Special guests reveal a history to remember

By Roslyn Graham

The Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms was filled with music and a smiling, happy, singing-along crowd who shared lots of memories as Shelburne Historical Society hosted its first-ever Community Celebration: a celebration of history, past, present and future.

The crowds that filled the Coach Barn’s historic halls and spilled over to tables in the courtyard was an exciting blend of old friends and neighbors, young families, members of the sponsoring organizations, Shelburne Business and Professional Association and Charlotte Shelburne Rotary Club and visitors from afar who had heard about it and decided to sample a real Vermont party.

A highlight of the party was the music of Rick and the Ramblers whose western swing music kept the crowd rocking, swinging and engaged by band leader-founder Rick Norcross and his stories of growing up in Shelburne where he lived from 1951 to 1961 when his mother was secretary to Mrs. Webb, founder of Shelburne Museum. He had promised a new song for the party and premiered Shelburne Yesterday, filled with names from the past and incidents that had many in the audience smiling and nodding as they remembered.

Special guests for the event, Ken Peirson of Toms River, New Jersey, and his sister Deb Peirson Fischer of Milford, Pennsylvania, are ninth generation descendants of Moses and Rachel Peirson, the first permanent settlers of Shelburne.

Shelburne Historical Society President Judy Frazer introduced the Peirsons and their children and grandchildren to the crowd and retold the story of their early years on the shores of Lake Champlain where Shelburne Town Beach is today. Her story included the oft-repeated tale of the Peirsons and how their house was set afire by British soldiers and their Indian allies. The Peirsons extinguished the fire with the beer they had just brewed. The family was presented with growlers of Fiddlehead beer, specially labeled to retell the colorful tale from 1778.

Good food was part of the fun as Cucina Antica baked pizzas in the brick oven in the courtyard and Green Pastures Meats sold burgers from their food truck, while inside the Coach Barn there were delicious locally produced desserts: Good Comida’s delightful individually packaged cheesecakes, Jenna Lindemann’s spectacular cupcakes and Terri Patrin’s squares.