Vergennes Historic Walking Tour 2024 - Manual / Resource - Page 9
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VERGENNES BURYING GROUND
Corner of School Street & Mountain View Lane
This cemetery, the first in the area, contains
the graves of several notable city residents,
including Phineas Brown (1747-1818), a
surveyor, farmer, legislator and alderman in
Vergennes who was in the Continental
Army and participated in the Battle of
Saratoga during the Revolutionary War.
Another important marker is that of Gen.
Samuel Strong (1762-1832) who led the
Vermont Militia into battle with British
forces advancing on Plattsburgh, New York
during the War of 1812. Strong was a farmer
and businessman whose commercial
ventures included a wool-carding factory.
He served as the Addison County sheriff for
several years along with elected positions of
Vergennes alderman and mayor. Another
marker commemorates Capt. Jahaziel
Sherman, a steamboat pioneer, who lived in
Vergennes from 1813-1844. He constructed
and operated six steamboats on Lake
Champlain and helped start steamboat
service on Lake George. There are three
graves for members of the Storm family,
one of the first black families to settle in
and around Vergennes. There are also
several graves for French Canadians who
came to the city to work in the mills at the
Otter Creek falls.
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STEPHEN BATES HISTORIC MARKER
Corner of Park and North Streets
Stephen Bates, born into slavery in 1842 on a plantation in Virginia owned
by Robert E. Lee’s grandparents, was the first Black police chief and sheriff
in Vermont. He was elected and served as Vergennes’ top law
enforcement officer for almost 25 years until his death in 1907. Bates
escaped the plantation with his brothers during the Civil War,
accompanying the Union Army to Washington D.C. in 1866. There he
became friends with Frederick Woodbridge, a member of the U.S. House of
Representatives from Vermont who hired Bates to drive his coach. When
Woodbridge's term in office ended and he returned to Vermont, Bates
followed, becoming a resident of Vergennes. He married, raised two
children and in 1879 won his first election as sheriff and police chief. He is
buried along with his wife, Frances, in Prospect Cemetery, 264-344 W.
Main Street, Vergennes.
