Paul Carnahan
In the 1870s Wrightsville, a small hamlet on the North Branch four miles north of the center of Montpelier and clustered around the mills and machine shop of Medad Wright, Jr., was a thriving community of 26 dwellings, various mills, a schoolhouse, a hotel with a hall and store, a church, a blacksmith shop, and a post office. At the beginning of the 20th century the village entered a period of decline. Then the flooding of November 1927 hit the area hard. To provide future flood protection to downstream areas, the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1933 and 1935 constructed a flood control dam in Wrightsville, displacing residents and flooding the village.
Historic photo courtesy of Vermont State Archives and Records Administration; modern photo and text by Paul Carnahan.
