Rutland’s Poor Farm

Clearing and marking the Poor Farm Cemetery, Rutland VT

“Boy” White died by “suffocation by strangulation.” William McPherson was “found dead at rear of Tyrell’s shop.”

Who were these people? And what’s the rest of their story?

What about Mary Jane Taylor?

A Grave Story of Castleton State College

Human bones on display in the Old Chapel on Castleton State College campus. (Joanna Tebbs Young / photo)

It may have been because I was expecting (hoping?) to feel something when I entered the basement of the Old Chapel on Seminary Street on the campus of Castleton State College — my stomach flipped. A strange sensation of, not fear, but what? Unease. A slight pressure inside.

While it may not be its original cellar hole — the building had been moved from its original site on Main Street and, as such, is hardly a representation of its former self — the air, it felt, well … just different.

Apparently I’m not the only person who has felt something unusual.

Rutland’s House of Correction Cemetery

Gravestones at the House of Corrections Cemetery on the Rutland Creek Path. (Anthony Edwards / photo)

Frank was a deadbeat dad. Charles was homeless. Rufus was a horse thief. E.S. was black. The other Charles was French. And A.R. was Chinese.

What could these men have in common? The answer is lying along the Rutland Creek Path.