Old Stone House (Athenian Hall)
Alexander Twilight alone constructed this four-story granite building which was used as a dormitory for out-of-town boarding students at the nearby Orleans County Grammar School. He called it "Athenian Hall." Granite was almost never used in building construction in the early 19th century in Orleans County. No one knows where the granite came from. [2]
The dormitory closed in 1859, two years after Twilight's death. The Orleans County Historical Society bought it in 1918 for $500. Today it is called "The Old Stone House Museum." It is one of the best-preserved institutional buildings of its era in the United States. Operated as an historical museum, it contains collections of 18th, 19th, and early 20th-century furniture, paintings, decorative art, folk art, tools and household items. [3]
Orleans County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,393. Its county seat is the city of Newport. The county was created in 1792 and organized in 1799. As in the rest of New England, few governmental powers have been granted to the county. The county is an expedient way of grouping and distributing state-controlled governmental services.
Brownington is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,042 as of the 2020 census.
Putney is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,617 at the 2020 census.
Barton is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,872 at the 2020 census. The town includes two incorporated villages, Barton and Orleans. Approximately a quarter of the town's population lives in each of the villages, and approximately half lives outside the villages. Only four other towns in the state contain two incorporated villages.
Alexander Lucius Twilight was an American educator, minister and politician. He is the first African-American man known to have earned a bachelor's degree from an American college or university, graduating from Middlebury College in 1823. He was ordained as a Congregational minister and worked in education and ministry all his career. In 1829 Twilight became principal of the Orleans County Grammar School. There he designed and built Athenian Hall, the first granite public building in the state of Vermont. In 1836 he was the first African American elected as a state legislator, serving in the Vermont House of Representatives; he was also the only African American ever elected to a state legislature before the Civil War.
The Tome School is a private school in North East in Cecil County in the U.S. state of Maryland. Founded by Jacob Tome, it is one of the oldest schools in Maryland. It enrolls grades K–12. As of 2019, its principal is Christine Szymanski. The historical site in Port Deposit, which held the original school, is currently owned by the Bainbridge Development Corporation. Protected with cameras and live security guards, the corporation aims to preserve the remaining buildings that have not been victims of arson.
Barton Academy was a high school in the town of Barton and also served surrounding towns for over a century. The high school was replaced by the Lake Region High School on September 11, 1967. The Academy alumni continue to meet annually. They fund scholarships for graduates of Lake Region. The building also housed the town's grammar school.
The Hancock House is an historic structure in Ticonderoga, New York. It is a replica of the Hancock Manor on Boston's Beacon Hill that was the residence of Thomas Hancock, the uncle of John Hancock.
Samuel Read Hall was an American educator.
The Universalist Society Meetinghouse is an historic Greek Revival meetinghouse at 3 River Road in Orleans, Massachusetts. Built in 1834, it was the only Universalist church built in Orleans, and is architecturally a well-preserved local example of Greek Revival architecture. The Meeting House is now the home of the Orleans Historical Society and is known as the Meeting House Museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The Sewall-Scripture House, is a historic house museum in Rockport, Massachusetts that is owned by the Sandy Bay Historical Society. The Sewall Scripture Museum features antiques, period artifacts and items of local history. The Federal style building, the only house in Rockport built out of native granite, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Hinman Settler Road was constructed by former Revolutionary War veteran Timothy Hinman from 1791–1795 in Orleans County, Vermont. Hinman's intent was to help develop the land he owned in Derby.
The Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village is a museum run by the Orleans County Historical Society in Brownington, Vermont. The Old Stone House at the heart of the village is a part of the Brownington Village Historic District, a district of ten historic buildings added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Gorgas–Manly Historic District is a historic district that includes 12 acres (4.9 ha) and eight buildings on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The buildings represent the university campus as it existed from the establishment of the institution through to the late 19th century. Two buildings included in the district, Gorgas House and the Little Round House, are among only seven structures to have survived the burning of the campus by the Union Army, under the command of Brigadier General John T. Croxton, on April 4, 1865. The other survivors were the President's Mansion and the Old Observatory, plus a few faculty residences.
The Baldwin-Wallace College South Campus Historic District is an area of land on the south end of the Baldwin Wallace University campus. When the district was established, the school was Baldwin-Wallace College. BW is a four-year private, coeducation, liberal arts college in Berea, Ohio, United States. The school was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodists settlers. Eventually the school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace College, which adopted the present name in 2012. Several buildings since its founding have been established on the National Register of Historic Places, establishing this area as the Baldwin-Wallace College South Campus Historic District.
The United States has had five African-American elected office holders prior to 1867. After Congress passed the First Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 and ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870, African Americans began to be elected or appointed to national, state, county and local offices throughout the United States.
The Queens Campus or Old Queens Campus is a historic section of the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the United States.
The Old Red Mill and Mill House are a historic 19th-century mill building and residence on Red Mill Drive in Jericho, Vermont. The mill was built in 1856 and enlarged later in the 19th century, accommodating then state-of-the art grain rollers, and was a prominent local business. The house was built in 1859, and is a good local example of Gothic Revival architecture. The mill is now a museum property of the local Jericho Historical Society. The mill building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972; the listing was expanded to include the house in 1976.
The William Hayden House is a historic house on Vermont Route 14 in southern Albany, Vermont. Built in 1854, it is a remarkably sophisticated example of Greek Revival architecture in brick for a small rural community. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Farrar-Mansur House is a historic house in Weston, Vermont built in 1797. It is within the boundaries of the Weston Village Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1985.
