Danville’s Lovely Miss Whittier

By Sharon Lakey, Danville His­tor­i­cal Society

When­ev­er we plan our Annu­al Meet­ing Pro­gram, I am always look­ing for Danville con­nec­tions. This year, a speak­er list­ed in the Ver­mont Human­i­ties Speaker’s Bureau caught my eye: Lin­da Radtke per­form­ing a pro­gram enti­tled Vermont’s Musi­cal Ladies. The pho­to­graph of her in her hoop skirt impressed me, because Danville had one such fine lady. I con­tact­ed Lin­da, and she is now our pre­sen­ter on Sun­day, March 26 at 1 pm. When I told her about Har­ri­et, she began work­ing to find a song she sang in her repertoire.

Our Danville Mez­zo-Sopra­no (a female voice pitched between sopra­no and con­tral­to) was named Har­ri­et, but I see her named on bills as Miss Hat­tie Whit­ti­er. She lived in a lit­tle cape house on Route 2, on the school side of the road. We know exact­ly which house. There are two capes on that side, and this one is the first you see as you near the school on your way out of town. The for­mer prin­ci­pal and his wife, the Manning’s, lived there when they lived in Danville.

Accord­ing to our town his­to­ry, Vil­lage in the Hills, Har­ri­et Whit­ti­er was a direct descen­dant of Gen­er­al Israel Put­nam and John Green­leaf Whit­ti­er. Quot­ing from the book, “She came to Danville as a sick child to live with her great uncle and cred­it­ed Danville’s cli­mate with her sub­se­quent health until her death at 94. She stud­ied voice in Europe, trav­eled wide­ly, and was soloist with the Boston Sym­pho­ny and many choral groups.”

We have some of the Harriet’s arti­facts: the square grand piano (that needs a lot of work) that sits in the His­tor­i­cal Room in North Danville; a large scrap­book con­tain­ing page after page of recitals and places she vis­it­ed, includ­ing Europe;  an adver­tise­ment for Negun­do Tea House that she ran in Danville for vis­i­tors at her home; and sev­er­al glass plate pho­tographs of her and two young friends on Danville Green tak­en by Stephen Water­man (a rel­a­tive). There is even an oil por­trait of her hang­ing in Mol­ly (Water­man) Newell’s for­mer home in North Danville that we are plan­ning to bor­row for the event.

We hope you will join us for our Annu­al Meet­ing Pro­gram. It is free and open to the pub­lic. And, Ms. Radthke’s inves­ti­ga­tion has paid off. She will sing one of the songs our love­ly Miss Hat­tie per­formed in Boston so many years ago!