Interview with David Palmer

Interview with David Palmer

The Palmer Family started visiting Newfane Hill in the 1930s and inherited and then bought property on Newfane Hill and around Kenny Pond (also known as Grout Pond). He discusses electricity coming in 1946, Louise Haight and Miss Burlingham, Able and Guy Grout, the various properties acquired by the Palmers, local figures such as Harold Whitaker, Mert Coleman, Red and Marion Chaffee and Ed Druke. He mentions an old logging railroad that used to run through Williamsville. He talks about the Kenny family that originally settled the area in the 1700s and the two mills they built using the water dammed from the pond. He mentions a fire in their original house on top of Newfane Hill in 1967, which the volunteer firefighters tamed by pumping water from Kenny Pond and bringing it up the hill. He also discusses how his parents were able to be the last people buried in the old Newfane Hill Cemetery.

August 1, 2021

Erica Walch

David Palmer

Erica Walch

Newfane, VT