mileage
117 WHITE RIVER JUNCTION station, 102 Railroad Row. Elevation approximately 366. The town was
named for its location at the junction of the White River and the Connecticut River. The town has also long been a railroad
junction. While the Vermonter now runs on the new England Central Railroad, in the past, the north-south line through White
River Junction was the Boston & Maine RR, and the route between White River Junction and St. Albans was the Central Vermont Railroad.
White River Junction, known mostly for its quirky and artistic downtown area, is also the home of one of Vermont’s only two strip
clubs. Hollywood’s Hardbodies is set away from the historical downtown Main Street area atop of Sykes Hill. In 1920, White
River Junction served as the location for the filming of the movie Way Down East, which was filmed partly on the ice floes of the
Connecticut and White Rivers, and starred Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess. White River Junction is also the home of Weather
Channel personality Jim Cantore.
Due to its proximity to Dartmouth College,
in nearby Hanover, New Hampshire, White River Junction is also a “hangout” for the college crowd from Dartmouth.
Geologically, the Ammonoosuc Fault passes through White River Junction. This major fault has somewhat constrained the valley
of the Connecticut River, and also marks the eastern boundary of the Bronson Hill Island Arc complex (see MP 116.5 above). Rocks
on the east side of the fault are the Ordovician-aged Post Pond Volcanics Member of the Orfordville Formation, and are composed primarily
of amphibolite and volcanic rocks. The mountains visible across the Connecticut River are the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
As we now head south, we will be following both the Ammonoosuc Fault and the axis of the Brattleboro Syncline. The surficial
materials in the Connecticut River Valley, however, are flood plain deposits. The flat present-day flood plain of the Connecticut
River was also the location of glacial Lake Hitchcock during the Pleistocene Ice Age.
119.5 The quarries visible on either side of
the railroad have been excavated into the Quaternary-aged sand and gravel deposits of the Connecticut River Valley.
122 Cross the Ottauquechee River. if you look to the right (southbound), across the interstate highway, you may be able see the
North Hartland Dam on the Ottauquechee. Road and railroad cuts in the area expose the Devonian-aged Gile Mountain Formation. Look for nearly vertical layers of phyllite and mica schist in some of these cuts.
Additionally, note the covered bridge over the river visible just upstream on the right (southbound).
We are passing through the Village of North Hartland. The Town of Hartland was originally named Hertford, but since the name
was so close to the name of the adjacent Town of Hartford (see MP 110 above), the name was changed to Hartland, which was likely named
after Hartland in Devonshire, England. The Village of North Hartland was formerly known as Evarts, named after an early family
who was related to Governor Chittenden.
125 Sumner Falls (actually a large rapids) is visible in the Connecticut
River to the left (southbound). The hillsides on either side of the Connecticut River Valley are composed of Devonian-aged Gile
Mountain Formation.
125.5 The gravel pit visible on the left (southbound) was also dug into the Quaternary-aged flood plain deposits
of the Connecticut River.
127 The Village of Hartland (see MP 122 above) is visible to the west beyond the highway
(southbound).
130 Ahead of the train on the right, Mt. Ascutney is visible. Mt. Ascutney is a monadnock composed
of Permian through Triassic-aged syenite and granite. It is also a well-known ski resort.
131 WINDSOR-MT. ASCUTNEY station,
26 Depot Avenue. Elevation approximately 300 ft. Windsor is known as the “birthplace of Vermont,” sine the State’s first
Constitution was signed in a local tavern here on July 8, 1777, even as the British army, under General John Burgoyne, was on the
march from Canada to the south to crush the American Rebellion. It was also on that day that Fort Ticonderoga, in neighboring
New York, fell to the British.
Windsor was named after Windsor, Connecticut
(see MP 270 below), which was in turn named after Windsor, England. It was chartered as a town on July 6, 1761 by Colonial Governor
Benning Wentworth. It was first settled in August, 1764, by Captain Steele Smith and his family from Farmington, Connecticut. By 1820, it was the state's largest town, a thriving center for trade and agriculture. In 1835, the first dam was built across Mill
Brook to provide water power. Factories made guns, machinery, tinware, furniture and harness.
Windsor began development at the end of the 18th century. Commerce developed further in the mid-19th century when Windsor became
the first town in the state to break ground for the railroad with the construction of a rail depot.
In addition to the Old Constitution House, Windsor is also the home of the American Precision Museum, which houses collections of
old guns and precision tools.
Windsor was also a home of Bob Keeshan (1927-2004),
of “Captain Kangaroo” fame.
At the south end of town, note on the left (southbound)
the Windsor-Cornish Covered Bridge, which is the longest covered bridge in new England (468 ft), and which connects Windsor to Cornish,
N.H. The bridge was built in 1866 for $9000!
132 We are now crossing into SULLIVAN County, NEW HAMPSHIRE for
a few miles. Sullivan County was organized at Newport in 1827, and is named for John Sullivan, Revolutionary War hero and former
governor.
Geologically, the rocks around us are now the Middle to Upper Ordovician-aged
Ammonoosuc Volcanics, composed of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks and greenschist volcanic rocks. These rocks are part of the
ancient Bronson Hill volcanic Island Arc (see MP 116.5 above).
133 From here, a good view of Mt. Ascutney, across
the Connecticut River, can be had.
We are now entering an area in which the
Middle-Upper Ordovician Partridge Formation is exposed along the railroad, which is overlain by the Lower Devonian mafic volcanic
member of the Gile Mountain Formation.
136.5 The Village of Ascutney is visible across the river in Vermont. The name Ascutney
is from an Abnaki Indian word meaning a place “at the end of a brook.” The Village was originally called Corners, but was changed
to Ascutney in 1851.
137.5 Cross Sugar River.
138.5 Barber Mountain, visible on the right (southbound), is composed of Middle Ordovician-aged
metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks from the lower part of the Ammonoosuc Volcanics.
139 CLAREMONT station, Plains
Road and Maple Avenue, Claremont Junction. Elevation approximately 480. The Town was named after Claremont, the country
mansion of Thomas Pelham-Holles, Earl of Clare. On October 26, 1764, Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth granted the township
to Josiah Willard and others. Although first settled in 1762, many of the proprietors arrived in 1767. The undulating
surface of rich, gravelly loam made agriculture an early occupation.
It was
water power from the Sugar River, however, which brought the town prosperity during the Industrial Revolution. Large brick factories
were built along the stream, including the Sunapee Mills, Monadnock Mills, Claremont Machine Works, Home Mills, Sanford & Rossiter,
and Claremont Manufacturing Company. Principal products were cotton and woolen textiles, lathes and planers, as well as paper. Like other New England mill towns, much industry moved away or closed in the 20th century; however, the city's former prosperity is
evident in some fine Victorian architecture.
Claremont is the home of the Claremont
Historical Society and Museum, Claremont Opera House, Lower Village Historic District, and Sugar River Rail Trail. It was also
the filming location, though not the setting, of the 2006 movie “Live Free or Die.”
142 Calavant Mountain, on the
west (right if southbound), is composed of Lower Devonian Gile Mountain Formation. The hills on the left (southbound) are composed
of older, Ordovician to Silurian-aged formations, including the Partridge Formation (slates and schists), which lies between different
layers of the Ordovician Ammonoosuc Volcanics.
145 As we approach the Connecticut River again, we are passing from
the Lower Devonian Gile Mountain Formation, into the Lower Devonian Littleton Formation (metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks),
then into the Lower Silurian Clough Quartzite. We are traversing the eastern limb of the Brattleboro Syncline.
145.5 The railroad
is now following the shore of the Connecticut River again. Exposed rocks are the Lower Silurian Clough Quartzite.
147.5 We are
crossing a small anticline here. Traveling southbound, we will cross the Middle-Upper Ordovician Partridge Formation, then the
Lower Silurian Clough Quartzite, then finally the Lower Devonian Littleton Formation, all within approximately 0.5 mile.
149 Pass through Charlestown. The area was first granted in 1735 by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts as Plantation
No. 4, the fourth in a line of forts on the Connecticut River border established as trading posts. Settled in 1740, Number Four
was the northernmost township, and its 1744 log fort became a strategic military site throughout the French and Indian Wars. Several settlers were ambushed and captured by the Indians, and in 1747 the fort was besieged for three days by a force of 400 French
and Indians. Captain Phineas Stevens and 31 soldiers, stationed at the fort, repelled the attack. Their success became well-known,
and the fort was never attacked again.
In 1753, the town was regranted as Charlestown
by Governor Benning Wentworth, after Admiral Charles Knowles of the British navy, sent Captain Stevens a sword to acknowledge his
valor. The town responded by naming itself in his honor. The Town was incorporated in 1783. The community developed into
a center for law and lawyers, second regionally only to Boston.
152 Pass through Trapshire. The bedrock in
the hillsides on either side of the river here is the Devonian-aged Littleton Formation. On the New Hampshire side, we are traversing
the same anticline mentioned in MP147.5 above. Above the Littleton on the New Hampshire side are the Lower Silurian Clough Quartzite
and Rangeley Formation, and on the Vermont side, the Littleton is overlain by the Waits River and Gile Mountain Formation, as we are
still paralleling the Brattleboro Syncline on the Vermont side.
153 South Charlestown. Ahead of the train on
the left (southbound), the hills are now part of the Bellows Falls pluton, which is a plug of intruded crystallized igneous rocks
formed from magma as it rises to the earth’s surface. This part of the pluton is composed of the Early Devonian Bethlehem Granodiorite.
154.5 Enter
CHESHIRE County, which was one of the 5 original counties of New Hampshire. It is named for Cheshire in England, and was organized
in 1771 at Keene.
156 Pass through North Walpole. The Town of Walpole was first granted in 1736 by Colonial
Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts as "Number 3", third in a line of Connecticut River fort towns. It was settled as
early as 1736, and called "Great Falls" or "Lunenburg". Colonel Benjamin Bellows built a large fort here for defense against
Indian attack. After New Hampshire became a separate province, the town was regranted by Governor Benning Wentworth as "Bellowstown",
named after its founder. It was incorporated in 1756. The grant was renewed in 1761, when the town was renamed "Walpole",
in honor of Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, and the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Cross the Connecticut River, next to the Bellows Falls Hydro Dam, and cross into WINDHAM County, VERMONT. This is the southernmost
Vermont county we will traveling through on this journey. The county was established by the Vermont Legislature on February
22, 1781, and likely named after Windham, Connecticut, like many other Vermont counties.
156.5 BELLOWS FALLS station, 54 Depot Street. Elevation approximately 305. The falls were once a fishing place for nomadic Abenaki tribes, who caught plentiful salmon and
shad. First called Great Falls, it was settled in 1753 by the English and named for Colonel Benjamin Bellows, a landowner. In 1785, Colonel Enoch Hale built at the falls the first bridge over the Connecticut River. It remained the only bridge across
until 1796, when another was built at Springfield, Massachusetts. The Bellows Falls Canal, built in 1791-1802, lifted boats
52 feet in 8 locks around the gorge, and also provided water power for industry.
In 1802, the first paper mill was established. Two railroads converged in 1849 at Bellows Falls, helping it develop into a major mill
town. By 1859, there was a woolen textile mill, in addition to factories which produced furniture, marble, sashes and blinds,
iron castings, carriages, cabinet ware, rifles, harness, shoe pegs and organs. The principal products, however, were paper and
farm machinery. Incorporated as a village in 1909, Bellows Falls is today a tourist destination noted for its Victorian architecture.
Bellows Falls was the home of Hetty Green, the “witch of Wall Street,” who was proclaimed the richest woman in the world when she
died in 1916. Her worth was more than $100 million, or approximately $17 billion in today’s dollars. Her home is now a
bank.
Bellows Falls is also the home of the Green Mountain Flyer, a tourist
railroad.
Bellows Falls is floored by the Ordovician-aged Bethlehem Gneiss.
157 Cross Saxtons River, named after an early surveyor who allegedly drowned in the river.
159.5 Devonian-aged Littleton Formation in hills
on either side of the railroad and the river.
160 Westminster Station, a Village within the Town of Westminster,
named after Westminster, England. The flood plain of the Connecticut River is wider here thanks to Pleistocene Lake Hitchcock
(see MP 118.5 above), which once occupied the valley. On either side of the flood plain, the rocks in the hills are Devonian-aged
Littleton Formation.
162 Pass through the Town of Westminster, Vermont’s oldest Town. The Town was originally
granted November 9, 1752, and was originally known as New Taunton, after Taunton, Massachusetts, or simply as “Township no. 1.” After the French and Indian War, the settlers were slow to settle the newly granted land, so Gov. Benning Wentworth renewed the grant
in 1760.
163 Interstate 91 is now adjacent to the railroad. Look for road and railroad cuts in the phyllites
and slates of the Littleton Formation.
165 Across the river, look for alluvial terraces in the flood plain of the
Connecticut River. These terraces mark the location of former shorelines of glacial Lake Hitchcock.
166.5 At Putney Great Meadows
here, the edge of the flood plain, visible to the right (southbound), likely marks another ancient shoreline of glacial Lake Hitchcock.
171 Putney Station. The Village of Putney is located approximately 0.45 mile north of the railroad. The Town was granted in
1753, then renewed in 1760 and 1761. It is likely named after Putney, England, which nowadays is a suburb of London. Putney
was the home of legendary nurseryman, Senator, and Governor, George D. Aiken, whose “Aiken solution” for the Viet Nam war was to “declare
we’ve won and get out.” Putney was also the home of John Humphrey Noyes, who, in 1838, set up his Utopian society of “perfectionists,”
who believed in “complex marriage,” which encompassed such practices as wife-swapping. He was eventually kicked out of town,
along with his perfectionist followers
Putney is also the home of Santa’s Land,
a Christmas-themed village which includes rides for kids, a petting zoo, a train ride, and Santa’s house.
Across the river from Putney, on the New Hampshire side, another plutonic dome is visible. This dome is composed of Late Ordovician
granites and granodiorites, which are underlain by Ammonoosuc Volcanics and slates and schists of the Middle-Upper Ordovician Partridge
Formation.
172 As we round the bend, we are adjacent to the Connecticut River again. Deposits in the flood
plain of the river (visible across the river) are alluvial deposits from glacial Lake Hitchcock. The road and railroad cuts
on the Vermont side of the river here are Devonian Giles Mountain Formation, while the hills visible in New Hampshire, across the
river, are the Lower Devonian Littleton Formation.
174 Note the small landing field on the west (right if southbound). On either side of the Connecticut River Flood Plain, the hills are composed of Silurian and Devonian-aged metamorphic rocks, metasedimentary
rocks, and volcanics.
To the west of the railroad is Dummerston, where British
author Rudyard Kipling built a home for his American bride, and named it “Naulakha,” which means “precious jewel.” Kipling wrote
“Captains Courageous” and “The Jungle Book” while living here.
176 Across the river, ahead on the left (southbound),
is the Vernon Dome, an uplifted area composed of a core of older Silurian-aged metamorphosed volcanic rocks, surrounded by younger
formations such at the Lower Devonian Littleton Formation, which is composed chiefly of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks.
179 The lake to the west (right if southbound) is known as Retreat Meadows. To the east, on the New Hampshire side of the river,
is Mount Wantastiquet, which is composed of Lower Devonian Littleton Formation.
180 BRATTLEBORO station, 10 Vernon
Road. Elevation approximately 240 ft. Brattleboro was the first town established in Vermont. To defend Massachusetts
during the French and Indian Wars, the General Court voted on December 27, 1723 to build a blockhouse and stockade at what would become
Brattleboro. Lieutenant-Governor William Dummer signed the measure, so construction of Fort Dummer began on February 3, 1724
and was completed before summer. On October 11, the French attacked the fort and killed some soldiers, but left before reinforcements
could arrive.
In 1725, Dummer's War ended, so in 1728 the fort was converted
into a trading post for lucrative commerce with friendly Indians. But in 1744, King George's War broke out and lasted until
1748. Massachusetts kept a small body of troops at the fort until 1750, after which it was considered unnecessary. The
township became one of the New Hampshire grants, chartered on December 26, 1753 by Governor Benning Wentworth and named Brattleborough
after Colonel William Brattle, Jr. of Boston, a principal proprietor.