Essex and Orleans Counties Historical Societies

Albany Historical Society

Historic Albany Village School, VT Rte 14, Albany, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 317, Albany, VT 05820
Phone: 802-755-6105
Contact: Paul Daniels, President.  Daniels Farm Road, Irasburg, VT 05845 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

War Memorial, erected in front of the Old Village School, was made possible by the Society. Collections are being formed, including some school furniture, town reports, pictures and artifacts, even a sleigh, all donated by townspeople. Complete inventory of all burials in seven town cemeteries was completed in 2001.

Visitors by appointment.

Canaan Historical Society

Museum, Alice Ward Memorial Library, second floor, 27 Park Street, Village Green, Canaan, VT
Mailing Address: 27 Park Street, Canaan, VT 05903
Email: jcowan@ gaw.com
Phone: 802-266-7766
Contact: Joan Cowan, Curator

The society occupies the second floor of a Greek Revival building constructed in 1846 for a stop on the Franklin, New Hampshire to Montreal stage route. Local legends persists that the house was used as an Underground Railroad resting place, but no documentation has ever been found to verify this. Canaan's museum, lacking volunteers, is always open whenever the library is open, six days a week, for self-guided tours. Guided tours can be arranged by contacting the curator. During the summer months, the antique logging tool exhibit in the carriage house is open by chance or by appointment.

Hours and Admission:  Open by appointment, call Joan Cowan at (802) 266-7766 or Virginia Carr at (802) 822-9913.

Charleston Historical Society

Museum Drive, off VT Route 105, West Charleston, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 46, East Charleston, VT 05833
Phone: 802-723-4833
Contact: Richard Colburn, Treasurer

Memorabilia pertaining to Charleston and its inhabitants.

Hours and Admission: June - August: Wednesdays, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, or by appointment

Concord Historical Society

Town Hall Museum, Main Street, Concord, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 301, Concord, VT 05824-0301
Phone: 802-695-3330
Contact: Kathleen Fisher, President

Rooms in the museum contain a replica of a local doctor's office and smoking room, an old post office, and schoolroom. Collections include household furnishings, tools, clothing, toys, and items from local businesses.

Hours and Admission: Annual Open House Weekend on the last full weekend in September, or by appointment. Admission by donation.  Accessible displays are setup during the Open House Weekend, but the museum is not accessible to the disabled.

Craftsbury Historical Society

Babcock House Museum, Craftsbury Common, Craftsbury, VT
Mailing Address: 258 The Ledges, Craftsbury, VT 05826
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 802-586-2825
Contact: Anne Wilson, President

Website:  townofcraftsbury.com

Hours and Admission: June through mid-October: Wednesday, 10:00 am - noon, Saturday, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, or by appointment

Crystal Lake Falls Historical Association

Pierce House, 97 Water Street, Barton, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 253, Barton, VT 05822
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 802-525-3703
Contact: John Brown, president

Photographs and artifacts from Barton's industries and schools are housed in the 1820s Pierce House. There is also a model of 200-year-old Barton Mill Hill, the "Brick Kingdom" factory site. Activities include summer exhibits.

Visitors by appointment.

Derby Historical Society

Museum, Main Street, Derby, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 357, Derby, VT 05829
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 802-766-5324
Contact: Bill Gardyne, Secretary

The small, two-room museum is located in the former town office building on Main Street. There are archives from Derby Academy and material relating to the history of the town.

Hours and Admission: Summer Sunday afternoons and by appointment.  Free.  Not accessible to the disabled.

Glover Historical Society

Municipal Building, Glover, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 208, Glover, Vt 05839
Website: www.gloverhistoricalsociety.org
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 802-525-6212 or 802-525-6227 (town clerk)
Contact: Joan Alexander, Secretary, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The society's museum is located on the second floor of the municipal building, the former "Leonard homestead." School photos, Civil War, cellar holes, home photos (then and now), and cemetery lists are some of the items being archived. Genealogy data is being gathered also. Many publications are available for sale.

Visitors by appointment. No charge.

Greensboro Historical Society

Museum on Breezy Avenue next to Willey's Store, Greensboro, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 151, Greensboro, VT 05841
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 802-586-6913
Contact: Jenny Stoner, President

The society resides in the restored library built in 1900 and houses records and artifacts. It is open by request and appointment year round and for an exhibit each summer. The 2007 exhibit is entitled "Shaping Lives: The Grange, 4H, and More."

Hours and Admission: July - August: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:00 am - 1:00 pm, Saturday 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, or by appointment

Holland Historical Society

693 Gore Road, Holland, VT
Mailing Address: 693 Gore Road, Derby Line, VT 05830
Phone: 802-766-5375
Contact: Bea Nelson, Secretary

The museum is housed in the former Congregational church, built in 1848. There are photographs, household furnishings, textiles, farm implements, military artifacts, and church and town memorabilia. Activities include Old Home Day on the first Sunday in August.

Hours and Admission: June - September: by appointment. Free.

Island Pond Historical Society

Canadian National Railway Station, 2nd Floor, Main Street, Island Pond, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 408, Island Pond, VT 05846
Phone: 802-723-4345
Contact: Clifford Biron, Curator

The historical society occupies the second floor of the restored railway station. There are permanent displays of photographs, railroad memorabilia, 19th-century clothing and uniforms, lumbering tools, local newspapers, and Odd Fellows memorabilia.

Hours and Admission: July - September: Saturday, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm, or by appointment. Accessible to the disabled.

Lowell Historical Society

Town Office, Lowell, VT
Mailing Address: 2170 VT Rte 100, Lowell, VT 05847
Phone: 802-744-6559 or 802-744-6859
Contact: Sam Thurston

The society was organized in July 1999 in the new town hall. Collections are being formed.

Hours and Admission: by appointment.

Lunenburg Historical Society

The society's collection includes many books, documents, and photographs pertaining to the history of Lunenburg and its residents.  Visitors by appointment.

Memphremagog Historical Society of Newport

Museum, Emory Hebard State Office Building, 100 Main Street, Newport, VT
Mailing Address: 96 Stagecoach Drive, Newport, VT 05855
Phone: 802-334-6195
Contact: Barbara Malloy, President

The museum has permanent display panels of 19th and 20th century photographs of the history of Newport and surrounding towns and Lake Memphremagog, plus an Abenaki culture timeline of the Newport/Lake Memphremagog area from Paleolithic times to the present. There are yearly changing showcases of local history.  The society maintains an historical walking tour along Newport's waterfront and Main Street of 10 landmarks long forgotten -- in both English and French. The society offers to the public family genealogy research in the Newport area; a photograph collection; information on the history of Lake Memphremagog, the islands, and steam boats; some Canadian history; and history of the Native Americans in the area. For sale and reference use are 4 books on local cemeteries, as well as 2 local history books by Arcadia Publishing: "Newport and the Northeast Kingdon" and "Around Lake Memphremagog."

Hours and Admission: Museum: Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Saturday mornings; and by chance.

Missisquoi Valley Historical Society

Museum, Main Street, North Troy, VT
Mailing Address: PO Box 237, North Troy, VT 05859
Phone: 802-988-2397
Contact: Nancy Allen, President

The museum is housed in a mid-19th-century building that was first a blacksmith shop and then a church. Collections are of 19th-century textiles, costumes, household furnishings, farm tools, and photographs.

Hours and Admission: Memorial Day - Labor Day: Sunday, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm and by appointment. Free.

Morgan Historical Society

Orleans County Historical Society

Old Stone House Museum, Old Stone House Road, Brownington, VT
Mailing Address: 109 Old Stone House Road, Brownington, VT 05860
Website: www.oldstonehousemuseum.org
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 802-754-2022
Contact: Peggy Day Gibson, Director

The museum is owned and operated by the Orleans County Historical Society, which in 1916 rescued the four-story granite building from demolition and has since used it to display collections of 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century New England furniture, paintings, decorative arts, tools, local folk art, folk technology, and a small research library. There are 23 rooms of permanent exhibits including 11 "town rooms" representing 11 of the 18 towns in the county. Today, the museum complex includes the Samuel Read hall House (1831), Cyrus Eaton House (c. 1834), the Alexander Twilight Homestead (c. 1830), the Lawrence Barn (c.1840)and Prospect Hill Observatory, and 55 acres of open land. Activities include guided tours of the museum, an annual antique engine show, and Old Stone House Day (Sunday nearest Bennington Battle Day), heritage craft and small scale agricultural workshops, a day camp, and special cultural and educational programs.   The museum also provides a variety of educational programs to schools in the region.

Hours and Admission: May 15 - October 15: Wednesday - Sunday, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. Adults $6, Orleans County residents $5, Students $3.

Westfield Historical Society

Hitchcock Memorial Museum & Library, 1275 VT Route 100, Westfield, VT
Mailing Address: 69 Fuller Road, Westfield, VT 05847

This town museum and public library, built in 1899, has exhibit rooms with 19th-century farm tools, furniture, costumes, linens, photographs, rock, butterfly, and coral collections.

Visitors by appointment.