Greenbanks Hollow

So you're driving around Vermont, you'll probably pass a few quaint covered bridges, but the one in South Danville is a little bit different. Even though it looks like most other old-school covered bridges, it was actually only built a few years ago... but just because it was built recently doesn't mean it doesn't have a long and storied history. It's actually a replica, built to replace one that burnt down in a raging fire over 100 years ago. That fire didn't just burn down a cute bridge, either-- it essentially destroyed a whole town, one that, if you know where to look, you might still be able to find evidence of: the settlement of Greenbanks Hollow.   Back in the late 19th century, New England was home to tons of mills and factories; the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, and the demand for goods, like cloth, and people to make those goods, was high. Vermont's Benjamin Greenbank was an enterprising businessman who was ready to capitalize on all of this, and he did so by purchasing and running a wool mill. It was, by all accounts, a success-- it was easily the largest woolen mill in the region. So much so, in fact, that a compant town popped up around the mill. Company towns were pretty common back then-- those who owned the mills would provide housing, stores, post offices, and sometimes even schools and churches for their employees-- all for a cost, of course. Greenbanks Hollow, as the company town came to be known, even had a grist mill, a saw mill, and that scenic covered bridge. His 5-story woolen mill, which produced 700 yards of cloth daily, employed 45 people, who lived in the town, along with other families who herded sheep and took advantage of the grist mill. But, of course, most company towns weren't equipped to last forever-- and Greenbanks Hollow was no exception. The fire that tore through the tiny settlement in December of 1885 pretty much razed the whole town. Greenbank, being the thrifty business man he was, decided to see this as a chance to relocate his mill in a location closer to a proposed railroad route, all the way in New Hampshire. The charred remains of the town were abandoned and even though the store and grist mill ground on for a few more years, it was all completely forgotten by 1912-- but if you visit today, you'll still be able to see the cellars and granite blocks of the old buildings; super creepy. It wasn't until years later, in 2002, that the town of Danville decided to rebuild the covered bridge, a small reminder of a forgotten piece of Vermont history. -Roadtrippers Joes’ Brook, for­merly named Merritt’s River, flows east­erly through Danville and pow­ered mills and fac­to­ries in the ham­lets of Palmer Mill Vil­lage (West Danville), Harvey’s Hol­low, South Danville and Morse’s Mills. Report­edly, the brook pro­vided power for 39 enter­prises from its source to its junc­tion with the Pas­sump­sic River. The largest man­u­fac­tur­ing com­plex in Danville was on Joe’s Brook. Over many decades, a series of mills oper­ated here to pro­duce lum­ber, flour or woolen cloth. Greenbank’s Hol­low or Vil­lage (South Danville) was ear­lier known, suc­ces­sively, as Whitcher Mills, Davis Mills, and Bolton Mills—named for the own­ers of the mills that pro­vided lum­ber, flour or cloth. In 1849, Ben­jamin Green­bank pur­chased the exist­ing Bolton woolen mill and over the years con­verted it into a five-story woolen fac­tory. Greenbank’s mill was the largest in the region and in the 1850’s employed 45 peo­ple and pro­duced 700 yards of cloth daily. The mill sup­ported 25 fam­i­lies and scores of sheep farm­ers. Cale­do­nia County was sheep coun­try, and in 1840 there were nearly 15,000 sheep in Danville. Greenbank’s Hol­low (or some­times Greenbank’s Vil­lage), also had a post office, store, grist­mill, sawmill, school, and sev­eral res­i­dences. Greenbank’s Hol­low was truly a “com­pany” vil­lage as most of the enter­prises and build­ings were owned by Green­bank. On Decem­ber 14, 1885, a fire that began in the woolen mill quickly dev­as­tated the ham­let, destroy­ing the woolen mill, store, sev­eral res­i­dences and the cov­ered bridge. Green­bank did not rebuild. Instead, he decided to move his enter­prise to Enfield, NH, where pur­port­edly a rail­road spur line would be pro­vided to enhance the effi­ciency of his mill. Within three years after the fire, many Greenbank’s Hol­low res­i­dents had moved away.The grist­mill con­tin­ued oper­a­tion, and the store was rebuilt and oper­ated for sev­eral years. The school closed its doors in June, 1912. There were just enough sheep in Danville and sur­rounds to sup­port the local mills at the time of the fire. Indeed, the wool mar­kets in the coun­try had been in steady decline since the repeal of the tar­iffs on woolens in 1846. The repeal of tar­iffs sig­naled the end of the sheep era, and by 1850, the year after Green­bank pur­chased the mill from Bolton, the num­ber of sheep in Danville had dropped to 3,653.