To The Editor:
Over the last five months through this pandemic, the General Wait House has been closed to visitors. The historical society has been available to people by phone and email, along with additions to our collection of archival items on our computer.
We can now help people doing research who call us to set up an appointment to meet one of our members at our office and museum in the Wait House. Just recently we made one of our new town residents quite happy by having information on the building she was interested in along with a photo dating back to the late 1800s (and this property’s first owner started his farm there in 1797). She was delighted to know there was a “History of Waitsfield, 1782-1908” book by Matt Bushnell Jones that she could purchase and another book of “Waitsfield History, 1789-2000” by Richard Bisbee (no longer available). Both of these books are on our website waitsfieldhistoricalsociety.com. Also, you will find over 800 photographs from glass negatives that were made into slides and then entered on our website (once on it just click on “smug mug”). These were some of the donations collected through the past 50 years from people who understood the importance of preservation.
Perhaps there are other folks out there that have recently moved into town or those who have developed an interest in history of their 230-year-old town. We will do our best to help you with any questions you may have.
We hope you will take the time to visit our museum at the Wait House when it does reopen. We have a “One-room Schoolhouse” display with photos of some of those schools back then along with students of the 1800 and 1900s. Some could be your relatives! Contact us at “
Please stay safe as we continue to deal with the challenges of this unusual time.
Lois De Heer, president
Waitsfield Historical Society
