The Green Mountain Folklore Society was a non-profit organization founded in April 1948 by UVM Professor Leon Dean. The purpose of this society was to collect, preserve and make available the folklore of the State of Vermont for all of us, and future generations. This Society started out with just a few dedicated people and closed in 2014 with more than 130 members in Vermont and several other states. Meetings were held twice yearly in May and October.
Membership includes bi-annual issues of The Potash Kettle Newsletter and annual issues of The Green Mountain Whittlin's. These publications are available at many libraries.
Gabfest
A focal point of each meeting is the Gabfest, where folks share reminiscences of folklore about Vermont's earlier days. Sometimes a particular topic is selected, and members bring stories and artifacts on that topic. These stories and folklore are recorded on tape along with the name of each person speaking.
The Potash Kettle
The Potash Kettle was the semi-annual newsletter that gaves members current Society information and notices of meetings.
The Green Mountain Whittlin's
The Green Mountain Whittlin's is an annual booklet that contained the prize-winning entries from the annual essay contest, excerpts from recorded Gabfests, and other articles and pictures consistent with the Society's purpose. All contributions were about Vermont. |
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Roupes barn in Fletcher VT |
Crab Apple Tree Essex VT
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Please send us a Spring or Summer, Winter or Fall mountain picture. Please include when and where it was taken.
The Potash Kettle
By Margaret MacArthur
In honor of The Green Mountain Folklore Society
Chorus:
Look at this old potash kettle
Hear what it could tell
Of bygone days, of old folkways
Tales that linger and cast a spell
Farms in every valley
Cows on every farm
Maple sugar to keep us sweet
Firewood to keep us warm
To harden until harvest time
Kids who walked to one room schools
Could always recite a rhyme
Chorus:
Turkeys on foot to Boston
Sheep on many a hill
To card and to spin that wool
Water wheels turned many a mill
Dances in kitchens
Barn and house raising
Horses towed newfangled cars
Stuck in the mud in the spring
Chorus:
Recipes we called receipts
We have in handwriting old
Gadgets and tools of wood and iron
Their use can no more be told
We still have this old kettle
Filled now with flowers
Instead of potash it now holds
These precious memories of ours
Chorus:
