Arts, Dining & Entertainment

Poultney Remembers series begins with early decades of slate industry

Sunday, Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.—POULTNEY—The Poultney Historical Society is launching Poultney Remembers, a series of weekend programs for 2017 featuring knowledgeable speakers sharing fresh perspectives on our area’s past. Programs will be held every other month in different buildings of historic interest around the town of Poultney to benefit these notable places.
The series begins on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2 p.m. in the Poultney High School Library with The Story of Our Slate Industry, the First Hundred Years (1840-1940), a presentation by Poultney resident Krista Rupe. Rupe, current Executive Director of the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, N.Y., is also a member of the Poultney Historical Society’s Board of Trustees. She has a local family background in the slate industry and is pleased to share her insights about how the slate industry transformed the area  over those early decades. “Poultney has a rich history in the slate industry that is still alive today,” said Rupe.
Poultney High School, built in 1936, has been the place where several generations of Poultney youth have come of age, and has served as a vital community hub near the heart of town on East Main Street. “We’ll begin the program with a few words about the high school building itself, which is now over eighty years old and stands as a testament to our town’s value for education, and to the 1930s Public Works Administration, which enabled Poultney’s first, and only, high school to be constructed despite the financial challenges of the Depression,” said  Historical Society president, Eleanor Tison.
The programs are all free, accessible to people with disabilities, and open to the public. For more info, visit poultneyhistoricalsociety.org or call 802-287-5252.

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