In the fall of 1841, Vermonter Reed Brown set out on a two-month odyssey with two goals: to obtain a patent for his improved carriage springs, and to assist his brother Nathaniel, in jail in Ohio. Reed kept a journal that chronicles the dangers and difficulties, as well as some of the pleasures, of travel in that time. He experienced: a steamboat explosion, a rail car derailment, hours of a bone-jarring stagecoach ride, delightful encounters with...

With the advent of the railroad in 1849, North Williston changed from a small collection of farms to a thriving economic center in Chittenden County. Transportation access spurred industries such as Smith Wright's cold storage plant, a butter tub factory and a gristmill. The general store, with the telephone switchboard and the post office, served as the community's central gathering place during the village's prosperity. Richard H. Allen has drawn...