We're restoring Vernon's oldest house and building a new community center for the town!
In 1764, Jonathan Hunt built himself a house in Vernon, using locally cut oak and pitch pine for the post-and-beam structure, and boards from the sawmill his father, Samuel Hunt, built that year just a mile south. For the next 15 years he lived there as a bachelor, with his also-bachelor brother Arad. The two of them, and Samuel, amassed considerable wealth by farming and developing land they had acquired through colonial land grants from the governor of New Hampshire, which then claimed all the land that later became Vermont.
In 1779, Jonathan married Lavinia Swan of Worcester. (In grade school there, she had been a pupil of John Adams, for the one year he worked as a teacher before beginning the study of law). Well-loved and cared for over the next 240 years, today the Governor Hunt House is being transformed by the Friends of Vernon Center into a community center for the benefit of all in Vernon.
The Governor Hunt House, Historic Photo
The Governor Hunt House, today.
The Governor Hunt House, Historic Photo
The Governor Hunt House in two centuries.
The mission of the Friends of Vernon Center is to preserve and care for Vernon’s historic Governor Hunt House, and to promote it and the attached Community Center and grounds as gathering places for activities that foster community spirit, honor our community heritage, and support creative ways to enhance and serve the well-being of the residents of Vernon, now and for future generations.
The Governor Hunt House & Community Center will be available for large and small groups, indoors and out; for group meetings, workshops, seminars, lectures and retreats; for family gatherings and celebrations; for performances of all kinds; for exhibits, art and craft shows, farmers' markets, and much more. In addition, there are spaces that may be rented as private offices or meeting rooms by non-profit or for-profit entities or individuals.
The Friends of Vernon Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We invite your participation as a volunteer, as a contributor, and as a user of the Community Center.
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How to support the Friends of Vernon Center:
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER UPDATES
VOLUNTEER: We seek board and committee members as well as people who can help organize events or just help out! Please be in touch: Phone or email board chair Martin Langeveld (Link to e-mail / Phone: 802-380-0226)
CONTRIBUTE: Send tax-deductible donations to Friends of Vernon Center, Inc., P.O. Box 241, Vernon VT 05354.
