Barnet Library & Community News
By Dylan Ford
I’ve had the pleasure over the past few weeks of participating in a few community-forward events. A couple of them took place in the neighboring town of Ryegate. I was reminded of the importance of a shared history. Our towns were originally bound together in the early 1770s by the Scotch-American Company, purchasing a large piece of Ryegate and the United Company of Farmers of the Shires of Perth and Stirling purchasing 7,000 acres of Barnet. They shared religious beliefs that kept them bound through the Presbyterian Church.
Last weekend the Ryegate Historical Society spearheaded their town celebration for the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was a grand celebration of history, heritage and hard work. The Ryegate Grange, the Ryegate Corner Presbyterian Church, the Fire Department and many more volunteers stepped up to make french fries, bake beans, brew coffee, develop written and hands-on-history exhibits, read a portion of the Declaration of Independence, perform a cantata, and Fifth Business joined us with song. Some of the presenters even came from Barnet to dip candles, make butter and spin wool into yarn.
While it was intended to celebrate our country as a whole, its true spirit was one of gathering together to celebrate the shared values and strengths of our small towns. It reminded me that as it is essential to strengthen the community of people, it is also important to strengthen the bond between towns. While we appear similar on the outside, each Vermont town is slightly and beautifully unique in character.
Starting July 29, The Barnet Library in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute and the VT and NH Humanities council is one of only 3 towns in Vermont to host a traveling Museum on Main Street exhibit titled SPARK! Places of Innovation. This installation highlights innovative ideas around the country that helped reinvigorate towns, which inspired a new chapter in rural communities that had been waning either in population or economically.
As part of this exhibit we have a speakers series, as well as incorporating rotating history exhibits permanently into the library, and hosting a discussion we’re calling “Just One Thing” to explore what our next innovation is, as a larger community, to continue to thrive in the future while honoring our past. What does it mean to live here, in each of these towns, now? How do we bring forward, as we step into the unknown of the future of rural Vermont towns, what we love of the past? How do we acknowledge the strength and determination of those who came before us, the sense of dedication and hard work, the drive to help, the do-it - yourselfness of all these folks that live and lived in the hills with resources miles away? How do we use our strengths as individual towns to reach across town lines and share our uniqueness to strengthen the NEK as a whole? Join us in our discussions and come see this inspiring exhibit!
Dylan Ford is the Director of the Barnet Public Library