By SCOTT SCRIBNER
During the month of July, The Brandon Museum, in conjunction with the Vermont Covered Bridge Society (VCBS), is showcasing a Covered Bridge exhibit.
On Saturday, July 13, VCBS Education Chair Jeanne Beaudry and her husband, Marcel Beaudry, gave presentations on Vermont Covered Bridges. Jeanne, a retired schoolteacher that taught kindergarten through 6th grade, discussed some of her time educating students and children with special needs about covered bridges. Jeanne and Marcel have held workshops where they have helped children build models of covered bridges. Marcel reflected on his memories of the Lord’s Creek Covered Bridge, of which he built a small scale model that is on display at the museum. About 28 guests were in attendance for the presentations. After the presentations, everyone was invited to explore the exhibit.
In the exhibit, Vermont artist Elaine Cole-Kerr (who is also a member of VCBS) displayed some of her artwork, including some of her paintings of covered bridges. Elaine is known for painting all 100 of Vermont’s covered bridges. Elaine also had some of her calendars and books for sale at the museum. Elaine designed and painted the VCBS ornament (1st of the series). Some of her paintings, calendars and ornaments are for sale at the museum until the end of the month.
Even though you may have missed out on the special presentations, the regular exhibit is still going on through the month of July. This is a great exhibit for the family and kids to attend to get out of the summer heat. This is a great learning experience as well, as there are handouts describing the many parts of the covered bridges. There is also a scavenger hunt in the exhibit where the kids can find the bridges listed on the scavenger hunt sheet. For the adults, there is a map of the local covered bridges where your family can take a local covered bridge tour to see the bridges in real life! The tour takes you to several towns surrounding Brandon.
You still have time to see this exhibit, so make sure you make plans to come see it before the end of the month. In addition to the permanent displays on Brandon history, the Museum will be bringing in new exhibits to try and keep you coming back for more! Admission to the museum is free, but donations are accepted.
The Brandon Museum is located at 4 Grove Street (Route 7), next to the Baptist Church and across from Ace Hardware. Hours are 11 to 4 on Thursdays and Fridays, 1:30 to 4 on Saturdays and Sundays.
