An old- fashioned, same sex Vermont marriage

Middlebury College and the Sheldon Museum present "Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early Weybridge, Vt.," a talk by author Rachel Hope Cleves on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 4:30 pm at Twilight Hall, Middlebury College. Everyone who lived in Weybridge during the early decades of the 19th century knew that the local tailors, Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake, were married to each other, according to the recollections of Hiram Harvey Hurlburt Jr, who grew up nearby. How did two women construct a lesbian marriage in this traditional, rural, frontier community, and gain the toleration of their neighbors, friends, and family? "Vermont became the first state to vote for same-sex marriage in 2009, almost exactly 202 years after Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake moved into a rented room together in the village of Weybridge," according to Salon.com writer Laura Miller. "At 30, Charity was Sylvia's senior by seven years, and she had had a rocky early adulthood. Her intense relationships with a series of young women had provoked nasty gossip in several New England towns, forcing her to move around the region, bouncing from household to household as a guest of friends and relatives. Yet once Charity and Sylvia set up housekeeping—and a tailoring business—together, they would not be separated for a single night over the next 44 years. When they were much older, the poet William Cullen Bryant, Charity's nephew, wrote a celebrated account of their partnership, describing their bond as 'no less sacred to them than the tie of marriage,' and another local memoirist of the period noted that he had always heard 'it mentioned that Miss Bryant and Miss Drake were married to each other.'" Author Cleves researched and wrote "Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America" (Oxford University Press, 2014). She based much of the research for this book on archival materials found at the Sheldon Museum in Middlebury. "Some of Cleves' interpretations seem a bit of a stretch," according to Miller writing about the book on Salon.com, "...but in sum, the author makes a plausible case for Charity enjoying a gratifying, if furtive, sex life before she met Sylvia." Immediately following the talk, a book signing with Cleves and opening reception for the exhibit "Charity & Sylvia: A Weybridge Couple" will take place at the Sheldon Museum, 6-7 p.m. Copies of the book are available for purchase in advance and during the event in the Sheldon Museum's shop. The exhibit, on view Nov. 11-Dec. 31, features original documents including diaries, letters, poetry, and other materials from the Bryant/Drake papers and objects from the museum's collections. The events are free and open to the public.

Signup for our newsletter

An old- fashioned, same sex Vermont marriage

COMPANY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUBMISSION FORMS

BEYOND THE NEWS