Activity: Settling Orford

Look at the image from the Whitelaw Map. List what you see:

Now use the magic lens to look at the picture. List anything new that you see:

 Did you see...

the woman helping the man bring home the hay?

 Did you see...

the hay shocks in the cleared fields?

 Did you see...

a stream, dam, and pond for the cows?

Look at “A Home in the Wilderness.” List what you see:

Now use the magic lens to look at the picturee. List anything new that you see:

 Did you see...

the tall trees with few limbs? They had recently been in deep forest.

 Did you see...

the stumps in the fields? The field has not been cleared for a very long time.

 Did you find...

any farm animals?

 Which image best depicts Orford at the time the Mann family settled?

"A Home in the Wilderness"

It is said that Lydia and John Mann spent their first winter in a one-room, bark-covered hut until they could build a cabin.

 There were no roads, just foot-paths with marked trees in the deep forest.

Historical Context: meanwhile…while the Mann family was settling in the wilderness, the Stamp Act was repealed with great rejoicing throughout the colonies. The Boston Tea Party

engravings credits:
Detail from "A Correct map of the state of Vermont from actual survery; exhibiting the county and town lines, rivers, lakes, ponds, mountains, meeting houses, mills public roads, &c." (1796), by James Whitelaw; engraved by Amos Doolittle.

"A Home in the Wilderness", from A Vermont Settler’s Own Story, 1789