On her 80th birthday, a Danville Artist Shares her Story

October 6, 2016Posted inDanville Green, Historical people, North Danville, NSM articles

By Sharon Lakey

“I’ve been kind of a maverick. I feel as if I’ve washed along, fitting in here and there…”

Robin Rothman

 

Robin at home in her living room in Danville.
Robin at home in her liv­ing room in Danville.

Robin Roth­man has always been a bit of an enig­ma. She is a lone walk­er on the streets and roads around Danville; she is that small woman stand­ing among the few at the St. Johns­bury post office, hold­ing signs pro­mot­ing world peace; she is the woman who draws our atten­tion to the details in our sur­round­ings through the thread of a fine-line ink drawing.

Ned, You Ought To Take Me in Your Auto

April 4, 2011Posted inDanville Green, From the archives

The story of the first automobile in Danville

Ned Pet­tengill’s lit­tle red car, the first in Danville, sits in front of the Bad­ger black­smith shop on what is now Route 2.

By Mark R. Moore

Ancient Roads. When I first heard of their exis­tence, I had visions of a myth­i­cal high­way hid­den under the soil and stones in some cor­ners of the Repub­lic of Ver­mont. Soon I learned it was a mat­ter of old, fad­ed charts and the rec­ol­lec­tions of long-time res­i­dents. But even the maps and mem­o­ries get fuzzy with the pas­sage of time. The roads become ruts, the ruts get filled in, and the road becomes not an obscure ram­ble through the forest.

Yet the doc­u­ments at the Danville His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety set me on a clear path where I met the image of the first car and first car own­er in Danville–the recent­ly mar­ried 24-year-old own­er of a red tour­ing auto­mo­bile, Ned Pet­tengill. But first, let’s review a bit of his­to­ry of the auto­mo­bile in Vermont.