As we begin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Vermont and the United States, it is good to remind ourselves of the critical events that took place in Arlington, Vermont.

During the critical first years of the young republic, no other town hosted as many critical meetings or key players as Arlington. Other towns are known for the important meetings, skirmishes, or battles that happened, but Arlington is where the day-to-day business took place. The governor and his council of advisors met here, and the great seal of the Republic of Vermont was inspired from the view in front of his home.

Arlington in the Revolutionary War will summarize some of the important events and people that helped to define the character of Vermont for years to come. The program will be held in the Performance Center at the Arlington Common, 3938 Vt. Rte. 7A, Arlington, Vermont.

The presenter for this event is Bill Budde, curator of the Russell Vermontiana Collection of local history for Arlington, Sandgate, and Sunderland. He is also the Historian of the 368-year-old Scots’ Charitable Society and a professional genealogist.

Come join us for a free night of music and fun in the Performance Hall at The Arlington Common! Whether you're a seasoned performer or just want to showcase your talents, this is the perfect opportunity to take the stage and shine. Grab your friends and family for a fun evening of entertainment and support local artists. Don't miss this chance to be part of a lively and creative community.

If you’d like to perform you can sign up at the door or email vtcabin@comcast.net

See you there!

Come check out our beautiful pickleball facility. There are two courts, one for competitive players and one for casual players. Information about our classes, clinics, and memberships will be available.  This event is free and all are welcome!

Join your state representatives and fellow community members at our 9 am coffee hour. Here is your chance to ask questions, learn more about the issues and understand how they are voting and why. These informal meetings are open to all residents of the Bennington-4 district, which covers Arlington, Manchester, Sandgate and part of Sunderland.

Arlington was the site of Robert Frost's first public reading in Vermont, in 1919, and it was Dorothy Canfield Fisher who found the Frost family a home in South Shaftsbury. Besides looking at Frost's connections to Arlington and other sites in Bennington County, we'll read (and listen to Frost reading) a variety of poems, some familiar and some less well known. Bring a favorite Frost line, passage, or (shorter) poem to read if you like.

Pownal resident Phil Holland writes and speaks on subjects of local interest and is the author of Robert Frost in Bennington County.

Please join us for this free event!

Anyone—young or old—who wants to play and/or sing is welcome to perform. Whether you've just picked up an instrument or have been practicing for years, it’s a chance to strut your stuff in front of a live audience. Fear not: There will be no judging or judgment. Our goal is an entertaining, supportive, community-building experience.

Admission is free, and everyone is invited to attend to enjoy the music and support local artists.

You can sign up at the door or email vtcabin@comcast.net
The Arlington Common is located at 3938 Route 7A in Arlington, VT."

Did you know that the country’s first African-American poet lived in Bennington County?  Lucy Terry Prince, a poet and storyteller, settled in Sunderland in the late 1790’s, along with four children.  The family had a cultural impact on the town, living in Sunderland for over 50 years. This presentation brings to life the story and struggles of their time in Sunderland and also brings a fresh perspective in considering the roles that Lucy and her descendants had in the world of work. Our presenter will explore six generations of the Prince family through the lens of their role in the labor force — which is in keeping with the theme of Black History Month 2025.  

Avis Hayden has been researching families for thirty-five years. In particular she enjoys fitting family stories within the social and economic context of the era in which these family members lived. She earned a certificate in genealogy from Boston University where she learned to focus on not just people within families but their relationships to each other. Avis lives in Sunderland, which is the town where Lucy Prince and her family lived for some fifty years.

"The Tschorn family and the Arlington Common are pleased to present an admission-free screening of the film "Underdog."  What started as a multi-media assignment for a Middlebury College student turned into a ten-year relationship with hundreds of hours of footage condensed into an 82-minute documentary-style film. The film brilliantly illuminates "the curiously optimistic tale of Doug Butler - a hardscrabble Vermont dairy farmer who risks losing the only home he's ever known to chase his dreams of dog mushing in Alaska."  

Please join us for a free matinee at 4:00 pm on Sunday, January 12, 2025."

Registration is recommended but not required.

Bring your favorite homemade cookies, share the joy of baking, and leave with an assortment of festive treats to sweeten your holiday season. Coffee, hot chocolate and treats will be served!

Join us for this free and fun printmaking workshop!

You will learn the printmaking basics by carving your own linoleum block to print onto cards and gift tags.

• Materials are included

• For adults and children 8+ (each child must be accompanied by an adult)

• Registration is limited to 16 participants

• To register, please contact Sandra at info@arlingtoncommon.org

REGISTER HERE

Join us in the Performance Hall for a cozy showing of the made-for-TV version of the original Miracle on 34th Street!

Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Before the film (starting at 3 pm) we will have hot cocoa and host a bird ornament workshop. (peanut butter will be used in construction so be aware of any allergies if you plan to attend this portion)

Join us for a free and family friendly bird ornament workshop! Hot chocolate will be served and all ornament making materials will be provided.

Children must be accompanied by an adult.

(Peanut butter will be used in construction so be aware of any allergies if you plan to attend.)

Feel free to join us afterwards for the free showing of the film, Miracle on 34th Street!

Join us for the opening of our newest exhibit! It will feature photographs, art, and memorabilia donated by the community of the area's winters and holidays. This inclusive exhibit highlights the beauty of winters past. Whether it is a sled from the 1920s, photographs of cars buried in snow at Grout Pond, or paintings of our local scenes, you will enjoy it all! The exhibit will run through January 31, 2025, and the Gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 12 pm to 3 pm.

Free to the public

Create an ornament for the birds so they can enjoy a winter treat. The ornaments will be made with pinecones and seeds to decorate the Arlington Common tree on Main Street and provide our feathered friends with a healthy snack.  You can make enough ornaments to take home one for the birds in your backyard. Coffee will be served.

Free to all!

Help us decorate the Watkins House for the holidays and our upcoming exhibit, Arlington Holiday Traditions!  We will supply all the decorations, lights, trees, baubles, etc. You only need to bring your enthusiasm!  We will also offer complimentary beverages and snacks.

Free to all!

Arlington Mills and Water: A story of ingenuity and wealth.

Brooks, streams, and rivers were the circulatory system supporting the growth of new towns in the New Hampshire Grants. While Arlington, Sandgate, and Sunderland forests provided a seemingly limitless source of raw material, the various mills transformed the forest into income for the early settlers.

This presentation will examine the growth of Arlington's early mill-based industries. We will identify some sites, what remains today, and why they have disappeared.

Talk by local historian Bill Budde, Curator of the Russell Vermontiana Collection.

To be held in the Performance Hall at the Arlington Common. Free to the public.

Understanding how our brains process information is a fascinating journey. In the context of artificial intelligence, Dr. Shavit will explore how these natural brain processes relate to AI. How does AI mimic brain functions? Drawing from his extensive knowledge and experience, Dr. Shavit will bridge the gap between artificial and biological intelligence, offering thought-provoking insights into the current AI landscape. He will discuss emerging trends and future directions that are set to impact both businesses and our daily lives. A Q&A session will follow, allowing the audience to delve deeper into the future of artificial  intelligence.

Facilitator:
Brian Edward Suslak is the former owner/president/CEO of W.J. Cowee, and a partner and owner/partner in numerous commercial real estate endeavors. He is also a former partner at MacDonald & Company, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. A graduate of Tufts University, he resides in Arlington, Vermont and volunteers for local nonprofit organizations. 

Guest Speaker:
Dr. Shavit is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he heads up the Computational Connectomics Group at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Dr. Shavit’s primary focus is understanding the relationship between deep learning and how neural tissue computes, by extracting connectivity of the human brain – a field known as “Connectomics”. Dr. Shavit was born in Israel and received his BS and MS degrees at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and his Ph. D from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a recipient of the Gödel Prize and Dijkstra Prize for his work in computer sciences and has co-authored a number of papers and a book in the field.

Display your creativity by putting your carved/decorated pumpkin on the St. James wall by 6:30 pm; voting begins at 7pm.  There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place! 

Sponsored by Arlington Area Alliance Nonprofits

Come join your neighbors for a fun-filled evening that starts with a free Community Dinner at St. James Church hosted by the Arlington Common. Dinner starts at 5 pm and goes until 7pm or until the food is gone. Dinner will be chili, cornbread, green beans, and pumpkin pie.  

In the years after statehood there were many efforts to build roads (turnpikes as they were called then) to expand commerce.  One such turnpike was built connecting the towns of Sunderland, Stratton and Wardsboro.  Today that road is known as the Kelley Stand Road.  Members of the Kelley family were instrumental in getting that road funded, in developing a logging business along the road, and building a large boarding house which became known as the Kelley Stand Hotel.  This presentation introduces the members of the Kelley family and their lasting claim to the road that bears their name.  It also discusses the hotel and the thriving community around it in the years after the Kelleys left.  One member of the Kelley family, John William Kelley, wrote poems after his many years of logging.  A ledger book containing those poems was discovered recently in a nearby barn.  A few of those poems will be shared with the audience. 

Join Avis Hayden on October 20th to hear more about this fascinating bit of local history!

New York and New England contain nearly 200,000 miles of stone walls that were built by 18th-19th century farmers. With the abandonment of thousands of farms in the mid-19th century and the fields being reclaimed by forests, most of those walls are now located in the woods. Dr. Delano measured nearly 1,000 miles of stone walls using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), principally in New York State and New Hampshire, and has published the results in the peer-review, professional journal, Journal of Geophysical Research. In combination with ancestral information, these old stone walls provide an enduring legacy of subsistence farmers and their struggles for survival in a harsh climate.

Guest Speaker:
John Delano, PhD retired in late 2016 from the University at Albany, State University of New York as a professor at the Distinguished rank. During his academic career, he served as the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University, an Associate Director of a NASA Astrobiology Institute involving a consortium of five universities and was the recipient of several university awards including the President’s Award for Exemplary Public Engagement. He served on 24 scientific advisory panels for both NASA and the National Science Foundation. Since retiring to Williamsburg in 2016, he has published four scientific papers in professional journals, taught courses and made invited presentations, and volunteers his time with several clubs and organizations.

An entirely FREE event sponsored by Heritage Family Credit Union, providing learning and networking opportunities exclusively for nonprofits. Our fall event focuses on Strategic Planning, with Sarah Henshaw, founder of Leaves of Change VT, as our Keynote Speaker.

An Evening with Agroecologist and Entomologist Vic Izzo of UVM

Discussing bugs in our gardens and how to grow with them.

Sponsored by the Arlington Garden Club and  

The Bennington Chapter of UVM Extension Master Gardeners

The Performance Hall at the Arlington Common

Talk by local historian Bill Budde. To be held in the Watkins House at the Arlington Common. Registration not required.

Due to its popularity, we are offering another clinic meant for those who already have a basic understanding of the game. The clinic will focus on three of the most important shots in pickleball: the serve, the third shot drop, and the dink, as well as strategies for improving your game.

This clinic is open to the public. The cost is $12 for members and $14 for non-members.

Registration is required on CourtReserve, the Arlington Common fitness website. To register, follow the link to CourtReserve and log in as a member OR sign up with the guest membership "class drop in and open play". Once signed in, the clinics are located in the "Events" section of the website. Upon registration you can pay the fee.

Due to its popularity, we are offering another clinic meant for those who already have a basic understanding of the game. The clinic will focus on three of the most important shots in pickleball: the serve, the third shot drop, and the dink, as well as strategies for improving your game.

This clinic is open to the public. The cost is $12 for members and $14 for non-members.

Registration is required on CourtReserve, the Arlington Common fitness website. To register, follow the link to CourtReserve and log in as a member OR sign up with the guest membership "class drop in and open play". Once signed in, the clinics are located in the "Events" section of the website. Upon registration you can pay the fee.

Avis Hayden, a Sunderland resident who has done extensive research on Lucy Prince and her family during their 50 years in Sunderland, will give a 30 minute presentation prior to the "Lost Nation" film. There is no cost for this talk but seating is limited, so early sign up encouraged.  

Here is the basic outline -- come hear Avis' talk to learn the details! 

Lucy Prince traveled from Guilford to Sunderland sometime around 1797 to settle on land that her late husband Abijah had secured the rights to.  Lucy learned that the land had been purchased by another settler.  After years of court battles, Lucy was awarded 18 acres.  Her family built a small cabin on that land. Lucy Prince lived there until her death on Jul 11, 1821.  Three of Lucy's children lived in the cabin until the last one died in 1854.  

The talk is free but space is limited so registration is required.

Join us for a talk on Arlington’s Main Street: Past and Present, by local historian Bill Budde. To be held in the Watkins House at the Arlington Common. Registration not required.