Place:Pownal, Bennington, Vermont, United States

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Pownal is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,560. The town of Pownal includes the villages of Pownal, North Pownal, and Pownal Center.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

During the Woodland period, the area was settled by the Mahican people, with others, such as the Mohawks, traveling across it. By the late 17th century, Europeans may have entered the area as a result of the establishment of the Dutch patroonship owned by Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which extended west and east out of Albany and the fur trading community of Beverwyck. The southwestern corner of Pownal was part of the patroonship. Rensselaerswyck passed into English control in 1664. The first European settlers may have entered the area in the 1730s. Those first European settlers may have been Dutch or other Europeans who leased land within Rensselaerwyck. On January 28, 1760, New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth chartered Pownal, which he named after his fellow royal governor, Thomas Pownall of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Thereafter, settlers, primarily of English descent, began to arrive from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1766, 185 male heads of households in Pownal sent a petition to George III, asking that their land claims be recognized and that the fees required to do so be waived. Since Wentworth had granted to settlers land that the Province of New York also claimed, legal and physical conflicts broke out between "Yorkers" and settlers in the New Hampshire Grants (or "The Grants"). As a result, a number of Pownal residents joined the Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen.

By the American Revolution, the town was deeply divided between "Yankees" and the Tories, those sympathetic to England, each of whom considered himself or herself a Loyalist. Tories were often arrested and imprisoned. By the end of the Revolution, most Tories had fled Pownal for safety among the United Empire Loyalists who resettled in Canada. As noted, however, that was not always the case. William Card (1710–1784), born in Rhode Island, settled in Pownal perhaps as late as 1773 (though his sons settled there between 1762–1766) fought for the British at the Battle of Bennington on 16 August 1777, along with four of his sons: Jonathan (1734–1818), Elisha (1738–1805), Philo (1754–1837) --- NOTE: This is an error... No Philo Card has been found to exist. Given that both Jonathan and Peleg Card were scheduled to be tried by the Vermont Committee of Safety (Peleg died 6 Sep 1777, and it is unknown if the trial was actually held) it is likely that Philo Card is, in reality, Peleg Card (1740–1777) --- and Stephen (1748–1798) -- (Source: National Archives of Canada, WO 28/10, Reel B-2867, pp. 17–18. Found on the NY GenWeb Rensselaer County, The Loyalist Muster Roll of 1777 by Capt Samuel McKay at Chateauguay, Quebec, 20TH DECEMBER 1777.) The battle, a virtually complete American victory, was actually fought in Hoosick (Walloomsac), New York. The elder Card and all four of his sons were captured, but soon released.

Please also note that while William Card would have been 67 when the Battle of Bennington was fought, that does not mean that he would have been unable to contribute to the fighting. He moved from Rhode Island to Pownal, Vermont while in his late 50s or early 60s. He was a tough, New England farmer and there is no reason to assume that he was physically incapable, as some have proposed.

Three years later, William Card's grandsons (Jonathan Card's [1734-1818] two young sons), Thomas (1762–1850) and Jonathan (1764–1836), would serve in Colonel Herrick's Vermont regiment on the "Yankee" or Patriot lines during 1780/1. Their service was documented in their Revolutionary War pension papers as men who fought against the British (HeritageQuest Revolutionary War Papers Series: M805 Roll: 160 Image: 31 File: S12447 Pages: 1-7 and Series: M805 Roll: 160 Image: 89 File: S10430 Pages: 1-8). Wm Card died in Pownal in 1784, seven years later. The War, in New England, was over well before that.

The novel Memoir of a Green Mountain Boy starts and ends in Pownal during the early years of the Revolution.

The oldest house in both Pownal and Vermont is the Mooar-Wright House, possibly built in the 1750s. Some think it may have been built by John Defoe (or DeVoet), a Tory who was imprisoned in 1776, escaped, fought on the side of the British and Hessian forces at the Battle of Bennington, was captured, escaped again, and settled in Canada. Others believe the Mooar-Wright house was built by Charles Wright in 1765.

Pownal citizens have long prided themselves on their independent spirit. In 1789, a touring minister, the Rev. Nathan Perkins, described the town this way: " . . . Pawnal ye first town, poor land – very unpleasant – very uneven – miserable set of inhabitants – no religion, Rhode Island haters of religion – Baptists, quakers, & some Presbyterians – no meeting house."

Today Pownal has five churches. The Pownal Center Community Church was organized in 1794 as the Union Church, serving both Baptists and Methodists, and open to any denomination. The first church was a log structure. It was replaced in 1849 by the present church, jointly owned by the town and church.

In 1851, Chester Arthur (later to become President of the United States), was appointed principal to an academy for boys. The academy prepared boys for college (and became the foundation for Arthur's future path to study law).

Both cotton mills and woolen mills operated during the 19th century. The wool industry reached its peak between 1820 and 1840, though farmers continued to raise sheep until the 20th century. On the Hoosic River in North Pownal, an 18th-century gristmill was replaced by a woolen mill that operated from 1849 until 1863, when it burned. The Plunkett & Baker Co. Mill, built in 1866, served as a cotton mill until 1930, becoming a tannery in 1937. It closed in 1988. Remediated as a superfund site, the mill site is planned to become a recreation area.

During the early part of the 20th century, Lewis Hine documented child labor in the mills. His photograph of twelve-year old Addie Card, entitled "Anemic Little Spinner in North Pownal Cotton Mill, North Pownal, Vermont, August 1910", was featured on the U.S. stamp commemorating the passage of the first child labor laws (see the Keating-Owen Act). Elizabeth Winthrop has written a novel, Counting on Grace, inspired by Addie's photograph and life.

An electric railroad came to Pownal on June 7, 1907, and linked Pownal to The Berkshires and to Bennington. The brick power station still stands along Route 7. Schools were built in locations to which children could easily walk, and at one point Pownal had 11 schools, with four men and eleven women teaching in them. Two presidents of the United States once taught in North Pownal: James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Some children who attended high school in Bennington commuted on the electric railroad. Others rode wagons or horses to their schools.

Lime quarries operated in North Pownal until 1936. A rail car line extended from the southernmost quarry to the mill on the west side of Route 346, where the stone was crushed and packaged for shipment.

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