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ISLAND PARK
HINSDALE - BRATTLEBORO
Mastodon Post

This photograph of Island Park from the early 1900s is the most interesting depiction of the park I have seen. The Vernon Dam was started in 1907 and completed in 1909, raising the water level in the Connecticut River and greatly diminishing the island's size. The Retreat Meadow actually used to be a meadow with a very large vegetable garden. Since construction of the Vernon Dam, it has been a pond. A painting of Island Park (which I posted here awhile back) made not long before a great storm destroyed it shows Island Park as much smaller and it looked a lot less prosperous. Even without the storm Island Park may have run its course. The first customer for electricity from the Vernon Dam was Brattleboro's J. Estey & Co.