Worth the Wait?
Route 2: Pain now–Payback later
By Sharon Lakey
Senator Jane Kitchel was quoted in the Caledonian-Record on July 1, 2011, at a meeting between the Vermont Agency of Transportation and Danville residents and business owners. “Maybe this project is a lot like having a baby. When we get done we’ll be pleased with what we have, hopefully.”
There’s no doubt about the pain. Anyone trying to make it through and around Danville this summer has experienced it. Frustration has sometimes been high, but lately it seems people, at least locally, are waiting for the baby with more stoicism. And while wel’re waiting, there is renewed interest in what the final product is going to look like. Over the past 20-plus years, the collective memory of how this project evolved has dimmed; perhaps a review of how we got here from there is useful. So, a little history…
The Secret Room
A new Northeast Kingdom adventure book
By Sharon Lakey“Shawna and Thea are working together on a math project for their eighth-grade class. But the numbers don’t add up, and they make a startling discovery—the secret room in the basement of Thea’s house, an old Vermont inn.
The code on the walls makes the girls—and everyone in town—wonder why there was a secret room. Was it part of the Underground Railroad, or perhaps something less, well, heroic? Discovering the truth is harder than they would have thought, especially when the truth is not what you want to hear.”
On September 10, 2011, Northeast Kingdom author, Beth Kanell, will officially have her second novel released by her new publisher, St. Johnsbury-based Brigantine Media. When she told me about the release date, she looked at me mischievously and said, “9 10 11. Wouldn’t Shawna and Thea love that?”
Ahh, that’s right. Shawna and Thea, the two main characters in the story, do love numbers.
After reading a preliminary copy of the book, Beth and I arranged for an interview to begin in North Danville, the town that served as a muse for The Secret Room, which she sets in fictional North Upton. Beth shared that it was a request by her friend, Mary Prior, to set a novel there. Mary, who had grown up in the center of the village, recommended its strong spirit of place as a perfect setting to help work the magic of story.
Romance and Reality, Dissension and Dollars: The War News Trickles In
September of 1861, the Civil War was page two. It wasn’t all that unusual for the North Star to have no Civil War headlines on the front page.
There was one item with political repercussions nationally. A Union General had taken it upon himself to issue a proclamation about slavery. There was also a letter by a Vermont POW and a report about the Danville Company. That month, the reader could also learn about what volunteers were getting for pay.
North Star September 7, 1861The Vermont Prisoners at Richmond
Letter from Captain Drew Richmond, VA Aug 19, 1861 Editors of the Free Press:I am permitted by General Winders, the humane and obliging commander of this post to write you, giving a list of Vt boys confined here, and some information as to our capture. For several days before the battle, I had been sick and on “Sunday the 21st” [A reference to the Battle of Bull Run and its date July 21] was hardly able to move.