Come hear from local author, David Holmes, on the topic of his book “On Being a Vermonter and the Rise of Fall of the Holmes Farm 1822-1923”. Join us in the Bixby Community Room, Thursday April 28th 6-7pm. This event will also be broadcast online via Zoom, register here to attend the Zoom. Questions? Please call the library 802-877-2211 or email laksamee.putnam@bixbylibrary.org

On Being a Vermonter and the Rise of Fall of the Holmes Farm 1822-1923 by Vermont author, David Holmes, probes what it means to be a Vermonter through chronicling the history of his family’s multigenerational farm. The book, is the first case study of a Vermont farm from the early 1800s to the early 1900s.

The Holmes farm existed on Lake Champlain in Charlotte, south of the Holmes Covered Bridge, for 101 years until its demise in 1923. The book is “an important contribution to our understanding of Vermont’s history as a frontier region settled by tough, hard-working farmers and how that history shaped Vermont’s character up to the present day,” said David Moats, a Pulitzer Prize–winning Vermonter journalist. “It is grounded in Holmes’s own family history and the detailed record found in letters and other documents,” Moats said, calling the book “rich in detail and insight.”

The Holmes farm, run by the author’s ancestors, boasted one of the largest apple orchards in New England and pioneered several techniques. It was also a leading breeder of horses whose heritage can be traced to the Morgan horse — the state animal and one of the earliest American horse breeds.

About the author

Holmes and his wife, Toni Kiley Holmes, lived in Charlotte when he wrote a previous book of Vermont history, “Stalking the Academic Communist: The Firing of Alex Novikoff.” He served as a faculty member and academic administrator at the University of Vermont for 13 years. They now reside in Panton. Holmes earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College, a master’s from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Denver.