WALDEN – Small and unassuming, the Walden Community Library is tucked away behind the town’s school. In a town that does not have a general store or town green, and just under 1,000 residents, the library is a focal point for the community.
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Since its beginnings in 1895, the rural library has been tended by dedicated volunteers who desire to provide access to books and create a welcoming space for all.
Through grant funding and the work of the board and other volunteers, the library regularly hosts community events, including a solar eclipse viewing party in spring 2024. There are summer barbecues, ice cream and pie socials, story times and craft nights.
Patrons can use the library’s Wi-fi and computers, check out park and museum passes and borrow equipment to use on the Frisbee golf course located on the school grounds.
And, of course, there are books, lots of books.
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In 1895, the State of Vermont set aside money to be allocated to towns wishing to set up a public library. At that year’s town meeting, Walden residents voted to appropriate $25 for a town library and to elect a board of library trustees that would apply for additional funding from the state.
In those days, the Walden Library had no building to house the books purchased by the trustees; the collection was kept in the home of the town clerk. This arrangement lasted until 1931, when Walden Town Clerk Gladys Rowell stated she did not have the space to keep the books.
Following two years of paying Thomasina Lebreque, the Walden Heights storekeeper and postmistress, to store the books, trustees made the decision to divide the collection four ways so each of them kept a portion of the library books in their own homes.
The trustees found a dedicated home for their books in 1967 when George E. Milne, of Barre, deeded a small camp he owned in Walden to the library. The building was hitched to a tractor and moved through town over three days, from near Goslant Bridge to a spot next to the Walden Town Garage, which was at that time located near the corner of Noyestar Road and Vt. Route 15.
Volunteer time and labor turned the old camp into a serviceable space for the new library. Notes from that year’s annual report credit Eveline Rice with taping sheetrock seams, Lee and Betty Hatch with laying and sanding the floor, Maurice Eddy with taking care of electrical work, and Ann Cochran with making curtains.
They are only a few of the folks who helped to get the library building open and ready for the official open house on August 24, 1968. A newspaper clipping from the time reported that over 400 visitors came to the library that day.
Trustees reports and newspaper articles from later years paint a picture of something not too different from how the library operates today. Volunteers worked to cultivate an interesting and relevant collection of books, engage with students and provide education and entertainment in various forms to the community. They maintained magazine subscriptions, showed films to visiting groups of students, hosted art courses, story hours and book fairs.
Operating hours were regular but spare, due to the minimal availability of volunteers. In some years, the library was open only one day a week; other years, two afternoons and an evening. The trustees were supported in their work by the Walden Home Demonstration group, the regional library in St. Johnsbury, the state library in Montpelier and various donors. Many donations came in the form of books, some of which remain in the current collection with book plates commemorating the donors, or in memory of loved ones.
In the 1980s, two library projects began to preserve town stories and history. A bi-monthly newsletter, “Walden 200,” compiled by the trustees, began in 1981 as a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Walden’s town charter. The newsletter was maintained for the next 30 years, and an archive of issues is in the library. Much of the information for this article was gleaned from its Spring, 2004, edition.
In 1986, the library sponsored the publication of “Walden: A History,” a book written by the Walden History Committee, led by Betty Hatch. It was updated and reprinted in 1990, and copies can be found in homes around Walden, as well as in the Vermont section of the library.
In 1995, the Walden Town Library and the school library merged, to be housed inside the newly built Walden Elementary School on Cahoon Farm Road. (Until this time, Walden students had attended classes in four separate buildings scattered throughout the town.) The combined libraries became the Walden Community Library.
The old camp, after its decades of service, began its own next chapter. It was sold to Cedric and Susan Alexander and in 1996 undertook another journey over miles of road before settling in its new home in Cabot.
From 1995 until 2013, the library had extended hours, as it was open during school days. That was the only period of time when there was a paid librarian, with their salary included in the school budget. For a number of years, Judy Nudd, also the administrative assistant for the school, filled that position.
In 2013, due to increased concerns about student safety, the Walden School Board requested the library move to the modular building behind the school, allowing the students who had been attending classes in the outbuilding to move into the main school building.
Volunteers were once again solely responsible for keeping the doors open to the public, marking a shift in the day-to-day operations of the library.
The current board of trustees, led by long-time Library Director Martha Bissell, has been working together for about three years. They are part of a tradition, begun 130 years ago, of Walden residents pitching in to support the humble but valuable institution of the community library.
