Ethan Allen Homestead Museum

06/02/2026

We are excited to announce the grand opening of "Listening to the Lake", a new exhibit at the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum, curated by Champlain Elementary 5th grade students, in Burlington School District.

After an amazing exhibit premiere party, which included student speakers, poster presentations, and a music video made by the students, the exhibit officially opened to the public on May 28, 2026. The exhibit will run through summer 2026. The exhibit is located on the covered front porch of the museum

The exhibit curation was part of the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum's educational programming, and supported through funding by the . Are you a Vermont educator that wants to participate in our student curation program? We are currently looking for a student group for summer 2026 (July/August) and another group for fall 2026 (Sept/Oct). Please email Skye at education@ethanallenhomestead.

[Images: Photos from the exhibit party on May 28, 2026.]

06/02/2026

Flax update! This is what our babies looked like last week. They're growing!

Save the date for August 15th for the Flax Harvest (part of Fanny's Day!) and October 17th for our Flaxtravaganza! Both events are free this year as part of our commemorations.

[Image: Dirt garden beds showing low greenery (flax!) in front of the historic Allen House]

06/01/2026

on June 1, 1775: An account of the Green Mountain Boy's taking of Fort Ticonderoga was described by "a very respectable gentleman in Philadelphia" as "never was a more total revolution of any place than at New York"

[Image: newspaper article from June 1, 1775, published in Rind's Virginia Gazette; sourced from Newspapers.com]

06/01/2026

What a great event!

06/01/2026

What a cool Revolutionary artifact!

For a limited time, July-August 2, Fort Ticonderoga will display one of its most significant objects: Benjamin Warner’s Knapsack. Carried by Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Warner and handed down to his descendants, the knapsack has survived with a call to future generations to defend America’s hard-won liberty against all threats.

The 250-year-old knapsack, made of painted linen, was carried by Benjamin Warner of New Haven, Connecticut, during service in the Revolutionary War that took him to Boston, Quebec, New York and elsewhere over his years in the ranks. Later in life, Warner left it to his son as a memento of his service and a reminder of what he fought for, writing:

“This Napsack I caryd (sic) Through the War of the Revolution to achieve the American Independence. I Transmit it to my olest sone (sic) Benjamin Warner Jr. with directions to keep it…and whilst one shred of it shall remain never surrender you libertys to a foren envador or an aspiring demegog (sic).”

The letter is signed, “Benjamin Warner Ticonderoga March 27, 1837.” Both the knapsack and its note are carefully preserved in the collection at Fort Ticonderoga where they have resided for almost a century but have not been on display for over a decade.

READ MORE: https://fortticonderoga.org/news/fort-ticonderoga-honors-250th-anniversary-of-american-independence-with-special-exhibit-highlighting-soldiers-knapsack-and-its-powerful-message/

05/31/2026

On the frontier Homestead, you have to be resourceful and use every part of an animal. This lamp, called a Betty lamp or a grease lamp or fat lamp, is using bacon grease to fuel the light.

Bonus fact: If you strain your bacon grease well, it won't smell like bacon when you burn it. Which can be a pro or a con depending on your preference. 😁

[Image: Lit Betty lamp at Ethan Allen Homesetad May 2026]

05/30/2026

What's cookin' good lookin'?

Baked beans!

Baked beans was -- and still is -- a staple in historic New England. The first historical recipe of baked beans comes from 1500 BC in Mayan culture, and by the 1700s, it was a staple amongst most of North & Central America, both Indigenous and colonist cultures. Traditionally cooked using bear fat and maple syrup, today most baked beans are cooked in a tomato sauce with lots of brown sugar -- Yum!

[Image: Baked beans baking in a bean pot in the wood-fired oven in the historic Allen House in early May 2026]

05/29/2026

on May 29, 1770- Ethan Allen makes his first purchase in the New Hampshire Grants (later renamed Vermont). He bought "one right" (350 acres) in Poultney, Vermont.



[Image: Map of Poultney, Vermont from 1886; Author: BurleighL. R.; Publisher; L.R. Burleigh; Source: Boston Public Library]

05/28/2026

The flax is planted!

Save the date for August 15th for the Flax Harvest and October 17th for Flaxtravaganza!