Article Title: Food Works, Sunergy Seek Help on History

Edition: December 2000
Category: History
Author: Nat Frothingham
Article:

Food Works and Sunergy, two local non-profit organizations, are sending out an appeal for help from anyone in Montpelier , central Vermont or elsewhere who has information about the historical Jacob Davis, Junior property and homestead at the edge of Montpelier.

The 1836 Greek Revival house and 19.1 acres of land are situated adjacent to the new Agway Garden Center along Route 2 in Montpelier.

Items could include letters, photos and personal remembrances.

Food Works is a local nonprofit organization with a long history of working with schools, teachers and students in Vermont and beyond to develop standards-based curriculum units with a strong emphasis on gardening, ecology and local history.

Sunergy is the nonprofit arm of a local business, Solar Works, a leader in sustainable energy technologies.

Food Works and Sunergy are teaming up to form a new nonprofit called The Two Rivers Center for Sustainability to purchase and renovate a historic 1836 Greek Revival house and 19 acres of surrounding land and turn the site into "a world class center for sustainable education, agriculture and alternative energy."

In joining forces to buy the Jacob Davis, Junior property, both organizations have launched a $1 million fundraising drive over the next two years to buy the property, rehabilitate the historic house and land and undertake new construction.

Beginning this past September as part of their studies at the U.V.M. Historic Preservation Program, two graduate students, Anne Jennings and Lisa Ryan, have been working to develop a historic profile of the Jacob Davis, Junior home and property. Both women have studied maps and aerial photos, explored the property, measured the foundations, documented the wallpaper and assessed the condition of the exterior and interior of the homestead structures.

They have also talked with a number of local people as they have established when the house was built, its architectural style, who may have lived there, and what the house may have been used for. They do know, for example, that the house and grounds were originally a farm and they speculate that it might have later been used as an inn as well.

To help with information about the Jacob Davis, Junior farmstead, please contact Hope Emerson at Food Works at 802-223-1515 or by E-mail at vtgreener@hotmail.com.

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