History of Whitingham, Vermont, USA

Whitingham, Vermont
Windham county. Deerfield river passes through this town and forms considerable tracts of valuable intervale. The surface of the uplands is diversified; with a good soil for sheep, of which many are kept.

Sawdawga pond [Sadawga pond], in Whitingham, is rather a curiosity. It is a handsome sheet of water, covering about 500 acres. For many years past earth has been forming over its surface, and from 75 to 100 acres of land now rise and fall with the waters of the pond.

Among the first settlers of Vermont, many remarkable instances of longevity and fecundity are found. A Mr. Pike had 28 children; 19 of whom were living a few years since; the youngest aged 25 years. Mr. Benjamin Cook died in this town, a few years since, aged 106 years. He had followed the business of shoemaking through his life. He celebrated his hundredth birth day by making a pair of shoes, without the use of spectacles.

Windham Co. Deerfield River runs through the whole length of this town, along the western part, fertilizing some handsome tracts of meadow. There are many other smaller streams in different parts. There are two natural ponds. Sawdawda Pond is so called from an Indian of that name, who formerly lived near it, and was afterwards supposed to have been drowned in going down Deerfield River. This pond has been gradually decreasing for fifty years past, by land forming over the water, which, to the extent of seventy or eighty acres, rises and falls with the waters of the pond.

The surface of Whitingham is uneven, but the soil is generally good, and is timbered with maple, beech, birch, ash, spruce, and hemlock.

A mineral spring was discovered here in 1822, which was analyzed by Dr. Wilson, and found to contain the following ingredients, viz. : Muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, muriate of magnesia, carbonate and per-oxyde of iron, alumina, with an acid trace. It is said to be a...