Choate-Sias

The charm­ing  red cape, now known as the Choate-Sias house, sits next to the stat­uesque Danville Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church on Hill Street.  The beau­ti­ful house is the result of a gen­er­ous gift from an anony­mous donor offered in 2006.

The donor’s offer and ensu­ing effort fell under the lead­er­ship of Mary Pri­or, for­mer Pres­i­dent and Direc­tor of the Danville His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety. She teamed with Paul Chouinard, a local his­to­ri­an and archi­tec­tur­al per­fec­tion­ist, to find a house that would make a fit­ting place to house archives and arti­facts as well as pro­vide meet­ing space for the Danville His­tor­i­cal Society.

By luck or grace, the lit­tle cape by the Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church became avail­able. It is near the cen­ter of the vil­lage and has his­tor­i­cal integri­ty. A  pro­to­typ­i­cal Cape Cod style home, it mir­rors the aus­tere sim­plic­i­ty of ear­ly nine­teenth cen­tu­ry, rur­al Ver­mont homes. The lin­eage of the peo­ple con­nect­ed with the house were among the long-stand­ing fam­i­lies of Danville: Sias, Choate (the builder, a cab­i­net-mak­er), Cur­ri­er, Cahoon, Peck and Gadapee. The deed research estab­lished its con­struc­tion in 1838.

The two-year ren­o­va­tion includ­ed a great room addi­tion that makes an attrac­tive meet­ing space. Appro­pri­ate atten­tion was giv­en to all details as well as com­pli­ance with Amer­i­cans with Dis­abil­i­ties Act. His­tor­i­cal House had its grand open­ing in May of 2009. It is the head­quar­ters of the Danville His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety and is open to the pub­lic two days a week. Hours are Tues­days and Thurs­days from 10:00am to 5:00 pm, or by appoint­ment. View the video walk-through of the house, con­duct­ed by Paul Chouinard below.