By Justin Bigos, Staff Writer
The East Barnard Community Hall needs a new roof, as well as ADA-certified accessibility, and they are asking for the public’s help to make the necessary renovations. Donations contributed before Feb. 28 can be matched up to $5,000, according to the East Barnard Community Club (EBCC) website, which states, “Two families are offering to match gifts given by community members to the Roof Fund to renovate and insulate the Hall roof. You’ll help the EBCC preserve this unique structure and allow this community resource to be used year-round. Your donation will enhance the Hall’s position as the centerpoint of village life, and help counter the isolation brought on by winter weather.”
“The anchor of the valley, socially over many generations, has been this little Community Hall that started out as a wood shop and a store,” Thistle Cone, chair of the fundraising committee for the EBCC, told the Standard when recounting the history of the Community Hall. “In 1907, it became the location where they had the East Barnard Grange. Granges were a kind of a social movement that had to do with supporting agricultural communities. It started right after the Civil War, and there were Grange halls all over the country that had various purposes, but for the most part, it was kind of giving education and a voice to the agricultural community, but also provided a social hub,” said Cone.
In 1927, the Community Hall was moved about 100 yards away from its original location on the Grange to its current location. “The Grange sold the Community Hall to the East Barnard Community Club in 1984; it was stipulated that it be used for community events. The club became a state-registered nonprofit in 2012,” Ryan Newswanger, who became a member of the East Barnard Community Club in 2018 and served as president from 2021–2025, told the Standard.
“In the 1930s all the way up through the ‘50s it was a big location for dances and a social gathering place for many purposes,” said Cone. “It’s right across the street from this beautiful 1884 church, but the church doesn’t have a hall space in it, so it’s often been used for things associated with that church, any kind of gatherings, whether they were weddings or family reunions or funerals — even to this day.”
With such a rich and long history of gathering and celebration, it’s natural for the Community Hall to have weathered some storms and accrued some wear and tear. The very roof over the community’s head is the first thing that needs some TLC. “We did some research into the roof, and it dates to at least the 1950s, and maybe even older,” said Newswanger. “It’s kind of remarkable that it’s held up for probably at least 70 years, for a standing seam-metal roof. It’s given us decades of service. We do see some leaking that happens during heavy rain events, and especially as we’ve been making some improvements already to the interior of the Hall, we don’t want those to be damaged any further by rain. So the roof is the biggest thing that is facing us,” he said.
For more on this, please see our Feb. 19 edition of the Vermont Standard.
