VERMONT’S HISTORIC STATE HOUSE In All Seasons SPRING "I am as determined to preserve the Independence of Vermont as Congress is that of the Union and rather than fail I will retire with my hardy Green Mountain Boys into the caverns of the mountains and make war on all mankind." -- Ethan Allen SUMMER "That frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, and a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and keep Government free." -- Vermont Constitution FALL "Out of storm and manifold perils rose an enduring state, the home of freedom and unity." -- Epitaph on the grave of Thomas Chittenden, Vermont's first Governor WINTER "They hewed this state out of the wilderness, they held it against a foreign foe,they laid deep and stable the foundation of our state life, because they sought not the life of ease, but the life of effort for a worthy end." -- President Theodore Roosevelt, 1902 FOURTH OF JULY "The record of Vermont as a resolute champion of individual freedom, as a true interpreter of our fundamental law, as a defender of religious faith, as an unselfish but independent and uncompromising commonwealth of liberty-loving patriots, is not only unsurpassed, but unmatched by any other state in the Union." -- George Harvey, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1921 CHRISTMAS "If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the Union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont." -- President Calvin Coolidge from speech at Bennington, September 21, 1928 Photos courtesy Marie Charbonneau Quotations are from the Hall of Inscriptions in the State House