The Cabot Historical Society began in the fall of 1965, when a group of local women gathered at the home of Mrs. Abbie Orne and resolved to preserve the story of their town. They elected their first officers — Beatrice Perry, Abbie Orne, Helen Wellman, and Ruth Peck — set dues at twenty-five cents, and took up a first project: research into Cabot's earliest settlers. A food sale was their first fundraiser, and a handful of artifacts, kept at the Willey Building, formed the seed of today's collections.
The West Hill Schoolhouse
In 1970, Charles and Barbara Carpenter led a community effort to rescue the one-room West Hill School, once District No. 4. The Society persuaded the town to hand over the building, and with community support and grants it was repaired and became a home for the Society's meetings. In 1992, David Book — a teacher and later principal of Cabot School — and his Heritage Class completed the restoration, researching and displaying books, desks, and school maps to recreate a New England schoolhouse of the 1800s. Today it serves as a museum and learning center.
The Main Street Museum
Our two-story Main Street museum was itself once a village schoolhouse, District No. 8. Over the decades it served the International Organisation of Good Templars, the Morrill Relief Corps, and the Modern Woodmen before being sold in 1947 — with a deed restriction, still in force, that it never be used for dancing. It housed a plumbing shop until 1978, when the Brimblecombe brothers sold it to the Society. Successive presidents and boards added display cases, electricity, a security system, new shelving, and a research center supported by computer files. Both floors now hold donated artifacts and exhibits, while the building keeps its original character — warmed in cold weather by a wood stove, and still without water, telephone, or central heat. A restored nineteenth-century stage curtain, painted with a woodland scene, hangs on the museum's stage.
The Apple Pie Festival
For twenty years, on the Saturday after Columbus (Indigenous Peoples') Day, the Society's Apple Pie Festival sold hundreds of pies as dozens of bakers vied for recognition of their craft. It was our primary fundraiser until the Covid-19 pandemic paused in-person events.
Our Purpose
To promote respect and love for the history of Cabot, Vermont, and to aid its discovery, preservation, and study. The Society maintains two museums, studies the genealogy of early settlers and prominent citizens, protects local cemeteries and historic sites, helps preserve historic Cabot buildings, and records and publishes the documents and memories of the town's past.
The Cabot Historical Society is an independent, nonprofit, membership corporation, governed by its members and their elected officers. We welcome new members and volunteers, and gifts and grants are gratefully accepted to help us care for our collections, maintain our buildings, and bring history programs to the community.