Whetstone Brook is a tributary of the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

that runs through the heart of

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a New England town, town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located about north of the Massachusetts state line at the confluence of Vermont's West River (Vermont), West River and the Connec ...

, in the United States. It flows into the Connecticut at an elevation of above sea level. The headwater for the brook is at Hidden Lake, which is above sea level in the town of

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...

. Of the watershed, over two thirds is contained within Brattleboro, while another 30 percent is in Marlboro. The remaining 2% is within the town of Dummerston. The brook is crossed by Creamery Covered Bridge in West Brattleboro, which was built in 1879. The original Abenaki name for the waterway is ''Kitadowôganisibosis.''

History

Whetstone Brook was an important part of the economic development of the town of Brattleboro, providing power for mills and factories along the shore of the brook. The first

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

was established in the area by Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire in 1762, while the region was still under disputed claims between the colonies of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. By 1773, the road near Whetstone Brook contained several sawmills, as well as housing from new settlers to the area.

Environmental issues

The Whetstone has a long history of contamination from the surrounding community of Brattleboro. In 1907, a local newspaper editorial described the brook becoming "an open sewer". In 1990, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation identified oil leakage from an underground storage tank; the subsequent cleanup effort removed nearly 4,000 gallons of petroleum from the waterway and nearby soil, costing $440,000. The EPA uses the situation as a case study cleanup effort, for local-national cooperation in oil spill cleanup. As of 2007, the lower of the brook, along which there is significant development, is contaminated by '' E. coli'' and other bacteria. In 2011, a sewer interceptor pipe was ruptured during the landfall of

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth tropical cyclone naming, named storm, first hurricane, and first major ...

, and nearly spilled sewage from the town of Brattleboro into the creek.

History

Environmental issues

See also

References

Further reading