Blacksmiths were once indispensable – Part 1

#Middlebury #ItHappenedInMiddlebury By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD Long before the automobile became the common mode of transportation, horses provided most of the daily power for getting ... Continue Reading →

Reverend Nathaniel Smith Richardson

#Middlebury By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD While Middlebury does not have an official “hall of fame” as some of our neighbors do, I have striven over the years to discover and write ... Continue Reading →

Middlebury’s African- and Native-American residents

#Middlebury By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD Using the United States census as a guide, experts estimate the U.S. population was almost 326 million as of July 1, 2016. People of color accounted ... Continue Reading →

It Happened in Middlebury – Middlebury apple cider making

#Middlebury By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD “By 1775 one out of every ten farms in New England owned and operated its own cider mill.” So states Ben Watson, author of a delightful volume ... Continue Reading →

It Happened in Middlebury: Lake Quassapaug – Part I

#Middlebury #LakeQuassapaug   By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD When summer comes to Middlebury, thoughts of warm sunny days bring to mind water sports, beaches and fun times, all associated ... Continue Reading →

It Happened in Middlebury – The Benson family in WW I

#MIDDLEBURY #WWI By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD No one responded to last month’s request for information on Middleburians who served in World War I, but that it is not unusual. Called ... Continue Reading →

It Happened in Middlebury – Civil War took Bronson family member

#MIDDLEBURY   By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD On the same day, May 2, 1863, that Confederate General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson lay mortally wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, ... Continue Reading →

It Happened in Middlebury – Rochambeau’s Middlebury visit

#MIDDLEBURY By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD Some feel there can never be too much praise in this country for the Comte de Rochambeau and the French army under his command in 1781. They played ... Continue Reading →

The White family of Middlebury – Part II

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD Delia Bronson’s History of Middlebury (Middlebury Historical Society, 1992) tells how Betty White’s hobbies multiplied. She researched old books, bindings ... Continue Reading →