Celebrating past, present and future art at the Clemmons Family Farm

Celebrating past, present and future art at the Clemmons Family Farm

Many of you may remember the intriguing signs for Authentica African Art Imports located along Route 7, Ferry Road, and in front of the shop owned by Jack and Lydia Clemmons on Greenbush Road. Located in what was once an 18th century blacksmith shop, Authentica included an art gallery and an enthralling assortment of exotic treasures collected by the couple during their work and travels in Africa between the 1980s and early 2000s.

Rendering the Clemmons Family Farm vision

Rendering the Clemmons Family Farm vision

A year ago at a breakfast Alice Outwater hosted at Shelburne Farms, Lydia Clemmons (the younger) alerted me to her family’s plans to transform their farm into an African American Heritage and Multicultural Center here in Charlotte. I was impressed with their undertaking and drawn in by Lydia’s enthusiastic rendering of the Clemmons Family Farm vision. But it was meeting Jackson and Lydia (the elder) Clemmons and listening to their inspiring and often poignant stories about their lives in Charlotte as well as their family history back to the time of slavery that fully engaged my heart.

Steamboats on Lake Champlain, a brief history

Steamboats on Lake Champlain, a brief history

When Thompson’s Point became a magnet for the summer cottages of the leading businessmen of the area, thanks in no small part to a major dock facility, they would commute to work and return to their camps aboard the Chateaugay and then the Ticonderoga, which were among the first steel-hulled steamboats on the lake, or in other small steamers and naphtha-powered steam launches that brought campers back and forth to Vergennes, Burlington or Westport, N.Y. By 1895, one of the occupants was Justice D. J. Brewer of the U.S. Supreme Court. President Theodore Roosevelt visited Thompson’s Point in 1902 as a guest aboard Dr. William Seward Webb’s steam yacht, the Elfrida.

Long live Les Filles du Roi

Long live Les Filles du Roi

After some urging from Charlotte’s resident historian, Dan Cole, and about nine hours of research on Ancestry.com I found that famous singer Madonna and I share the same set of 9th great-grandparents in Jean Besset De Brisetout and Anne Le Seigneur, who was a “King’s Daughter” or “Fille du Roi.” Anne married Jean who was a soldier and settler in 1668 to help colonize Canada for the king. Their son, also named Jean, is my 8th great-grandfather who was scalped by the Iroquois and lived to tell the tale.

Charlotte’s first families

Charlotte’s first families

Charlotte’s first families were remarkably homogeneous culturally and almost exclusively Protestant in their outlook, from our 1762 charter through the 1820s. Political repression by the English and famines in Ireland saw migrations of the Irish, many arriving in Quebec City to find political repression of the French-Canadians by the English and famines in Quebec. Many looked south of the border for relief.

Living our lives as elders

Living our lives as elders

My husband first discovered the farm when he came for a job interview with the University of Vermont. He found the farm one day while walking from Shelburne to explore a town called “Charlotte” on what were then dirt roads: Bostwick Road and Greenbush Road. He was in his late 30s back then and had the energy to walk that distance to explore the area. The farm at 2158 Greenbush Road was the first place he stopped during his long walk.