Ancestors

Toot

Written by mandy (she/her) on 2025-01-18 at 15:26

I grew up in a small Vermont town that's been a tourist town for ages. It's also home to a Rockefeller resort & now Vermont's only national park. You can imagine how embarrassing our town drunk and resident homeless person, Vilas, was to the upper crust of town society. When I was small I once mistook him for Santa as he was shambling down our picturesque streets - I remember it vividly along with my mother's laughter. Vilas was a contrarian and a rebel. 1/2

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Descendants

Written by mandy (she/her) on 2025-01-18 at 15:26

He had the New England accent often associated with Maine, though it's prevalent in New Hampshire and Vermont. He smelled bad, was always smoking, and rarely had clean clothes. When I was in my teens, he was known to buy alcohol for us if you slipped him enough to get some for himself. He was and still is a beloved legend. 2/2

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Written by Margaret Sefton on 2025-01-18 at 15:28

@madgeface What an interesting character. I sense a bit of memoir inherent in this. 💜

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Written by mandy (she/her) on 2025-01-18 at 15:30

@MargaretSefton Possibly! It's mainly because I follow the town historical society on Facebook and they posted a different picture of him the other day. All the old school town residents are reminiscing.

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Written by Margaret Sefton on 2025-01-18 at 15:31

@madgeface That is marvelous! And I sense you have your own perspective as well. It feels like a world. 💜

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Written by mandy (she/her) on 2025-01-18 at 15:37

@MargaretSefton It is/was. It's so changed now - most of the residents are flat-landers now, people who don't have history there. After college I couldn't find a decent non-hospitality industry job there so I never moved back.

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Written by Margaret Sefton on 2025-01-18 at 16:32

@madgeface 💜

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