A Visit to the Ethan Allen Homestead

Historic sites and small museums are always good choices for diversion when on vacation. They’re inexpensive, fun and always enlightening. My husband and I spent a few days in Vermont this summer with open plans and were looking for something of interest to do. A quick search on our phones led us to the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum.

While there, we learned that:

• Ethan Allen was a farmer, business man, philosopher, leader of the Green Mountain Boys in the American Revolution and a real character!
• He was not a furniture maker. Ethan Allen Furniture, a Vermont company, chose his name as he was a Revolutionary hero from the state.
• The site was unknown as Ethan Allen’s home until the 1980s when a letter from Ethan to his brother was found asking him to build the home on a certain piece of land with specific dimensions. After a search and analysis of the home, it was determined to be Ethan Allen’s. In preparing the historic site, a modern addition had to be painstakingly detached from the original home and moved to another part of the property. What remains is a simple and charming home capturing an interesting piece of American history.

The Ethan Allen Homestead Museum is not publicly funded, relies on patron and community support and is cared for by a board of directors and group of volunteers. It is vitally important to support all museums, especially small ones. Small museums are everywhere! Next time you visit a new place, look for a local museum.  You will always come away with knowledge, ideas and perhaps even a new way of thinking!