[middtube envs0350a-f08 mp3:charvey_jdunham_bdunham_102408.mp3]
October 24, 2008
Dunham residence
Ireland Rd., Starksboro, Vermont
Interviewed by Chester Harvey
The Dunhams have been Starksboro residents since 1976. They now live in a house they built themselves on 320 acres at the top of Ireland Rd. where they raise about fifteen beef cattle and have a productive sugarbush. Elizabeth uses the road’s high speed internet connection to telecommute to her job with Lockheed Martin. Jeff is an architect working for a firm in Waitsfield.
The interview was conducted in the Dunhams’ home. Their dog, Ellie, can be heard in the background of the recording.
0:00 – Middlebury College, early time in Starksboro during College and as recent graduates
4:10 – Jeff: Starksboro was sort of like the “end of the world” back then
10:15 – The Ireland Rd. community
14:00 – The Dunham’s understanding of Hillsboro and Ireland Rd. History
15:00 – Land stewardship, farming, sugaring
22:15 – Kids, maintaining the homestead, their childhoods
24:30 – “Everywhere you go, up here, is ten miles away”
32:00 – Betsy’s career, Lockheed Martin, working from Starksboro
37:45 – Telecommuting on Ireland Rd.
43:00 – Jeff’s career, architecture in Waitsfield
43:50 – Betsy: “In both of our cases, … we chose where we wanted to be knowing that we were going to have to figure out how to make it work, and knowing that we might even seriously compromise our material career prospects. But it was more important for us to be here, and to have this kind of life.”
46:00 – Jeff’s involvement with Starksboro planning, the early planning process
48:00 – ‘Spaghetti’ lots
52:30 – Town planning forums
54:30 – “One way or another, they all cared [about the town] … That was very clear.”
56:30 – Agricultural corridor planning, incentives to put housing in the woods around the edges
57:40 – Jeff: “There was a strong feeling in town not to extend town roads back into the wilderness area … in the middle, so there were strong disincentives for that.”
58: 20 – Jeff: “The town went from being run by the traditional group, who were very dedicated people, to being much more of a democracy. … It included more and more people. The more people who feel like they’re part of the process, [the more people] take ownership of the results.”
59:45 – Betsy: “Starksboro will continue to be a bedroom community for folks who work somewhere else.”
Following their interview, the Dunhams noted that the planning process helped to solidify the relationship between and ‘old timers’ and the new ‘hippies’ who were coming into town. It helped prevent many problems that might have occurred throughout the past twenty of thirty years had a cross section of the town’s population not been encouraged to meet and understand each other on their own terms so early on.