Waterbury Historical Society

03/25/2026

We'll be at the Community Volunteer Fair to share all kinds of opportunities for folks to participate in local history-keeping. Stop by our table and learn more!

03/22/2026

This Women's History Month, we're revisiting our Waterbury Women video exhibit from 2020. These inspiring stories are just a small sample of how women have shaped Waterbury's history.

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

03/15/2026

Celebrating the extraordinary women of Waterbury.

03/03/2026

It's Town Meeting Day and we're helping out out friends on the committee in raising awareness about US and VT 250th opportunities. We're taking suggestions! Visit us in the Brookside school lobby for all the details.

03/03/2026

02/21/2026

“Aunt Lydie” certainly loved her porch and during some February of years past, was likely longing for warmer days the same as many of us are now.

Lydia S. Woodward was born in Waterbury in 1848. She attended and taught school in town as well as graduated from a four year program at one of New England's earliest nursing schools. When her brother and sister-in-law passed away leaving behind three children, she stepped up and raised them like her own. She was lovingly referred to as Aunt Lydie by them and the other kids of the neighborhood.

She spent her later years living in New York City, devotedly cared for by her niece Maud until her passing in 1928.

02/21/2026

Our president, Cheryl Casey, had the opportunity to interview local author Jeffrey Amestoy for this event. We love these collaborations with Bridgeside Books and the opportunity to share our love of local (authors, history, businesses...) with the community!

Since former Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy's retirement, he has taken on a new role as an author, remaining immersed in the legal world.

02/09/2026

From 1933-1940, more than 300,000 Black men served in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Vermont’s first Sixth District camp was Camp Wilson in Barre, home to the 1351st Colored Company, made up of Bonus Army WWI veterans.

At Camp Smith in Waterbury, roughly 2,000 workers labored on the Little River Dam (1935–1938). Black enrollees served in segregated “Colored Detachments” (1108, 1105, 1111), living in a U-shaped barracks on the South Plateau (the camp’s worst area) and subjected to a midnight curfew not applied to white workers.
Despite these conditions, their work saved lives and homes from future floods and created the reservoir Waterbury residents and visitors cherish to this day. For their hard work in spite of unequal treatment, they deserve respect, appreciation, and to have their story told.

📷Photo from the 1938 Sixth District CCC Yearbook

11/04/2025

The Great Flood of 1927 inundated Waterbury 98 years ago, November 3 and 4. Here are some photos of the devastation from our collections. Eighty-four Vermonters lost their lives in the flood, the highest death toll from a natural disaster in state history.