Press Coverage of Vernon's Bicentennial

A child’s pink dress – plain and now faded with age – says a lot about Vernon’s historic past. The cotton fabric most likely came from a mill in Talcottville, Dobsonville or Rockville during the Victorian era, a time of rapid growth and industrialization in Connecticut.

S. Ardis Abbott is Vernon’s town historian and director of its Historical Society Museum.

Vernon’s “Countdown to 200” Bicentennial Committee unveils its official flag marking the town’s celebration. Photos by Frances Taylor.

“I love this dress,” said S. Ardis Abbott , Vernon’s town historian. “The way it’s made – there’s a patch on it that is so finely made, you can’t even see the stitches. It tells us a lot about its time.”

Abbott spoke to a capacity crowd at the Vernon Historical Society meeting on Jan. 20. The pink dress was one of many objects from the historical museum on display. There was also a Bible from the Grant family, who were among the town’s earliest settlers, as well objects used on looms in factories.

Plans are underway to commemorate Vernon’s 200th anniversary through a series of events throughout the year. This lecture was the first in a series planned to honor the town’s anniversary . The celebration later this year will include auctions, a costume ball and a town-wide parade.

Abbott explained that when the suffix “ville” was attached to a town name, it meant the area was a factory village, where the mill workers lived and worked.

“People new to Vernon are often curious about all the little hamlets we have, and the reason goes back to the time of these mill settlements,” Abbott said.

The “Countdown to 200” bicentennial committee is working on a series of fundraisers including the sale of limited-edition commemorative “button jars,” filled with buttons that are replicas of those that would typically have been used in the mills to adorn shirts and dresses. The commemorative coins are stamped on both sides and cast in an antique bronze finish.

“We wanted to create something that would be one-of-a-kind . After these are sold, there won’t be any others,” said Carl Schaefer, director of the Bicentennial Committee. “We believe [the coins] will become collector’s items.”

The Bicentennial Committee still needs volunteers to help with a range of upcoming fundraising and ceremonial events, Schaefer said. For more information , visit the Web site at www.Vernon2008.org.