Ethan Allen Park - Wilderness in the City

Ethan Allen Park - Wilderness in the City (HM1OB4)

Location: Burlington, VT 05401 Chittenden County
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Country: United States of America
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N 44° 30.275', W 73° 14.37'

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Inscription
A century ago, most of this area was rural, but people were beginning to build houses here. William Van Patten owned many acres of land locally, and he wanted a park in this new neighborhood. He got on his old horse, Mattie, and let her find easy trails to the rocky hilltop, above. Van Patten built a gazebo on the pinnacle and opened the park to the public in 1905. Centuries before, native Abenaki villagers used the same hilltop to watch for approaching friends and enemies. Climb Ethan Allen Tower and see if you can find similar lookouts to the north and south.

Hot Spot

You may be here today for a woodsy stroll in the park's 67 acres, but decades ago you might have come here for a different sort of fun. Ethan Allen Park was a swinging hot spot of entertainment. City dwellers in the 1920s came for a day of picnics, concerts, dancing and bootleg liquor. A roller skating rink opened in the 1950s and teenagers used the park for romance-and unchaperoned-strolls.
Tale of a Tower

Ethan Allen Tower honors Vermont's Revolutionary War hero, but Allen never built anything like this Scottish-inspired lookout. Local citizens in 1905, proud of their growing city, created this whimsical monument to Burlington's most famous citizen on this land, which was once owned by him.

Streetcar Suburb

Horse drawn streetcars brought something new to Burlington in the 1890s - the suburb. Workers who lived here on North Avenue rode the wondrous new trolleys to their jobs. Families took Sunday streetcar excursions out to the park. Soon buses and cars replaced trolleys, but people kept moving "out the avenue".
Details
HM NumberHM1OB4
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Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 9:02am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 639945 N 4929425
Decimal Degrees44.50458333, -73.23950000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 44° 30.275', W 73° 14.37'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds44° 30' 16.5" N, 73° 14' 22.2" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)802
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling North
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 40 Village Green, Burlington VT 05401, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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