The history behind Widow's Clearing

"Who was that Widow?" wonders an Addison Independent report. Jeff Byers reports on the answers his research uncovered about the woman behind that Clearing.

[T]he widow of interest was one Lucinda (Billings) Chatfield, 1818-1897. While Lucinda was born in Tunbridge, she married Alonzo Chatfield in Middlebury in 1838. They moved up to his home in Ripton, and in 1859 they started farming the plot of land which we now call the Widow’s Clearing. Local records indicate that their farm was rather poor, even by Ripton hill farm standards.

There's more in that article, plus a description of a run around the area.

The Independent tracks down Nola

Another Riptonite is profiled in the Addison Independent. Go, Nola!

Kevra sells her salad greens and herbs to the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op and to restaurants under the name “Nola’s Secret Garden.” She doesn’t do farmers’ markets, though, because she is short-staffed — she is the sole employee of her business.

“If Greta and Orion could sell for me, that would be great,” she said of her dogs. “But I’m it.”