Vermont

Preserving the past: Lyndon leaders look to save two covered bridges

Published

2 years ago

January 4, 2023

Preserving the past: Lyndon leaders look to save two covered bridges

LYNDON, Vt. (WCAX) – Lined bridges are an iconic fixture, present in almost each county within the Vermont. However time, climate, and even automobiles are taking a toll on a few of these historic buildings.

There are round 100 coated bridges within the state, 6 of them are in Caledonia County, 5 sit within the Lyndon space.

We’ve instructed you in regards to the Miller’s Run bridge, which has been broken just a few instances by vans which can be too tall.

However the Sanborn Lined Bridge, constructed within the 1800′s over the Passumpsic River, can be in want of some main repairs. City leaders stated they’ll do no matter it takes to maintain it standing.

“If we obtained flooded this upcoming spring of 2023, you would possibly see this picture go away. It’s actually that urgent,” stated Nicole Gratton with the city of Lyndon.

Gratton says it virtually fell into the river in 2013, however a nationwide group offered funding to repair it. That also wasn’t sufficient restore to maintain the check of time.

“It sits so low to the river, a number of the issues within the backside that really carry the bridge up have damaged off. And in order that’s a giant a part of it. We additionally simply see deteriorations, its 153 years outdated,” stated Gratton.

Sanborn Bridge is without doubt one of the solely paddleford truss bridges within the state. Gratton additionally says it’s the 118 toes lengthy, making it the longest over a river with none center assist. Restoring the bridge would price the city $1.5M which leaders hope to pay for with grants and donations.

And the Sanborn Lined Bridge isn’t the one in Lyndon that’s in want of repairs. The Miller’s Run Bridge, which has develop into notorious for being broken by large field vans time and time once more.

“We’re placing in truck blockers, I don’t know like these little rail programs that like if a truck comes by, it’s going to hit that earlier than it hits the bridge. Simply to maintain the bridge protected,” stated Gratton.

Lined bridge society founder Liam McKone stated along with ware and tare, threats to coated bridges embrace flood, fireplace, and for round 50 bridges, site visitors.

“There’s at all times a priority about holding them up in good condition. We’ve obtained a program of fireproofing. The final two that we misplaced, we’re misplaced to fireplace,” stated Liam McKone with the Vermont Lined Bridge Society.

At one time, he says there was as many as 500, however preservation efforts actually didn’t start till 50 years in the past. And now many Vermonters keep watch over the bridges, listening to from folks all around the state when there’s a bridge menace – like an ice jam or branches down and even boards that fall off.

“What’s extra iconic from the coated bridge in Vermont? I want I had a nickel for each picture that’s taken,” stated McKone.

In Lyndon, some revitalization is predicted to start in 2024, with the cash raised thus far. That can pay for work to redo the entrance dealing with panels on the bridge. Gratton stated the precise bridge revitalization would doubtless be two or three extra years out, noting that timeline is definitely quick for a venture of this dimension.

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Vermont

Vermont H.S. sports scores for Wednesday, Dec. 18: See how your favorite team fared

Published

7 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Press Room

Vermont H.S. sports scores for Wednesday, Dec. 18: See how your favorite team fared

Nylah Mitchell’s 20 points carry Burlington girls basketball to win

Nylah Mitchell talks about her dominant 20-point outing where she attacked in the paint and the outlook for Burlington this season.

The 2024-2025 Vermont high school winter season has begun. See below for scores, schedules and game details (statistical leaders, game notes) from basketball, hockey, gymnastics, wrestling, Nordic/Alpine skiing and other winter sports.

TO REPORT SCORES

Coaches or team representatives are asked to report results ASAP after games by emailing sports@burlingtonfreepress.com. Please submit with a name/contact number.

►Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter:@aabrami5.

►Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.

WEDNESDAY’S H.S. GAMES

Girls basketball

Games at 7 p.m. unless noted

Blue Mountain at Sharon, 6 p.m.

Colchester at Mount Mansfield

Boys basketball

Games at 7 p.m. unless noted

Lamoille at Williamstown, 5:30 p.m.

Lake Region at Lyndon, 6:30 p.m.

Stowe at Richford

Peoples at Hazen

North Country at U-32

White River Valley at Randolph

St. Johnsbury at Colchester

Montpelier at Rice

Thetford at Oxbow

Boys hockey

Brattleboro at Rutland, 4 p.m.

Colchester at Rice, 5:20 p.m.

Harwood at Hartford, 5:45 p.m.

Missisquoi at North Country (Jay Peak), 6 p.m.

Burr and Burton at Woodstock, 6:55 p.m.

Champlain Valley at Spaulding, 7:15 p.m.

Milton at Stowe, 7:15 p.m.

Middlebury at South Burlington, 7:40 p.m.

Girls hockey

Hartford at Spaulding, 5:15 p.m.

Kingdom Blades at Essex, 6 p.m.

Middlebury at Brattleboro, 7:15 p.m.

Dr. Butsch Tournament at Central Vermont Memorial Civic Center

Stowe at U-32, 4 p.m.

Burr and Burton vs. Missisquoi, 6 p.m.

Burlington/Colchester Tournament at Leddy Arena

Beekmantown, NY vs Rice, 5:30 p.m.

Franklin Academy, NY at Burlington/Colchester 7:40 p.m.

THURSDAY’S H.S. GAMES

Girls basketball

Games at 7 p.m. unless noted

Randolph at Williamstown, 6 p.m.

Stowe at Woodstock, 6 p.m.

Milton at Richford, 7 p.m.

South Burlington at Spaulding

Lyndon at Hazen

Montpelier at Harwood

North Country at BFA-St. Albans

Thetford at Northfield

Oxbow at Rivendell

Boys basketball

Games at 7 p.m. unless noted

BFA-St. Albans at Milton

Danville at Twinfield/Cabot

Mount Mansfield at Essex, 7:30 p.m.

Girls hockey

Burlington/Colchester Tournament at Leddy Arena

Franklin Academy, NY vs. Rice, 5:30 p.m.

Beekmantown, NY at Burlington/Colchester, 7:40 p.m.

(Subject to change)

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Vermont

Opinion — Geoffrey Battista: Raze the cathedral

Published

15 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Press Room

Opinion — Geoffrey Battista: Raze the cathedral

Dear Editor,

I am brimming with giggles after having read Sally Giddings Smith’s recent commentary on the imminent demolition of Burlington’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. To compare that lifeless monstrosity to Notre Dame de Paris — for half the piece, for God’s sake — is a level of absurd that I could not beat out of Samuel Beckett.

Burlington’s cathedral had decades to turn downtown into an architectural mecca. Indeed, one would have hoped that the demolition of dozens of historic homes for an urban renewal project like the cathedral would generate an indisputable benefit to the downtown: busloads of tourists, shoppers and devotees. Mexico City’s Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is not the sexiest structure, for example — concrete here, concrete there, on concrete grounds — but it rises to the challenge! Burlington? Not so much.

Let us not let a small cabal of historic preservation fundamentalists derail the demolition. Whatever takes the place of the cathedral, and I hope it is housing, will be worth far more to the city than whatever the status quo has provided.

by Opinion
December 16, 2024, 7:11 amDecember 13, 2024, 5:09 pm

And let us send the old apse ‘n nave to a farm up north where it can frolic with the architectural marvels of yesteryear: the original Penn Station, the Library of Alexandria and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Adieu, chère cathédrale! Bienvenue, nouveaux voisins!

Geoffrey Battista

Montpelier

Pieces contributed by readers and newsmakers. VTDigger strives to publish a variety of views from a broad range of Vermonters.
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Vermont Won A Historic National Championship In Fittingly Dramatic Fashion | Defector

Published

22 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Press Room

Vermont Won A Historic National Championship In Fittingly Dramatic Fashion | Defector

Even before kickoff, the final of the NCAA men’s soccer championship was special as a meeting between two underdogs. Marshall, which won its first title in the 2020 season as an unseeded team, was the 13th seed this year and reached the final by defeating No. 1 Ohio State. Meanwhile, unseeded Vermont beat two-seed Pitt and three-seed Denver on its way to the title game. The Thundering Herd and Catamounts put together a real thriller Monday night, as Vermont won its first championship in program history on a sudden-death goal in overtime.

That goal is at the 7:56 mark of the highlight reel below, though the entire second half of the match was very dramatic. Marshall took a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute after Vermont keeper Niklas Herceg mishandled a tough cross right into the path of Tarik Pannholzer. Herceg kept his team in it with a beautiful save minutes later, and in the 81st minute, Marcell Papp took advantage of a poor clearance from Marshall keeper Aleksa Janjic to start and finish a one-two with a shot from just inside the box. You’re here for the winner, though. In overtime, centerback Zach Barrett intercepted a pass in the Vermont half and smacked a speculative longball for Maximilian Kissel. The forward shrugged off his defender, then dribbled around Janjic and scored.

This is the University of Vermont’s first national championship in a sport outside of skiing; when the school reached the final, it became the first team from the America East conference to do so. The Catamounts are unlikely winners, although this title follows strong runs in recent seasons: They lost in the quarterfinals in 2022 and in the third round last year. Scoring late is also somewhat of a trademark for Vermont, as they recorded 22 goals in the 76th minute or later this season. The Catamounts also became, by my unscientific reckoning, the team with the coolest-named mascot to win an NCAA title this year—an equally prestigious honor, no doubt.

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