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Brave Little State podcast cover art
Brave Little State

Your Vermont history fix, from gold mines to witch windows (encore)

By Angela Evancie,
Liam Elder-Connors, Kathleen Masterson, Amy Kolb Noyes, Josh Crane
Published August 10, 2023 at 10:28 AM EDT
In the 1850s, a small but vibrant community grew up around a gold mining operation in the Plymouth-Bridgewater area. Called Plymouth Five Corners, it had a hotel, a school and a dance hall.
E.G. Davis
/
Plymouth Historical Society
In the 1850s, a small but vibrant community grew up around a gold mining operation in the Plymouth-Bridgewater area. Called Plymouth Five Corners, it had a hotel, a school and a dance hall.

Instead of taking on one of your questions about Vermont, we’re taking on three — in a kind of local history lightning round.

Brave Little State is Vermont Public’s listener-driven journalism show. In each episode, we answer a question (or three) about Vermont that’s been asked — and voted on — by you, our audience.

We originally released this episode back in the summer of 2017.

Our show is made for the ear. We recommend pressing play on the audio posted here. Keep reading below to find web versions of the stories in this episode.

Question #1: "What is the history of Vermont's witch windows? And why do they only exist in Vermont?" — Aaron Troncoso, Burlington

A witch window on a farmhouse in Wolcott.
Credit Amy Kolb Noyes
/
Vermont Public
A witch window on a farmhouse in Wolcott.

You might have seen this architectural oddity on an old Vermont farmhouse, even if you didn’t know what to call it. It’s one of those upstairs windows that’s set on a diagonal. There’s superstitious lore behind the name — but the stories don’t quite add up.

Check out the full answer here.

Question #2: "Someone once told me Vermont had two gold mines. If so, where were they, and when were they used?" — Peter Brown, Vernon

Men panning for gold in an 1887 photograph from the Plymouth Historical Society.
Credit E. G. Davis / Plymouth Historical Society, courtesy
/
Plymouth Historical Society, courtesy
Men panning for gold in an 1887 photograph from the Plymouth Historical Society.

The allure of the 1849 California Gold Rush drove many Vermonters west — though very few made any money. But the story goes that two of those men returned to Vermont and realized that the topography of the Plymouth-Bridgewater area, east of Killington Peak, was similar to a hotspot for gold in the Sierra Nevada.

Check out the full answer here.

A few updates since we originally released this story in 2017: Marjorie Gale retired from her post as the Vermont State Geologist in 2020. And Coleman Hoyt, the amateur historian who lived on Gold Coast Road, died in 2019. He was 93 years old.

Question #3: "What, or whom, was Church Street named after?" — Lorraine Carter-Lovejoy, Burlington

The steeple on the Unitarian Universalist church at the head of Church Street in Burlington.
Credit Historic American Buildings Survey / Library of Congress
/
Library of Congress

It might sound like a trick question. But do you know for sure where Church Street got its name or how the street became such a bustling commercial district? 

Check out the full answer here.

A view of Burlington's Church street from the bell tower of the Unitarian Church.
Credit Liam Elder-Connors / VPR
/
VPR File

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Credits

This episode was originally produced, mixed and edited by Angela Evancie, who’s now our executive producer, with help from Lynne McCrea. Theme music by Ty Gibbons. Other music in this episode was by David Szesztay, Podington Bear, Jockers Dance Orchestra and Avon Comedy Four. We had engineering support from Chris Albertine, and Josh Crane remixed today’s encore.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

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Brave Little State Brave Little StateHistory
Angela Evancie
Angela Evancie serves as Vermont Public's Senior VP of Content, and was the Director of Engagement Journalism and the Executive Producer of Brave Little State, the station's people-powered journalism project.
See stories by Angela Evancie
Liam Elder-Connors
Liam is Vermont Public’s public safety reporter, focusing on law enforcement, courts and the prison system.
See stories by Liam Elder-Connors
Kathleen Masterson
Kathleen Masterson as VPR's New England News Collaborative reporter. She covered energy, environment, infrastructure and labor issues for VPR and the collaborative. Kathleen came to Vermont having worked as a producer for NPR’s science desk and as a beat reporter covering agriculture and the environment.
See stories by Kathleen Masterson
Amy Kolb Noyes
Amy is an award winning journalist who has worked in print and radio in Vermont since 1991. Her first job in professional radio was at WVMX in Stowe, where she worked as News Director and co-host of The Morning Show. She was a VPR contributor from 2006 to 2020.
See stories by Amy Kolb Noyes
Josh Crane
Josh Crane is part of Vermont Public's Engagement Journalism team. He's the senior producer and managing editor for Brave Little State, a podcast based on questions about Vermont that have been asked and voted on by the audience, and runs Vermont Public's Sonic ID project.
See stories by Josh Crane
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