Shelburne Railroad Station and Freight Shed

In the case of the Railroad Station, the shingled roof, which extends from the chimney peak to the edge of the overhanging porch, dominates the structure and unifies the building.

Traveling inland proved difficult over roads that were muddy in spring, dusty and rutted in summer and fall, and littered with tree stumps year-round.

Beginning in the late 1840s railroads brought new settlers to Vermont and helped the state's fledgling dairy industry flourish by providing access to markets for milk, butter, and cheese.

Railroads connected once-remote New England communities to the rest of the country, improving mail delivery and bringing newspapers from Boston and New York City the next day instead of weeks later.

Part of the collection is the Gertie Buck, a self-propelled inspection car built and used by the Dewey family on the Woodstock Railway in eastern Vermont in the last decades of the nineteenth century.