Thursday, August 13, 2009

New visitor center, museum to open in Brandon

The Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce has opened a new visitor center at the Stephen A. Douglas Birthplace. The chamber closed the old information booth in front of the library, last week. The chamber sold it to National Bank of Middlebury in return for a $5,000 donation. The Chamber's executive director Janet Mondlak said her group will open a museum in the new building over the Labor Day Weekend. The historic building was the birthplace of Stephen Douglas, a friend political rival of Abraham Lincoln. Very few Vermonters voted for Douglas when he ran for President against Lincoln in 1860 because of Douglas's stand on slavery. He believed its abolition should be left to the states.