Robbie Harold
Vermont Granite Museum Executive Director Scott McLaughlin may be getting paid to run a museum, but he’ll tell you his superpower is being an educator. He’s been doing it since he was a high school senior, when he began lecturing about archaeology to University of Vermont undergraduates.
McLaughlin is a Vermont native who’d wanted to be an archaeologist “forever” (he disclaims any inspiration from the “Indiana Jones” movie series, which debuted in 1981). He grew up in Jericho, devoured any archaeological information he could lay hands on and, as an eighth grader, began “pestering” the UVM Consulting Archaeology Program to let him volunteer there. With the advocacy of then-State Archaeologist Giovanna Peebles and the help of a sympathetic department secretary, he got his wish in 1986 as a high school junior.
Then, as a UVM undergrad in anthropology, geography, and history, McLaughlin conducted field work with program founder Peter Thomas on a Native American burial site in Highgate. After earning his degree, he joined fellow UVM graduate Kevin Crisman in the nautical archaeology master’s program at Texas A&M University, doing all the (mostly subaquatic) field work in and around Lake Champlain.
This led to a 15-year stint in various roles with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, where he refined his teaching skills, developing a K–12 curriculum on the historic maritime community of the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River.
Adding a couple more master’s degrees along the way, one in museum studies and the other in cultural heritage and historic preservation, he focused on the Mount Independence historic site. That research helped to create the museum there and the one at nearby Chimney Point, which illuminate the lives of the three cultures that once made their homes on the shores of Lake Champlain.
McLaughlin’s education culminated in a Ph.D. in anthropology and archaeology from Binghamton University in 2011, with a dissertation titled “With Their Homes About Them: The World of the Northern Canal Boat Community, 1873–1940.”
He has put all these academic credentials to good use as a faculty member in Vermont’s higher education institutions, including his alma mater UVM, St. Michael’s College, the Community College of Vermont, Northern Vermont University/Johnson, and currently, Norwich University. His course topics have ranged from the general (Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Culture and Personality, Labor History) to the curiously specific (Graveyards, Tombs, and Undertakers; Aargh! The Golden Age of Piracy).
But that’s only a fraction of McLaughlin’s educational work. He’s lectured in such diverse venues as the New York State Scuba Divers Association, the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Ethan Allen Homestead, and the Vermont Old Cemetery Association. He’s created professional development programs and model curricula for history educators and leaders of cultural heritage associations. He’s also been widely published, with a slew of scholarly articles, books, and research reports to his credit (“Revolutionary War Gunboat Found!” sounds particularly intriguing).
Of course, academic programs must be funded, and McLaughlin has been wholly or partly responsible for securing over $1.5 million in grants for the organizations and collaborations he’s been part of. In the present environment, that has become a significant challenge.
As executive director of the Vermont Granite Museum since 2014, McLaughlin has extended the museum’s impact via partnerships and collaborations with over 50 community and statewide organizations. Its only paid staffer, he directs the work of over 50 volunteers and manages its educational programs, which include overseeing the Barre-based Stone Arts School’s design and sculpting classes and personally teaching five Boy Scout Merit Badge programs.
He’s been widely honored for his collaborations with partners, most recently with a Spirit of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) award for the museum’s partnerships with HireAbility, the state agency that helps people with handicaps ready themselves for employment. The Vermont Department of Labor sponsors paid hospitality and tourism internships at the museum, where students gain hands-on experience in exhibit planning and events management.
Other collaborators include Spaulding High School, which cited the museum for Outstanding Teaching and Exceptional Student Support in Work-Based Learning Experiences. Also, students at the Central Vermont Career Center have gained skills in the building trades through the center’s Cooperative Education partnership with the Museum.
In short, Scott McLaughlin is a member of that little-known and under-heralded species a friend of mine calls the “Renaissance Woodchuck,” lifelong Vermonters who bring a breadth and depth of education, skills, and collaborative spirit to keep Vermont’s typically under-resourced but beloved institutions, such as the Vermont Granite Museum, thriving.
Now that the museum has reopened for the 2026 season, visitors can view a range of new, improved, and specialized exhibits, including one on Civil War monuments, and beginning in June, Chris Miller at work on the grounds on his “panel truck” granite sculpture. If they encounter Scott McLaughlin on their visit, there may be a bonus feature in the form of a fascinating conversation or two.
