Danville Vermont Historical Society

The three attend­ing Hem­locks added a period ele­ment of respect to the unveil­ing. Pho­tos by Ken Linsley

The Old Com­moner finally makes a vis­i­ble pres­ence in the Ver­mont State House

After many months of work, Thad­deus Stevens has been hon­ored in his home state of Ver­mont by hav­ing his like­ness hung in the State House. In a lovely cer­e­mony in the his­tor­i­cal Cedar Creek room, his por­trait was unveiled and cel­e­brated on March 28, 2012. Con­tinue read­ing →

The etch­ing of Stevens was struck from an orig­i­nal plate that is held by a his­tor­i­cal preser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tion in Penn­syl­va­nia. Stevens, who is cred­ited with the Civil Rights amend­ment to the Con­sti­tu­tion was born in Danville and edu­cated in Peacham before set­ting up his law prac­tice in Get­tys­burg. Though he has been vil­i­fied by some for his rad­i­cal Repub­li­can stance dur­ing recon­struc­tion, he was an extra­or­di­nary visionary.

By Sharon Lakey, Director

On Octo­ber 30, 2011, the Thad­deus Stevens por­trait was unveiled at a cer­e­mony held in the Danville Con­gre­ga­tional Church.

There were hitches in the day’s plan—Ross Het­rick, the main speaker, was on the road all night in a freak snow­storm that buried Penn­syl­va­nia, New York, and Mass­a­chu­setts. David Schutz, who was to accept the por­trait as cura­tor of the Ver­mont State­house, had an emer­gency fam­ily issue and couldn’t attend.

There were also won­der­ful things that hap­pened that day: the audi­ence was treated to sun­shine pour­ing into the church;  the pipe organ and organ­ist, Jen Larrabee, filled the sanc­tu­ary with sound; Paul Chouinard gra­ciously emceed the pro­ceed­ings; Toby Balivet, Town Par­lia­men­tar­ian, gave one of his thought­ful invo­ca­tions; the Pump­kin Hill Singers shared two period songs, beau­ti­fully har­monic; David Hare, dressed in Hem­lock uni­form and his helper, a Danville Cub Scout, unveiled the por­trait; Ross, in spite of the onset of a cold, deliv­ered a rous­ing speech about Thad­deus; and then , after group singing, all retired to the din­ing area to a repast cour­tesy of vol­un­teer bak­ers and the Pas­sump­sic Sav­ing Bank.

Stevens has been vil­i­fied by some his­to­ri­ans for his Rad­i­cal Repub­li­can stance dur­ing the Recon­struc­tion period. But he was a man of strong ideals and his stance was for the equal­ity of all human­ity. Click here for a link to Pres­i­dent Paul Chouinard’s arti­cle on him enti­tled, Old Com­moner.

Recently, a vis­i­tor to the His­tor­i­cal House stood before the por­trait, hold­ing a paper up so that only his eyes were show­ing.  “He looks angry,” she said. I must admit,  if not angry, he def­i­nitely looks res­olute! The por­trait will be at the House until it is accepted at a recep­tion at the State­house dur­ing the upcom­ing ses­sion. Drop by and have a look at Vermont’s native son, who has had an endur­ing affect on America.

For a photo album of the event, cour­tesy of Jim Ash­ley, click here.

For a video of the event, recorded by Ross Het­rick, Pres­i­dent of the Thad­deus Stevens Soci­ety, click here.