The Middlebury Green – Part I

#Middlebury

This postcard c. 1915 shows the Middlebury Green. Two lamps provided light for the Green, one near the Methodist Church on the right and one in front of the Congregational Church on the left. The historical society has one of the lamps on display in its building. (Middlebury Historical Society scan)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

In New England, the town green holds a prominent place as the geographical and cultural center of most towns. The Middlebury Green is “one of the most dramatic greens in the state,” Eric D. Lehman wrote in his 2015 book, “Connecticut Town Greens.” It also has been called the most beautiful green in New England.

Lehman wrote that the town green was “… the place where English settlers of the 1600s assembled to gossip and bargain, to strengthen the bonds left fallow during the busy times of farm labor or trade or housework. This place was part of their culture, their religion, their worldview. The group needed to gather, and not just in the church. More importantly, it was a place they all owned, together, from the richest merchant to the humblest day laborer. It was a place where they could feel equal.”

Today’s Middlebury Green serves as a communal gathering place for celebrations, displays, exhibits, and parades and also as a quiet venue where one can stroll and contemplate its beauty and the profoundness of history residing there and surrounding it. The Green is owned by the Middlebury Congregational Church and leased to the town of Middlebury. Years ago, it was simply called the Public Park.

One Middleburian, Artison Skilton Clark, born in 1849, the husband of Lillian Augusta Chamberlain (1853-1931), wrote a short history, included in Bronson’s “History of Middlebury,” that at the public park on June 21, 1861, the first year of the Civil War, a 104-foot flagpole was erected and a 16-by-24 foot flag was flown from its peak.

The pole was provided by Mr. Robert Hotchkiss Bronson, father of Eli Bronson. Eli, in turn, was the father of Wheaton Andrews Bronson, the husband of Delia (Driver) Bronson. The flag was the handiwork of the patriotic ladies of the town. At least 30 soldiers from Middlebury marched off to serve their country in the Civil War.

In 1870 the younger members of the community formed themselves into what was called the “Middlebury Improvement Society.” Old worn-down roadways were filled and the road in front of the Congregational Church on the north side of the Green was constructed as a bypass around the park to direct traffic around, rather than through, the park (“History of Middlebury”).

Then, in 1872, “a very public spirited gentleman,” Roswell Bronson Wheaton (1815-1892), and his wife, Levea Root Andrews (1816-1886), purchased a home on the “Park” and became interested in improving it. They graded it and provided for drainage, defined the boundaries and otherwise improved it.

In 1861, Artison Clark reported “only four or five old maples at the west end” of the Green. In 1876, he reported that local citizens with names such as Abbott, Blackman, Bronson, Clark, Chamberlain, DeForest, Fenn, Osborn, Platt, Seeley, Scott, Smith, Tuttle, Tyrell, Wheaton and Wheeler planted 25 elm trees on the Green.

People gathered on the Green in October 1957 for a two-day celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town’s founding. New trees were planted by descendants of the original families who planted the trees in 1876, among them Ellen Fenn and descendants of the Clark, Abbott and Chapman families.

In 2007, Middleburians again gathered on the Green to plant a tree as part of the town’s bicentennial celebration. Katie Stevens, then 14, a Middleburian who has gone on to become a film and television star, entertained us with song and the tree was dedicated, symbolizing our re-dedication to the ideals, values and hopes Middleburians of the past expressed. For thousands of years, the tree has symbolized life – family trees in genealogy are our personal families. Around the world, it is the family of humankind.

Bob Rafford is the Middlebury Historical Society president and Middlebury’s municipal historian. To join or contact the society, visit MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or call Bob at 203-206-4717.