The Friends of Vernon Center (FVC), a nonprofit created in 2017 by residents of Vernon, has been meeting regularly to plan for building a town center. This project, which began in 2016 with a visit from the Vermont Council on Rural Development moved from the formation of the Village Center Committee to the 2017 creation of the FVC.

Entergy Corporation gave the Governor Hunt House and some adjacent property to the FVC in December of 2019. This important, historic site will become an anchor for the proposed village area. Recently, members and supporters of the FVC have been working hard to get the conference center wing ready for a 2021 spring grand opening. The wing will become a multi-purpose community center used for a variety of activities and events, from family parties to trainings, from exercise classes to scout meetings, from fairs to all kinds of celebrations.

We started with cleaning up the grounds—raking leaves, pruning and mulching bushes and trees, cleaning debris off the roofs. Next steps included sprucing up inside the community center itself—cleaning windows, dusting, vacuuming, and removing spider webs, etc. We’ve hired a painter and hope to have the entry area and large meeting room painted this fall. We’ve also gotten a quote to remove the old, worn carpet tiles and replace them with modern vinyl plank flooring. These improvements alone will make those rooms much more pleasant and welcoming.

And now, there is a beautiful, new sign on the front lawn identifying the Governor Hunt House and Community Center. We’re energized by our progress and look forward to inviting you in to see what we’re accomplishing. Stay tuned for future developments or drop in for a preview and update when you see us working on the property. We’d love to share our hopes, plans, and excitement with you.

Interested in joining this effort? Please be in touch with any member of the FVC’s executive committee: Martin Langeveld, Roger Rulewich, Kathy Korb, Tom Rappaport.