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![]() THE VMLS PROGRAMS: The Music Library Collection: Studio & Live Recordings by Vermont Artists. 'In Silver Light,' the critically acclaimed Vermont songwriter compilation CD. The 1907 L.S. Gordon Storefront Restoration - our future archive. The Vermont Jukebox Project, bringing Vermont-made music into Visitor Welcome Centers. The Rocket Shop Radio Hour, broadcasting from the VMLS collection every Wednesday 8-9pm on WOMM-LP 105.9FM The Radiator (Burlington). Coming in 2009: Our 'Timeline of Vermont' CD project, gathering 400 years of Vermont's music for CD and the web. 'Music for the Sky' Soundtrack to the Vermont fiddlers documentary by Nikolai Fox |
"A striking aptness of place - the feeling a village gives that the gentle yet flinty hills have found their perfect human expression. Half by accident, half by necessity, the people who live here have evolved an architecture and villagescape that does not impose upon the land, but compliments and enhances it, so it leaves you with the feeling, even on a casual first glance from the road, that absolutely no other style or design for inhabitance would be appropriate in its stead." - W.D. Wetherell, New York Times
Sketch by Xavier Donnelly. The Lewis S. Gordon Store was built in 1907 and sold groceries, provisions and grain. It was one of three stores in Starksboro's village district, unique for its very large plate glass windows and flat-topped parapet wall. The Starksboro post office was located on the site for a period and the building eventually became the home of long-term residents Hervey and Olive Hanson. They kept the large windows full of geraniums, remembered by village residents to the present. Its location on a bend in the road centers the facade in the northbound line of sight; it's a bit of a landmark! The features of the structure that were modern or atypical of its rural context at the time of construction (the flat parapet and large plate glass of the facade) represent an emergence of 20th Century architectural elements in a village of mostly 19th Century vernacular forms, defining a place for the building in the narrative of Starksboro’s villagescape. It is a contributing structure of the Starksboro Historic District. The structure remained vacant in the early 2000's and was purchased in 2006 for the Vermont Music Library & Shop by supporters to help the organization create a climate-controlled Vermont-made music recording archive space. As the project progresses we hope to include interpretive signs, gardens and art on the property, contributing to a celebration of the Lewis Creek region and Starksboro's history and reclaiming a beautiful resource for the community. Follow our progress at the restoration blog. Your support for this project is welcome!
The L.S. Gordon Storefront in 1977. Photo courtesy the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.
The L.S. Gordon Storefront in the autumn of 2006.
The restored L.S. Gordon Store, illustration by Ginny Joyner. We gratefully acknowledge the guidance or support these organizations have provided this project: Addison County Chamber of Commerce HOME | ABOUT | VISITOR INFORMATION | LIBRARY COLLECTION NEWS | EVENTS | GIVING | FORUM The Vermont Music Library & Shop is a program of The Big Heavy World Foundation, Inc. Web site hosting generously provided by Sovernet. |
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