Holiday Open House
2025-12-06 11:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | The Dorset Historical Society Bley House Museum, Corner of Kent Hill Road & Route 30, Dorset, VT, 05251
Join us for our annual Holiday Open House! Taste a selection of sweet treats, and view our newest exhibit on the history of Dorset’s apple orchards.

Author Talk: Tyler Alexander on "If I Can Get Home This Fall: A Story of Love, Loss, and a Cause in the Civil War"
2026-01-30 18:00 - 19:00 | Northshire Bookstore, 4869 Main St, Manchester Center, VT, 05255, United States
On Friday, January 30th at 6pm at Northshire Bookstore, author Tyler Alexander will share the epic story of Dan Mason, a white man who served in the Civil War as a soldier in the Sixth Vermont Infantry and as an officer in the Nineteenth U.S. Colored Troops. It is a story of these two units from very different realities but with a common purpose.
Drawing on Mason’s letters home to his fiancé, Harriet Clark, and on other historical records, Tyler Alexander provides a compelling account of the human cost of war and offers insight about the experiences and attitudes of those who witnessed war firsthand, including enlisted troops and officers, men and women, Democrats and Republicans, and white and Black Americans. Alexander examines how the most controversial issues of the war—emancipation, the draft, military strategy, the arming of Black troops, and Reconstruction policy—were viewed in real time by the participants who found themselves engulfed in the maelstrom of war, particularly those from a strongly anti-slavery farming community in the hills of northeast Vermont. The voices from this distant time offer an example of what real patriotism, courage, and moral conviction look like in times of extreme national divisions over race, identity, and the meaning of democracy.
“These are some of the best and most moving of the thousands of Civil War letters I have encountered. The reader will experience an extraordinary degree of empathy and admiration for Sergeant Dan Mason of the Sixth Vermont Infantry, who subsequently became captain of the Nineteenth U.S. Colored Troops. Tyler Alexander weaves together the letters with biographical and narrative details that tell a remarkable (and tragic) personal, as well as historical, story.”—James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
“In his splendid book, Tyler Alexander brings alive the Civil War experiences of a young fighter in the Vermont Brigade. . . . The narrative features copious, moving letters written by Dan Mason to his sweetheart Harriet Clark and blends these with public accounts of evolving war aims. The result is a vivid account of how a struggle to restore the Union was transformed and how the promise of freedom and democracy to all Americans, regardless of race, was embraced by the rank and file no less than by political leaders. The poignant, gripping, and tragic story speaks to the idealism of the Civil War era and how this history relates to today’s dire challenges.”—Robert Bonner, author of The Soldier’s Pen: Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War
TYLER ALEXANDER is an educator in Vermont who teaches American history and government. He is a former James Madison Fellow and studied forestry, history, and education at the University of Maine and the University of Vermont. One of Alexander’s ancestors served alongside Dan Mason in Company D of the Sixth Vermont.
If you have questions about this or any other Northshire event, please write the fine folks at events@northshire.com.

POSTPONED Lecture: Archaeology and Tribal Historic Preservation: An Uneasy History with Jeffrey C Bendremer Ph.D., RPA
2026-02-25 16:00 - 17:00 | The Dorset Historical Society Bley House Museum, Corner of Kent Hill Road & Route 30, Dorset, VT, 05251
Due to inclement weather, this lecture has been postponed. We appreciate your understanding and plan to reschedule at a future date.
Join us for a lecture on Wednesday, February 25th at 4pm featuring Jeffrey Bendremer, Ph.D, RPA on archaeology and tribal historic preservation. Indigenous communities and archaeologists have often been at odds regarding how best to preserve, protect, investigate and venerate tribal heritage. Between amateur collectors, museums and academic archaeologists, Tribal Nations have often felt that their reverence for their own histories had been subordinated to outsiders who had divergent interests, priorities, ethics and goals. The establishment of Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, a provision of Section 101(d)(2) of the National Historic Preservation Act, became open to federally recognized Indian Tribes since 1996. As a result, tribal governments finally had legally-based regulatory procedures for historic preservation and a statutory basis for asserting culturally appropriate approaches to the treatment of their heritage.
Jeffrey Bendremer, Ph.D, RPA received his doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut and is currently the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.
Jeff was founder and director of Salish Kootenai College’s Tribal Historic Preservation Program, the only 4-year degree in THP in America, and held professorships at Mercy College, Indiana University, College of New Rochelle, Eastern Connecticut State University and Connecticut College, teaching courses in Native American studies, anthropology, sociology, and history.
Dr. Bendremer has also worked in cultural resource management and public archaeology, including 10 years as Manager of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut’s historic preservation program and NAGPRA Coordinator for the Connecticut Museum of Natural History and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. He has presented and published numerous academic papers on Indigenous history and culture in the northeast. He advocates for better ethics in archaeology, improved partnerships with Indian tribes and cutting-edge methods in historic preservation.
Dorset is located on the ancestral homelands of the Mohican Nation and Stockbridge-Munsee Community.

250 for the 250th
2026-03-06 17:00 - 20:00 | Mt. Anthony Country Club, 180 Country Club Drive, Bennington, VT, 05201, United States
Join the Cause! The Bennington Regional 250th Anniversary Committee is seeking 250 people to donate $250 to support the 250th anniversaries. The money raised will go to support events, educations efforts, creative works, monuments, and special projects related to the 250th anniversaries that started this year and will continue through 2027. This special group of supporters will enjoy discounts on 250th events and merchandise throughout the anniversary period, invitations to special events, an exclusive newsletter, preferred seating at ticketed events, and their signature on a special 250th proclamation which will be on display for the three year anniversary period and will be included in a time capsule at the end of 2027 to be opened in 2077.
Sign up today to attend our inaugural “250 for the 250th” event which will be held on March 6, 2026 from 5-8 pm at Mount Anthony Country Club in Bennington, VT. Sign up at https://www.bennington250.org/. Each donor to this event will receive a special Bennington 250 pin, and a themed lapel pin for each of the three anniversary years, with the 2025 pin honoring the Expedition to Ticonderoga.
Honor history, by becoming part of history!
