It’s a bestseller! The first complete history of the Town of Middlesex, Vermont, Middlesex in the Making, co-authored by Middlesex Historical Society President Patty Wiley and VP/Secretary Sarah Seidman, was published in March, 2006, and all 500 copies sold out within three months. Now a new and improved second edition of the town history is hot off the presses. The new edition includes four new interviews and several new photos, and corrects a number of errors that crept into the original 264-page volume.
This lively and readable history includes stories about Crazy Chase, the musician who could play any tune by ear and happened to enjoy performing in women’s clothing, and the Balancing Rock, a huge boulder so carefully balanced that it could be see-sawed on its perch. There are photos of the three hermits who used to populate the abandoned “Notch” area between Middlesex and Waterbury, a letter from a young woman to her betrothed about escaping the blaze that burned the timber off Mt. Hunger in 1902, and stories of the CCC workers who came in to build the flood control dam at Wrightsville after the Great Flood of 1927. Middlesex was the first town settled in Washington County, and the second edition includes over 200 photographs from this small community, as well as oral histories transcribed from more than 80 long-time residents. The authors will receive a Local Historical Society Achievement Award of Excellence for their book at the annual meeting of the League of Local Historical Societies at the Vermont Statehouse Oct. 13.
Cover and Book design by Middlesex resident Kate Alberghini and printed by L. Brown and Sons of Barre, VT, the book costs $20, plus $5 shipping and handling, and can be ordered from Middlesex Historical Society Treasurer Dick Alderman, 422 Center Rd, Middlesex,VT 05602. It is also available at the Middlesex Town Clerk’s office or just send an email to the webmaster and we’ll get you a copy.
