The Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont

03/30/2026

Trolly Wires to Rubber Tires

by Jim Jones

Thursday, April 9: 1:30 - 3:00

Richmond Free Library Community Room

Sponsored by the CSC and the Richmond Historical Society

On August 4, 1929, the Queen City’s street car era went up in literal flames. More than 5,000 attendees witnessed the spectacle of an unforgettable farewell party that made headlines worldwide. Burlington’s public transportation story began much more sedately with a horse-drawn street railway in 1885, followed by a state-of-the-art electrified system just eight years later.

For the next 36 years, as many as three million annual trolley patrons rode its 16 miles to Winooski, Fort Ethan Allen and Essex Junction, as well as Burlington’s Queen City Park, downtown, schools, sporting events, family gatherings, and work commutes. Ridership declined after World War I and rubber-tired buses drove away with most passengers.

Burlington native, author, filmmaker and veteran broadcast personality James R. “Jim” Jones shares entertaining, fascinating rail tales on this memorable journey.

03/01/2026

Farming in Vermont 100 Years Ago: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
Thursday, March 5
Program at the Richmond Free Library
1:30-3:00
Co-sponsored by the CSC and the Richmond Historical Society
A hundred years ago, farming was still the defining feature of life almost everywhere in Vermont. Richmond and its surrounding towns were still dominated by farming, as they had been since their founding. Of course, by 1930, they were not just farming towns—the railroad had fostered important commercial and industrial operations in the area. And farming itself was changing, too, slowly in some parts of the state, and in some places very quickly. This talk will describe those changes of a century ago and take a look at how they affected Richmond, Huntington, and Bolton.

Send a message to learn more

03/01/2026

Join the Richmond Historical Society on Sunday, March 8, 2026, from 3:00–4:30 PM at the Richmond Free Library Community Room for a special program on the history of Riverside Farm, one of Richmond's most admired landmarks. Members of the Conant family—owners of the farm since 1854—will share stories and history spanning generations.

The afternoon will begin with a brief Historical Society meeting, including the election of officers.

As we look ahead, the Society is also seeking new Board members and volunteers to help guide our next chapter. Open Board roles include Vice President, Assistant Treasurer, and Secretary. Fran Thomas, who has been president for over 15 years would like to step down in the not-too-distant future. She would love to have someone inline to replace her. The Board meets about four times a year, and training is available for those stepping into new roles. Fresh perspectives and new energy are essential to keeping our organization strong.

Not ready to serve on the Board? We also welcome volunteers to:
· Assist our archivist with research requests and digitizing collections
· Serve as Old Round Church guides or wedding hosts
· Help organize and promote Historical Society concerts
· Write historical articles for our newsletter or Times Ink

If you're interested in Richmond's history and want to make a meaningful contribution, we'd love to hear from you.

Contact:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Learn more at

Historical stories, pictures, and artifacts from Richmond Vermont. Key information for planning a visit or a wedding at the National Lanmark known as the Round Church. Schedule of concert events being held at the Round Church.

03/01/2026

Saturday, March 21 at 11 am ~ The Hurricane of 1938, a presentation by author Steven Long in the Richmond Free Library Community Room.

This program tells the story of the most destructive weather event ever to hit the Northeast. The hurricane pummeled the coast and blasted its way to Vermont and New Hampshire with torrential rain, flooding, and sustained winds over 100 miles per hour. Admission free.

Sponsored by the Richmond Free Library, Community Senior Center and Richmond Historical Society

Send a message to learn more

02/14/2026

Community Senior Center and Richmond Historical Society Program
Thursday, February 26 at 1:30 - 3:00

"The Artist's View of Bridges."
by Robert McCullough

TO BE HELD IN THE TOWN CENTER--3rd FLOOR MEETING ROOM

Many writers recognize the value of bridges as key focal points in landscapes or urban settings, but none more convincingly than British art historian John Sweetman. In his 1999 book, The Artist and the Bridge, Sweetman opines that bridges are among Western civilization's most representative and democratic building forms, and he turns to artists, society's most visually astute observers, to validate his argument.

Awareness of bridges as cultural monuments is common in Europe, and if similar views are to gain impetus in America, artists can play pivotal roles by calling attention to crossings that surpass mere continuations of highways for the automobile and instead offer humanly-scaled portals to our communities or visible landmarks for our countryside explorations. Vermont's Historic Bridge Preservation Program, established by the Vermont Agency of Transportation in 1998, has sought similar objectives since its founding almost three decades ago. In addition to exploring the work of artists who have studied Vermont's bridges, the discussion will also focus on some of the challenges faced by those who would preserve the state's historic bridges.

Robert is Professor of Historic Preservation Emeritus UVM. He's written several books including a history of VT bridges and a communal history of communal forests in New England.

Sponsored by the Community Senior Center and the Richmond Historical Society

01/05/2026

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1200733185370519&set=a.623004809810029&type=3

A winter evening at the historic Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont ✨

📸: emery_bored

12/15/2025

There's something about experiencing the world under a blanket of fresh snow that adds a certain quiet, a calmness, a sense of peace, wonder, stillness. As the year wanes and a new week dawns, it feels like all could use that kind of respite. I find myself yearning for the tranquility I enjoyed just over a week ago at the historic Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont, as the community gathered to sing Christmas carols and go sledding. May peace somehow find us all again this holiday season.

12/12/2025

12/11/2025

Thank you, Adam!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1456704409789463&id=100063497531619

The sound of Christmas carols wafted from inside The Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont, this past Sunday afternoon as heavy snow gave the scene an extra helping of seasonal splendor and provided the perfect glide for sledders to enjoy the hill out front. Dozens of children — and a few adults — had been sliding down the hill before volunteers opened the doors to the early 1800s, 16-sided, unheated church for the annual December singalong. If you look closely, you'll see lots of temporarily abandoned sleds and inflatables leaning against the walls under the steam-frosted windows on either side of the wreath-laden door.

11/24/2025

The Strange case of the Laconia:

A WWII Story of Disaster, Survival and Cover-up

By New York Times Best-selling Author

Michael Tougias

December 4 at 1:30

ONLINE meet.google.com/ufk-iykw-hru

Co-sponsored by the CSC and Richmond Historical Society

Michael Tougias has spoken to us numerous times over the past years, and his programs are always popular. Here’s his latest:

When the Laconia, a ship the size of the Titanic, was sunk by a U-boat, some of its nearly 3,000 British passengers and Italian POW’s were rescued by the very U-boat that sank their ship. Highly unusual, but the story becomes more bizarre. The survivors thought their ordeal of floating in shark invested ocean was over…until an American plane unleashed its bombs.

Tougias offers an edge-of-your-seat slide presentation about this incident—perhaps the most unusual in all of WWII. His book, Abandon Ship, tells the full story.

The event was covered-up by authorities but Tougias shares the complete account including the incredible survival story of fifty-five castaways adrift at sea for weeks. Of those fifty-five just four

British citizens survived seven weeks at sea with only four table- spoons of water per day and little food. Find out how they did it.

Tougias is the author and co-author of 30 books for adults and 8 for young readers. His latest book is Extreme Survival: Lessons From Those Who Have Triumphed Against All Odds. He also co-wrote The Finest Hours, now a Disney movie starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Holiday Granger.

Learn more at www.michaeltougias.com

11/01/2025

Didn't get to see the below program. It is now available here for your viewing: https://youtu.be/NSPaZWn1-eU

The Revolutionary War in the Champlain Valley
Thursday, November 6th, 1:30pm, Richmond Free Library Community Room

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Staff Archaeologist Taylor Picard, will talk about the Revolutionary War on Lake Champlain. The focus of the talk will be on the Battle of Valcour Bay and the two-day running battle up the lake towards Fort Ticonderoga, and how archaeology is helping learn more about the soldiers and sailors that fought in the battle.

Taylor Picard is a maritime archaeologist with eight years of experience across the United States, before arriving at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Their current focus is researching the various shipwrecks of Lake Champlain and developing a citizen science program to help with preservation of Lake Champlain history.

Brought to you by the Community Senior Center Program Committee and the Richmond Historical Society.

Send a message to learn more

10/12/2025

The Richmond Historical Society will be holding our annual potluck lunch/volunteer appreciation event on Sunday, November 9th at 1PM. It will be held at the Richmond Congregational Church. Please note that this is an afternoon event rather than our usual evening time.

Our speaker this year will be Ellen Thompson who will talk about the Vermont Sampler Initiative, which has been a multi-year project to identify American schoolgirl samplers made before 1900. The Initiative has documented more than 850 samplers. About 60 percent were stitched by Vermont's school girls, including two from Richmond. Her illustrated talk will focus on how these historical "documents" help to inform us about our past and the lives of the makers. As a long-time embroiderer and history buff, the Sampler Initiative has allowed her the opportunity to enjoy both. She is a member of the Green Mountain Chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America.

Attendees are asked to bring a "potluck" dish to share. Dessert and beverages will be provided.
For more info: [email protected]

To find out more about the Vermont Sampler Initiative, go to
www.samplerconsortium.org
samplerconsortium.org
www.samplerconsortium.org

Sampler Consortium is an international organization of scholars, historians, curators, educators, genealogists, textile conservators, collectors, dealers, and needlework experts interested in the study of historic samplers and other girlhood embroideries.