' pics before we're done.