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Cabot Historical Society began in fall 1965. Interested ladies met at Mrs. Abbie Orne's home. They elected officers: Mrs. Beatrice Perry, president; Mrs. Abbie Orne, vice president; Mrs. Helen Wellman, secretary; and Mrs. Ruth Peck, treasurer. The first project was research about Cabot's early settlers. The first fund raiser was a food sale. The few artifacts owned by the historical society were kept at the Willey Building. Dues were 25 cents.
In 1970, Charles and Barbara Carpenter led a community effort to restore West Hill School. The town stored road equipment in the old one-room schoolhouse; it broke through the floor. The town then rented it to a nearby resident, who used it for storage. The historical society persuaded the town to give them the building. With community support and grants, the building was repaired. Cabot Historical Society meetings were held there. (Photo by Will Walters)
In 1992, David Book, a teacher, later the principal, of Cabot School, and his Heritage Class, completed restoration. Books, desks, school maps, and memorabilia were researched. The class cleaned and displayed items, to recreate a school of the 1800s. The one-room schoolhouse was once District No. 4; now it is a museum and learning center.
Main Street Historical Society Museum Building
The two-story building was the school in Cabot Village, School District No. 8.
A new school building had been built in 1863. The old school was refurbished, mainly with funds raised by the International Organisation of Good Templars. IOGT used the building for meetings, receptions, parties, plays and public suppers.
When the Cabot chapter of IOGT became inactive, the building passed to the Morrill Relief Corps, which helped Civil War veterans. ( See Woman's Relief Corps .) In time, their mission became unnecessary. The Modern Woodmen shared the space.
The building then sold in September 1947, to Robert and Jennie Brimblecombe, with a deed restriction that it may never be used for dances. Dancing was outlawed in Cabot when the building was built; the deed restriction remains. Promenades were allowed.
The Brimblecombes donated the piano, chairs and other furnishings to the Cabot United Church; the stage backdrop and roll-up curtain went to Willey Memorial Hall.
Robert "Bob" Brimblecombe used the building as a plumbing shop, until he turned the business over to his two sons, Leslie and Percy, in 1965.
In 1978, the brothers sold it to Cabot Historical Society. Society presidents, including Eva Kurz, Leonard Spencer, Amanda Legare, R. D. Eno, Bonnie Dannenberg, and boards, made many renovations and additions. Display cases and furniture were added, electricity and a security system installed, new shelving built, and a research center, supported by computer files, created.
Both floors house donated artifacts and exhibits about Cabot's history. Renovations retained the character and charm of the building. The upstairs stage, meeting room, and paneled ceiling are intact. The building has no water, telephone, or central heating, but a big wood stove on the ground floor provides warmth and ambiance in chilly weather.
In 2007, The Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance, under the direction of Chris Hadsel, restored two stage curtains at Willey Hall in Cabot, one of which, a woodland scene, now adorns the stage in our museum. The other, a copy of a Culver 1880 painting, "Along the Oregon Trail," was originally in the "new" 1863 school. It was moved to the Willey Hall, when the present Cabot School was built, in 1938.
There is an old photo that shows another stage curtain in our IOGT building, before 1863. That curtain was never found. The stage curtain now in our building was authenticated by Ms. Hadsel as
painted about the same time as the Culver copy. It may have replaced the original in the IOGT building, when the Culver curtain went to the school.
We think our current curtain was stored in the Willey Hill, for safekeeping, when the IOGT auditorium was no longer used. It was found by President Bonnie Dannenberg, about a year before the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance began to restore the Culver curtain. The historical society asked the Town of Cabot to return it to our museum. The town's Willey Building Committee agreed. The next year Ms. Hadsel's group restored it. It now hangs on the museum stage.
In his memoir, "History of My Generation in Cabot Vermont, 1874 - 1951," (See: Blodgett Papers .) Fred Blaney Blodgett wrote about the water-powered carriage factory in the hollow beside the Winooski River, at the foot of present-day Clough Lane, off Elm Street. He mentioned two painters in the shop, Clark and Heath, who painted the curtain in the Willey Hall.
Under the direction of President Bonnie Dannenberg, artifacts were inventoried. Paper collections of photographs, newspaper clippings, manuscripts, and documents were preserved. Many albums and digital records are available for research.
Apple Pie Festival History - In October, on the Saturday after Columbus (Indigenous) Day, we sold hundreds of pies, while dozens of bakers vied for recognition of their skills. The Apple Pie Festival was our primary fund raiser for 20 years, until the Covid-19 pandemic stopped in-person events.
Cabot Historical Society meetings are held from May through October. The Main Street Museum is open on July 4th and other times during July and August (see schedule), or by appointment. The West Hill Schoolhouse is open by appointment. E-mail cabothistorical@gmail.com for an appointment.
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