The First Windsor County Fair

The following article is reprinted from the Spirit of the Age, August 31, 1895, page 3.

The First Windsor County Fair

The first meeting of the Windsor County Agricultural Society, which celebrates its semi-centennial next month, was held, as were the following meetings for several years, in the streets of the village. There were no grounds, and no buildings devoted specially to exhibitions. Horses and cattle were hitched to the park fence or shown in other convenient places, while swine and sheep were scattered picturesquely about the “Green.”

View of the Green circa 1850,. Detail from Presdee and Edwards map.

Norman Williams House on the Green that was torn down to make room for the Norman Williams Public Library.

A large tent was sometimes used for exhibits, being pitched one year in front of Norman Williams’ house, where the library now stands. The town hall, in the basement of the old court house, was also occupied by the Society. The exhibitions in the earlier days were one-day affairs.

The race track was on what is now River Street, extending from the foot of the hill to the upper bridge - a straightaway course.

The trot at this first meeting, Mr. H.F. Dunham says was won by a mare owned by Charles Cady - “twenty-five years old and not an eye in her head,” Mr. Cady declared at the finiish. Most of the horses pulled a wagon, but the winner was driven to a gig of some kind.

Mr. Lewis Pratt has been a member of the Society since its organization, being one of the few original members now living.

Note: The above map was created by Presdee and Edwards, circa 1850. There is no indication of a race track on River Street at this time. In the early 1800s, there was a formal race course where River Street is now located. It is described as having two lanes for the horses, with a pedestrian walk between the two lanes. According to sources cited in Dana's history, by 1814, the southern-most track had been washed away when the adjacent Ottauquechee River changed course. Perhaps in 1845, the horses raced down what had by that time become River Street, but was originally the northerly track of the racing ground.