Pownal Historical Society Oral Histories

In part 2 of Joyce Held’s sit-down with The Winchesters, we hear about how the well known Pownal local store they ran came about. They also discuss local life in and around Pownal, and some stories they had heard about it’s fascinating past.

Pownal Historical Society board member Joyce Held discusses with Jim and Nell Winchester how they met, and their time working at and around the Green Mountain Racetrack.

Born 1896 in Pawtucket, R.I., Sidney Clayton’s family moved to Williamstown in 1909. He served in the US Army during WWI in Waco Texas. After the war he worked in Yonkers, N.Y. till his retirement in 1961, where he lived before eventually moving to Pownal 8 years later. His service to our country during both World Wars, as well as his generous donation of a parcel of land he'd owned along the Hoosick river, to the town of Pownal, keeps his memory fresh in the town’s residents minds to this day.

WWII Marine Veteran Leo Pellerin discusses his life growing up in Pownal VT from the 1920s on till the 21st Century, with children from the Pownal Elementary School. He tells of working on a farm before they could afford tractors, hijinks during his school days, and working at Warren Wire.

In this oral history podcast from 1991, for The Pownal Historical Society, you will hear the town’s students sing of Vermont and many of the local Pownal town’s folk in this bicentennial celebration marking 200 years since Vermont became a state. (music by Guillermo Guareschi - Appalachian Trail (freetouse.com) — photo by Alex Macphail 1973)