@jeremyosborn

Another fine watercolor.

I moved to Brattleboro in 1970 for a job at Bratteboro Retreat. Many stories of the flooding of the Retreat Meadow were still around in those days. Before the Vernon Dam was put in, that whole part of the Retreat property was a very big vegetable garden. Back then, the Retreat had a large number of state funded chronic patients. So many decades later, memory is frail; but I swear one of the patients told me he had worked on that part of the Retreat Farm. Two of the people I worked with were born at the Retreat, their father, Mr. Mitchell (not sure I ever knew his first name) having been the Retreat farmer.

In exchange for allowing its land to be flooded, the Retreat got a permanent really, really low electricity rate. The Retreat's Comptroller, Charlie Landry, used to encourage us to turn off lights, not to save electricity but to burn out fewer light bulbs.

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#brattleboro #brattleborohistory #brattlebororetreat #charlielandry #charleslandry #retreatfarmbrattleboro #retreatfarmerbrattleboro #retreatfarmermitchell #retreatmeadowbrattleboro #vermont #vernondamvermont #vernonvermont

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