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IN THE HEART OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINSTtnwinui ot itw GUitfitbwry R.Ucovl Nin. Mllu from Htiwuoyion wd Om .1 th. Most Pldi.re.qw of .he Valley* of (he Green HnM* WIT -c'rnuit of Southern V.rmonl. Sho.ti« Hotel end Chib Hook.The- Banner nnil Keformer thi* week ' presents • flee of the cli I. Iiuiiu ai d the hotel which were banted „i the, terminus Of the old Bennington unu Glastonbury railroad In lb* i-wl of tbr Grwn Mountain*. 2HOO feet above tlio level of the nee. Tho road was built In 1872 by the Beunington and \ Glastonbury railway and lumbar com- 1 pany, of which T. W. I’ark we. the principal owner. The road w. nine miles lo length and one of the mod picture*)ue In New England. It. tome place, the grad. wan 2fl0 feet to the mile.The club house •» well arranged for partieo and excursion* and for a couple of yeara wa* liberally patron-lied. It wao burned a few inonthi ago, but the hotel I. ye? Handing, though In a dilapidated condition.There wa a continual change of scenery from tho time a train left the ouwklru of the Tillage until It. arrlv-al at Its deattoatiun. Tourist* and excardonbu Who tra»eled over It could not ex pres. their pleasure in ■trong enough term..The road wae hadly waah.nl out by the great frwahet of IW, and again in ltsto. an.) haa never born rebuilt. butouinp. »h» came r.ther for quhtude and n*.t. we iu..y refer with foud lw olhvtiouB to the delight* of the trip Irom th. foul ..f Nimh-st in ihe vilage of Bennington to Uir terminus at the club bouse. uluu oil Ira up the Wood-flt;*rtl and Glastonbury valleys.Wlwo .1 waa found that cottager# uid excursionists could not he made I., assimilate, or lo recreate In con/* nion, a rcort called the Caalno »»• catehlUlied a half mile lower down the line. Thia was a victualing, dancing and musical resort, as well as a picnic ground, and the last year the road was lo Operation a theatre of considerable pretentions was added and vaudeville entertainment* given there. It was the la*t year, too, Uiat the club house ar.d hotel at the Klastenbury end were completed and the bonding of the rails continued to thsl point. But all tills I. ancient history. How the manager spent most of hi* lime at the Murrav Hill hotel In New York raising money to sink either in this enterprise or in his own |««'ket, how many contracted hills In Bennington and Woodford went unpaid, dors not concern us no*. Moat of us have forgot-In Vevtn« t. The view was taken the railroad looking east. —After Its abandonment by the niogton and GlaaUnbury lumber company it w as operated for a few years by thh Bennington and Woodford electric railway company. Thi. company built the Casino and opera house half way between this village and Glastonbury, and also built the club house at the terminus, which was formerly die old sawmill of the Gla.tsn-y-successito summer* the and Woodford electric railway was in operation. Without attompting to trace it* history from Its in l*SC. to it* downfall in the of 1*«. further than to note that the project was primarily intend.*) tofasort for city people, which It torly to do, hecause tf the outset pll.nl in many carload* of excursionist* upon the people at thetrolley wheel j off. The bwei* created by , gave us back our breath, That was j ali. But after Crossing the trestle at tha Hathaway bridge we began to scent the mountain air. We ran in and out of shade and sunshine, and then tRruugh woods, and then whirled by the abandon.#! Iron furnace, then over a rickety and ticklish trestle, named the Garrity crossing, and turned into tho Woodford valley, called by the natives the hollow. What a fall io the temperature th. re-full ten degrees, If one. . Then n high bridge I was negotiated, and we struck a scat-| terrd settlement. Crossing two other . trestle*, we pulled up at the Casino, j Some got off bare, but most of u* kept Crossing two more trestles nt t amp Comfort. This waa a .eml-private station. The hotel ami twenty to thirty cottages groupedfailed nt- our scuts..imi.Dg plus# in au alcove of the mountain where well* up one of pure*t odd water springs In the state, waa *acre«j io ritv sojourner*. We halt for a wo. u-ent only, lor we are country calll* booked foe the terminus.And here at the end wat a hotel and a two-atory dub bouse forty by ona hundred feel oi. the foundation. squat, ting at the very toe of a huge mountain foot, from either side of which flowed stream* that united in one )u*l below tl.e building. From the broad veranda* of the club house Ihe view down tl.e valley was beautiful, and It was always restful to alt there atid smoke and think, for w could think a* well a* smoke drapile the romping children all about, or the laugh anjl prattle of the young and gay.From the Garrity crossing to tha Glastonbury end the valley He* but a few hundred yards wide bctw.cn mountains on either side that rise more or less abruptly from a hundred to three thousand towering feet. In thi* valley runs tha Wnlloomsac, a rippling brook in summer days, hut a deluge of water, that leave nothing In Its shiftine course but imwlder* that its embrace has rolled frontof heaven hawhappened, once In l*iw and once in l(W, blt;Ah in the month of October. The road crossed and recroused this stream many tiroea, and so after Ihe (load came In H8. there «»* no longer any road.It was the sad ending of a pleasure rout, that was appreciated most when it was destroyed, and it has bean fondly hoped Dial the Bennington and llooaick Valley road would some time extend it* iron a* far a. the Casino at least, which it could safely do by -kitting the foot of the mountain south and ea-l of the river above the Fur-nace bridge. Give u* back at leaal the«'aslno, and a means to reach It, and we will !■ content. We will crowd the cars In rammer time, and so will the people of Hoosick Fall* and thoaa along tin- linn when once they have tasted and tost.#! the ouone of the Woodford valley.
Newspaper Details
Bennington Banner And Reformer
Bennington, Vermont, US
Thu, Jan 15, 1903
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Tim W.
PA, USA 18 Dec 2016
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