Vintage Postcards – Vermont #2

The town of Brattleboro, VT lies about a half hour south of Westminster where I grew up. It was a bustling town, & I have fond memories of it from my youth—Christmas shopping there at the Book Cellar & Baker’s (an office supply store—for paper, etc.—also I believe the ultimate source of these particular old postcards) Since my mother took my sister & I on outings to Boston fairly regularly, I knew Brattleboro wasn’t a real “city,” but it seemed like a big place to me. Brattleboro is also near the little village of Guilford where my Uncle Jim & Aunt Olive lived (my father’s older brother).

Nowadays Brattleboro is known for its lefty leaning politics & its arts community; according to Wikipedia (see link above), it was rated as the ninth best small town to live in (population less than 30,000—Brattleboro’s is around 12,500) according to John Villani’s book The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America.

One other note on Brattleboro before we get to the postcards—Vermont Route 9 runs thru the town—in fact, the bridge pictured on one of the postcards below is a stretch of Route 9, which was the imaginary locus of Dom Leone’s song "Driving on Nine," performed for years by the most wonderful Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, & later a college radio hit when covered by the Breeders. Once you’ve looked at the postcards, stick around to give the song a listen in the video clip—it features good Robert Frost’s Banjo pal Carrie Bradley on violin!

The postcards all come complete with captions, so I won't add redundant ones. Click to enlarge, of course.