The Middlesex Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that was founded in 1993 by Patty Wiley and Sarah Seidman. The early goals of the Society, which continue to this day, are to help townspeople understand and preserve the history of the people who have lived and worked in Middlesex, and the buildings, roads, cemeteries, institutions and culture of this community.

When the Town Plan was revised in the early 1990s, a community history goal was outlined. There had never been an historical society in Middlesex previously.

We welcome donations of old photos and documents; they are stored safely and are available to anyone who wishes to study them.

Our yearly membership drive takes place in person on Town Meeting Day. Dues are one dollar ($1) per person per year, $15 for businesses. Dues and monetary donations are accepted at any time of year, and are used to help defray the cost of exhibits and special projects.

Meetings

The Society generally meets three times per year – a winter Annual Meeting, a spring meeting, and a fall meeting. The locations and dates of our meetings vary. Please check the top of this page for the most current meeting information, and/or reach out to Patty or Sarah at the contact info above. Members share photographs, memorabilia, and stories at our meetings.

Contact

President/Treasurer

Patty Wiley

pwiley3@gmail.com 802-272-8074

Vice President/Clerk

Sarah Seidman

peasefarm@gmail.com
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Middlesex In the Making book

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In 1993 the Society set out to interview over 70 of the town’s oldest residents. These interviews became the basis for our town history, first published in 2006 and now in its third edition. The 264-page book, Middlesex in the Making: History and Memories of a Small Vermont Town, won a 2007 award from the American Association of State and Local History. It contains over 200 photographs and traces the history of the town from its earliest Abenaki roots to the changes of the 1950s and beyond. Copies of the book sell for $30 and are available at the Town Clerk’s office or by contacting Patty Wiley or Sarah Seidman. For an additional $7, we will ship the book to any address in the U.S.Our Book

Over the years the Society has created displays and programs on many topics.

  • Our earliest displays on the general history and railroad history of Middlesex were created for the Vermont History Expo. 
  • Patty Wiley and Manny Garcia also conducted research and presented a program and display on the Missing Village of Wrightsville. 
  • In 2023 the Society celebrated its 30th anniversary with a program at Rumney School featuring a display of items from our collection, a time for public sharing of stories, and a screening of two films created by Middlesex filmmakers: Joe Picard: Man of the Land by Susan Bettmann and Eyesore by David Smith. 
  • In 2025 Society members collaborated with the Old Meeting House Arts Ministry in East Montpelier to create and display an exhibit of 17 watercolors by Eugene Chase (1948-2025), a self-trained artist and native of Middlesex whose imaginative scenes of Middlesex delighted viewers. Almost 50 people attended the opening and shared stories of Eugene, his father Albert, brother Elroy and mother Nellie, whose name graces the road in Bear Swamp where the family lived for many decades. 
  • In Fall 2026 the Society is planning a performance of a short skit written by Sarah Seidman called The Argumentative History of Middlesex. We hope to present the skit as part of a collaboration with Camp Meade/Planetary Art Institute.

Scattered groups of Native Americans hunted the hills of Middlesex and fished and lived along the broad Winooski River for centuries. The European history of Middlesex dates from June 8, 1763, when Jacob Rescaux, Captain Isaac Woodruff, and 64 other men were granted a charter from Benning Wentworth, governor of the province of New Hampshire, to the six miles square (23,040 acres) of rugged, rocky land in central Vermont that we now know as the town of Middlesex. The town was not permanently settled by white people until 1783, when Thomas and Sally Mead built a cabin along the Winooski River between what is now Middlesex Village and the border of Montpelier. The Meads are considered to be the first permanent white settlers in Washington County. 

Ephraim HillMajor forces, many beyond the control of its residents, have shaped the development of the town since that time. These include the building of the Winooski Turnpike from Montpelier to Burlington (approximately where Route 2 is now)    in 1811, the laying of railroad tracks through Middlesex Village in 1848, the annexation of a portion of the original town to Waterbury by the Vermont legislature in 1850 (to accommodate settlers in the hills who could more easily attend meetings and go to market in Waterbury), the building of the hydroelectric power plant along the Winooski River in 1898, the Great Flood of 1927, the creation of Wrightsville Reservoir in 1933, th


e construction of Interstate 89 in 1958, and the construction of a new bridge over the Winoosk River in Middlesex Village Village in 2001.  

Historic community centers in Middlesex grew up around settlement, commerce, waterways, geography, and schools. They include Middlesex Village, Putnamville, Shady Rill, and Middlesex Center. The current population of Middlesex is spread evenly through these historic areas as well as along the back roads and higher elevations of our town.

Ephraim "Eph" Hill (1875-1953) lived with his family on their farm in Lonesome Bend, north of Wrightsville Village and south of Putnamville. Here he sits on the steps of their home, circa late 1920s. The abutments of the bridge that led to the three farms in Lonesome Bend can still be in the Wrightsville Reservoir, not far from the beach area.