When Lafayette Came to Woodstock
By Jennie Shurtleff
His name was Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, although few Americans would likely recognize him by this name. Instead, most know him as the Marquis de Lafayette, or perhaps more simply as just “Lafayette.” Who was this man who made such a mark that he should be immediately known to millions by just the mention of a single name?
The answer is that he was an extraordinary supporter of the fledgling American cause, and not only spent most of his personal wealth on it but also, at the age of nineteen, decided to sail across an ocean to offer his services and put his life on the line for his ideals. He served in the Continental Army as a major general, and he became a close friend of General George Washington. Later, in the middle of the war, he returned to France and successfully negotiated with the French government for increased support for the American Revolution. He returned with 6,000 troops to support the American cause. When the war was over, he returned to Europe, where he was involved in fighting for a number of other causes.
Portrait of Marquis de La Fayette (1757-1834), by Jean-Baptiste Weyler (prior to 1791). Public domain.
Portrait of Lafayette as he appeared around 1824. Library of Congress.
In 1824, after a 40-year absence, Lafayette returned to America. By then, Lafayette was 67 years old, and he was the last surviving major general of the Continental Army. Over the next two years, he would visit all 24 states that were then part of the United States, as well as Washington City. During that time, some estimates suggest that as many as 2 1/2 million Americans – a quarter of the American population – went to one of the Lafayette stops on the tour in order to get a glimpse of him.
In many of the towns he visited, Lafayette’s time was limited to a few brief words and a wave; however, in Woodstock, Lafayette actually stayed for about an hour and a half. The visit began a little before 11 am in the morning when Lafayette, in a coach pulled by six white horses, came down Hartland Hill to what was known as King’s Corner (now “Richmond’s Corner”). It was supposedly a rainy morning, and one can imagine that after a trek over Hartland Hill slogging through the mud, the horses may not have been as clean and pristine as when they began their journey, but any mud on the horses or raindrops appear not to have dampened the enthusiasm of the crowd in Woodstock that awaited him.
After greeting the gathered citizenry and military companies, Lafayette and his procession continued down Pleasant Street until they reached the Old White Meeting House (present-day Congregational Church).
Oxen at the Village Square in Woodstock (intersection of Elm and Central Streets)
At the church, they turned to the left onto Elm Street and passed under a decorative arch with the words “Welcome Lafayette” that had been designed by George Perkins Marsh, who – in 1825 – was a recent graduate of Dartmouth College.
From there, Lafayette and his entourage traveled to the Village Square and headed up North Park Street.
They rounded the western end of the Green, and stopped opposite the large hall that was attached to the Eagle Hotel (which was located on the site of what is now the Woodstock Inn’s parking lot). At that spot, there was platform, from which Titus Hutchinson delivered a brief address, followed by a response from Lafayette.
A view of the Eagle Hotel and adjacent hall from about 1830, five years after Lafayette visited Woodstock and stopped in front of this establishment for a brief speech.
Barker’s Hotel
Then the group proceeded to what was then Barker’s Hotel (which was on the site of what is now Dr. Coburn’s Tonic). Barker’s Hotel had a distinctive second-floor balcony, and there was a group of singers there who greeted Lafayette with a song. Lafayette then entered the building where he was treated to a meal. Elizabeth Hatch, who was a young Woodstock girl who lived on the Green, had gone to the hotel to see Lafayette, but apparently later remarked what seemed most memorable about the event was the “roasted pig with a lemon in its mouth.”
After the meal, Lafayette then continued up Elm Street until reaching the Congregational Church, which was filled with ladies. He apparently walked up and down the aisles, bowing to them as he did and making “a few appropriate observations.”
After which, Lafayette departed and continued his long day of travel along the “stage road” that would include stops at the Aiken Stand in Barnard, Royalton, and a number of other towns and villages, until he finally reached Montpelier at about 9 o’clock pm. After a dinner at “Mr. Mann’s Hotel,” Lafayette spent the night at the Cadwell House in Montpelier.
In preparation for their special guest at the Cadwell House, the best furnishings in the area had been borrowed to outfit the room in which Lafayette slept. Such efforts underscore the reverence that was showered upon Lafayette. During his Farewell Tour of American, Lafayette was referred to as “The Nation’s Guest.” While he was a guest to our country, there were many who clearly felt that he was the embodiment of the values that America stood for – liberty, equality, religious toleration, and the dignity and rights of all people - and that a person such as Lafayette was worth honoring.
Most of the information relayed in this piece about Lafayette’s tour through Vermont was painstakingly gathered and shared by Mary Grace Canfield, who deserves our gratitude in having tracked down this information in the early 1930s, long before the advent of the internet and photocopying helped to streamline the process of researching. For those unfamiliar with Mary Grace, she was not only a writer and historian, but also a social rights activist. She and her husband, Reverend Harry Lee Canfield, came to Woodstock in 1902, and Woodstock was probably never quite the same. They were movers and shakers who embraced numerous social causes, including women’s suffrage, and were outspoken opponents to war. In her free time (when she wasn’t working in the capacity of a minister’s wife, raising two children, writing for the local newspaper, or working on a book), she found time to help organize and run an Arts and Crafts Club in Woodstock, replete with a shop that she ran for a time out of her home. The goals of this shop included training and inspiring artisans (including children) and providing people in need with a market for the handicrafts they created so that they might work to improve their financial situation.
Mary Grace Canfield © Woodstock History Center
