Features

This Week in History December 10 - 16

10 years ago
The Wilmington Selectboard approved $9,500 in 1% local option tax funding for the installation of decorative rope lighting on the exterior of Wilmington Town Hall. The project was intended to highlight the building’s historic architectural detail and provide a...

Legislative Update: The view from Washington, D.C.

I spent part of this week in Washington, D.C., meeting with our congressional delegation, national policy staff, and the National Conference of State Legislatures. NCSL is the bipartisan organization that brings lawmakers from every state together to learn from one another and work on state/...

This Week in History November 27 - December 3

10 years ago:
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin announced a plan to welcome Syrian refugees to the state. At the same time, other governors refused to accept refugees from Syria, and some officials demanded more assurances regarding the federal government’s vetting process for...

Laura Stevenson One-Minute Book Reviews

A mystery within a mystery in turn-of-the-century England

Sally Smith, “A Case of Mice and Murder. Raven Books, 2024.
Every once in a while, a mystery novel appears that is notable not only for its wit and intricate plot, but for its portrait of a historical place and people. Sally Smith’s “A Case of Mice and Murder” is one of...

This Week in History: November 20 - 26

10 years ago:
The MOOver held a grand opening and open house at their brand new, $5.6 million state of the art facility in Wilmington. The facility, built on the site of a demolished factory that had manufactured everything from plywood to off-road motorcycles during its...

This Week in History November 13 - 19

10 years ago:
Local residents were concerned about silt run-off that was discoloring the water in Cold Brook, and flowing down the North Branch of the Deerfield River, and reported the sediment to the state’s watershed management division. But state officials said the silt...

One woman’s advice to seniors living alone: Have a plan

I got a phone call recently from our now retired Wilmington Town Nurse, Jennifer Fitzgerald, with a suggestion for this column. She is concerned about older people living alone in the valley and what might happen to them in an emergency. Apparently, a person was found dead in an apartment in...

This Week in History: November 6 - 12

10 years ago:
Wilmington’s development review board denied a request by Hermitage Club developers to rescind a condition requiring them to fund the construction of a garage to house a fire department ladder truck as part of their permit for a condominium hotel complex. The...

The cost of silence: Lessons from Kristallnacht

On Sunday, November 9, synagogues around the world will leave the lights on all night, marking the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Kristallnacht was a turning point in the history of the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany and was a clear foreshadowing of events...

Claudette Hollenbeck

Aging in Place: History repeats itself in the span of one lifetime

In these extremely perplexing times, I am finding solace in, of all things, a Nova program on PBS chronicling the trajectory of homo sapiens (wise humans) from our origins in east Africa 300,000 years ago until we have spread all over the entire globe. There is no other mammalian creature that...