The hills were on fire. It was the spring of 1877, windy and dry. In West Jay, Vermont, Mitchell Ploof was at work in his clearing when he smelled smoke and heard a rustling in the undergrowth. Rabbits. They poured out of the forest, “whole droves” of them running, and there were other animals too, squirrels and chipmunks. The fire followed, ten minutes behind.

The Starch Box Mystery

Vermont is known for the beauty of its woods and mountains, but the cost of that beauty is often forgotten. For much of our history, Vermonters endured unimaginable hardship and poverty that limited opportunities for growth and preserved, as if unchanged, the landscape of today. Their suffering is always with us, written on the land, inscribed in cellar-holes and graveyards and orchards gone to wild. Welcome to These Dark Mountains.&nbsp;