Who's Haunting the White House?

As Barack Obama enters the White House, do you think he feels a chill? Does he notice the stirring in Lincoln's bedroom? Find out what ghosts lurk inside the president's mansion when Author Jeff Belanger and local illustrator Rick Powell come to the Kellogg-Hubbard Library on Saturday, November 22 at 1pm in the East Montpelier Room. Rick has been a guest at the Dark Knight Comics Club and is the owner of Montpelier's Book Garden book store. He has the original artwork hanging up in the store, and will bring some of those works to the library. If you're a comics fan, or a fan of illustration, its cool to chat with Rick to hear what his challenges were. He told me that it wasn't easy to draw something that "wasn't there". How do you draw something transparent like a ghost. Good question. I hear Jeff Belanger is an authority on hauntings. I'm sure he'll be able to send a chill up your spine with his true accounts of ghost sighting. Come check it out!

New StoryWalk™ going up in Hubbard Park

A new StoryWalk™ book will be posted in Montpelier’s Hubbard Park beginning November 21 and lasting until December 8, 2008. The book, South, by award-winning cartoonist Patrick McDonnell is a great little book. When a little bird awakens to find that all of his friends and family have gone south for the winter, it takes a surprising friendship with Mooch the cat to help him find his way. This is a wordless and profoundly moving story--by the creator of the beloved comic strip Mutts--that explores being lost and found, crossing boundaries, saying goodbye, and broadening horizons. Bring your family for a walk after Thanksgiving and enjoy a good book and nature.

The Kellogg-Hubbard library has this book in our collection in the children's department. Check it out!

The StoryWalk™ Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

Historic Photos tell Montpelier's History

Anyone interested in Montpelier's history will want to take a look at the new book, Montpelier: Images of Vermont's Capital City, put together by Paul A. Carnahan and Bill Fish. The book is full of historic photos of Montpelier and the people who lived here beginning with a sketch of our little city that was done by Sarah I. Watrous in 1821. There are photos of floods and fires, parades, street scenes with horses and buggies, and some of the businesses that used to thrive on State Street and Main Street.

Ever wonder what the school looked like that educated Montpelier's children before Union Elementary School? It's in the book. Did you know that Montpelier's bridges at one time were covered bridges? Can you imagine the hill behind our State House without any trees?

Still, some of the photos look as if they were shot yesterday except that the cars in the setting are from the 1920s and 1930s.

From snow rollers and sleighs to the trolley that ran in Montpelier, this book will give a whole new perspective on how Montpelier has changed and yet stayed the same over its 200+ year history. Be sure to check it out.