Apples, Old Implements, Music, and Logging: It Was All There For Tucker Mountain Day
This free event was a great excuse for lawn chairing and just plain sitting or standing around and chatting with neighbors or newcomers as the kids explored or watched any number of demonstrations with a working draft horse named Leaf, artifacts found in local barns, or a chance to see and discover just how an ox team can listen to and obey commands from its driver, Miles Conklin.
Bernie Marvin
Visitors and Tucker Mountain Town Forest Board Member Jeff Goodell, on the right, observe draft horse logger John Jayne of Newbury as he speaks to the crowd about low-impact horse logging and ecologically sensitive timber harvesting at last weekend's Tucker Mountain Day. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin
West Newbury, VT – With great weather and those high Vermont puffy clouds most of last Saturday, August 29, 2026, nothing could go wrong that would mar another perfectly executed Tucker Mountain 250th Anniversary Day.
For four busy hours, the East Parking Lot saw a steady stream of people coming aboard the neat layout of the grounds and enjoying themselves in the shadows of majestic Tucker Mountain. The program was brought to the public by the talented members of the Newbury Historical Society and the Tucker Mountain Town Forest Committee.
This free event was a great excuse for lawn chairing and just plain sitting or standing around and chatting with neighbors or newcomers as the kids explored or watched any number of demonstrations with a working draft horse named Leaf, artifacts found in local barns, or a chance to see and discover just how an ox team can listen to and obey commands from its driver, Miles Conklin.
A full trip down memory lane was in store for visitors to Tucker Mountain Day, as people connected with the Grande Montagne made sure there was enough of everything on location to have a very successful program that was supposed to end at 2:00 PM, but hung over that final limit because folks did not want to leave.
Music was also at hand, as the Tucker Mountain Boys and the Sacred Heart Singers entertained guests during the day. Picnics were enjoyed as groups participated in fun projects such as apple pressing with Rick and Emmy Hausman and learning about the wonderful geologic history of the rugged grounds everyone had come to see from County Forester AJ Follensbee..
Organizers did not forget the rich history of Tucker Mountain, as they celebrated 250 years of this mountain's heritage as part of the town's incorporation in the long years of experience from its founding in 1763 to today's vibrant Newbury township in 2026.
Newbury and its outer territories of South or West Newbury, and Wells River, have long attracted an interesting base of people from throughout the United States. Read the 2018 story, “A History of Tucker Mountain” by Tom Kidder and you will get the complete story of Tucker Mountain Town Forest as it was honored last weekend.
It's the people that make events in the Newbury environs so interesting, whether it is a Goodbye Summer program in Wells River, a superb sit-down home-cooked turkey dinner at the West Newbury Town Hall, or a busy land-based education program on the wonders of the 635-acre Tucker Mountain Town Forest.
County Forester AJ Follensbee of the Vermont State Forest, Parks and Recreation, at left, speaks to an early group of visitors attending Tucker Mountain Day about the highlights of the forest and fauna that can be found throughout the grounds of the Tucker Mountain Town Forest. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin.
Rick and Emmy Hausman assisted visitors with the fine art of crushing first-of-the-season apples. They are experienced in making quality fresh Vermont apple cider. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin.
An interesting display of early farming implements and books that visitors found interesting at the Tucker Mountain Day program. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin.
This talented group of Sacred Harp Singers was getting ready to present a complete set of vocal music to the Tucker Mountain Day visitors last Saturday, August 29, 2026. The Bridge Weekly/Bernie Marvin