Welcome

To the Guilford Historical Society

Guilford, Vermont

Founded in 1972 the Guilford Historical Society is a nonprofit membership group, whose purpose is “to preserve for posterity items and places which serve as resources to study and interpret our community, the environment, and its people”. Its museum, located in the original town hall, holds an extensive collection of written records, photographs, and historic objects. In addition, the Society owns and maintains the 1837 Universalist Meeting House and the Guilford Center Red Brick School House. These, along with the Broad Brook Community Center (formerly Broad Brook Grange) and the Guilford Free Library as well as several old houses, represent the core of historic Guilford Center. But Guilford is made up of many neighborhoods and villages, each with a unique history to explore.

The town has many more historic sites including four more churches, a covered bridge, a historic timber crib dam, numerous one-room schoolhouses, and farms. Most of these have been in existence since the first colonial settlers arrived at the end of the French and Indian War. There are even traces of the original inhabitants, believed to be members of the Sokoki tribe of the Western Abenakis. Through its events, programs, educational and celebration events, plus publications, the members of the Guilford Historical Society work to inform and inspire the wider community.


Explore our site to learn more about Vermont's largest town in 1790.

Please visit our Events page to learn more about our quaint little town.

 

ABOUT US

 

How Can I Help?

VOLUNTEERING

The Guilford Historical Society has many ways to volunteer your talents and skills. From helping to design museum displays, upkeeping our digital records of artifacts, our current member information, painting, mailings, cleaning, researching, genealogy work, or even staffing the museum!

Our volunteers are invaluable!

Please email us if you are interested in volunteering. Opportunities to volunteer can vary due to our current needs at the time. 

 

CONTACT US

DONATIONS

We are a nonprofit organization with income generated by membership dues and generous donations. All donations go towards keeping our museum, and the buildings we own, maintained and in good condition. Our goal is to advance our community's understanding of the rich past the town of Guilford was built on.

Thank you for your continued support!

We appreciate you!

 

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BECOME A MEMBER

Come join our fun group of people who are dedicated to the preservation of all things Guilford, VT! We love our little town and the rich history it holds!

 Preserving the history of our town and its artifacts and buildings are of the utmost importance to all of us. Are you a history lover? Then this may be for you! 

As a member, you get to vote on officers for our board and have a say at meetings about our next projects. 

ABOUT US

We received $60,000 from AARPA Funds to help restore our

Historic Meeting House

Guilford Historical Society is seen here accepting the check from Zon Estes, Chair person of the Guilford Select Board, to help us restore our beautiful historic meeting house. 

 

We have been in great need of major repairs to this building for quite some time and are very grateful to the Town of Guilford and to AARPA for this wonderful donation!

 

We still have a ways to go when it comes to donations but we are so grateful and we hope to once again be able to use the meeting house again soon. To help us with this amazing endeavor, you can donate by clicking the button below. 

 

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GRAND OPENING OF NEWLY RENOVATED MEETING HOUSE

JUNE 1 

1PM

Our meeting house has just recently finished it's amazing renovations and will finally be reopening to the public! Please join us in celebrating this amazing feat and restoring this beautiful historic building to it's original grandeur! The transforamtion fo this space has been npthing short of incredible, Thank you to the Town of Guilford, All our donors, and the wondeful ARPA funds that made this possible for the residens here in Guilford to once again enjoy this space. 

 

This absolutely stunning example of a gothic church from the 1700's was built here in our little town and has been a staple in our community ever since. This building was gifted to the historical society in 1977 by the Universalist Women's Auxiliary and it has been in a state of disrepair until now.

 

We have recently completed the roof repair and replaced the old carpeting in the sanctuary, repaired the rope to our original church bell (made in Boston in 1837), and completed repainting the outside of the building, thanks to generous donations from the Bullock Foundation and generous donations from our members and community. 

 

In honor of all the people who had died in Guilford of Covid, we rang this historic bell over 70 times in the December of 2020.

 

We appreciate all donations!

Thank you all so much for your continued support. 

 

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