I also said that there was an old lady, Pansy Mae, who put on her
bonnet, toted her bible, sang hymns, and tried to proselytize all who
would listen to her. She rode in a horse and buggy, not a tractor!
I think Valley Reporter readers would find articles about what
The Valley looked like on the large farms, as opposed to the hill farms
which were very, very poor without electricity. Huguette Abbott always
mentions looking down at the farm where I was raised, seeing all the
lights at night. Ann Day was really surprised when I said that I left
The Valley, graduated from high school, in 1954, the same year she
bought Knoll Farm from Dr. Willgoose, Chapman and Alice Bisbee. Much
of my history was at Knoll Farm and there are lots of pictures showing
open land and views from that era.
And isn't it ironic, that the poor lived up on the hills in the boonies
in shacks, and the wealthy farms were in the river valley, while now
the further up the mountain you live, the larger your megamansion is!
I saw an MRVTV piece with Waitsfield dairy farmer Elwin Neill and read an article in The Valley Reporter quoting him on milk prices. I remember when his father moved to the
old Prentiss farm, as I knew it, probably before he was born. And much
of the old Drew Bisbee farm is now part of Neill's holdings, all along
the river north of Meadow Road. That was my old stomping ground, North
Waitsfield.
Mary Alice Bisbee lives in Waitsfield.
