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Exploring Vermont's history, one object at a time.
Episodes
Thursday Apr 12, 2018
Thursday Apr 12, 2018
Visitors who come to Vermont seeking artisanal alcohol may not realize that it used to be one of the driest states in the nation: Prohibition lasted longer here than almost any other part of the country. But some experts say that dry spell may have led to today's booming alcohol culture. On this episode, an old homemade grappa still leads us on a tour of taverns, lost apples, stone dust, boarding houses, and back-to-the-land homebrewers.
2 months ago
I love this whole series and greatly enjoyed this episode up until about the halfway point. I have to say, as the great-grandson of 4 Spanish great-grandparents who came to Barre in the teens of the 20th century, I bristled each time the role of the Spanish were completely left out of this episode! Many would think there were only Scottish and Italian immigrants if you listen to this episode. My great-grandmother, Elvira Lastra Gomez operated a boarding house after her husband (and many, many other Spanish young men) went back to Spain to fight against Franco. Part of making ends meet was making grappa in the house which she would conceal under the floor boards in a spot that my grandparents divulged to me when I was in my 20s. Newspaper accounts from the time showed that she was caught a couple of times before being sent away for 2 years sending my grandmother and her siblings into foster care. And that’s just on my father’s side of the family. On my mother’s side her Spanish grandfather died before she was born at the age of 40 from ”white lung” dying at the sanitarium in Barre. Read the book ”From Santander to Barre: Life in a Spanish family in Vermont”, it’s mostly anecdotal accounts but shows that there was a large, vibrant Spanish community that contributed as much living and dying to our small corner of the world as our neighbors the Italians, Scottish and French