Family Portraits

GARY & CELESTE MACARTHUR MacArthur Road 11/27/1998
Children Brennan, Thorin, and Iyla, horse Buffy (40 years old, now deceased)

The section of the house directly behind Gary And Celeste was the original dwelling on this site. It was a log cabin built in 1974. All the trees that were cut in clearing the land here were milled into lumber for building. As Gary and Celeste’s family has grown, so has the house. In 1988, the majority of the structure in the photograph was built. Finishing the house has been an on-going project, and the house has a personal, hand-built appearance.

Gary and Celeste’s electricity is generated by solar collectors and by a windmill that Gary built by hand between 1985 and 1987. The land surrounding the house has also been cleared over the years for garden and pasture, logged mostly with Belgian draft horses.

In the early 1970’s Gary and his brother Dan, who both grew up in town, started their house building business, MacArthur Builders. Together, they have built a good many of the new houses in Marlboro.

Celeste first came to Marlboro College in the early 1970’s from Glastonbury, Connecticut. Marlboro has been her home ever since. Brennan, Thorin, and Iyla are in various stages of Elementary School.

DIANA HEISKELL Stearns Hill Road 4/14/1999

Built circa 1818 by Jacob Dunklee, this house sits alone high up on a hillside. Its location is a bit curious for farming, but has a stunning view of the hills of central Marlboro. Perhaps because of its remote location the house has changed hands many times, which Diana believes has been the primary factor that has kept it so unchanged through the last 180 years.

Diana has lived here in Marlboro for over 50 years. She grew up in southern France and moved to Marlboro just at the beginning of World War II. Diana is extraordinarily independent for a woman of 90, and is an artist who works in oil paint, watercolor, and pencil.

CALVIN POWLING, BOBBY & THERESA POWLING

Augur Hole Road 10/2/1999
Daughter Dawn and Grandchildren Timmy & Eliza

Calvin came to Marlboro about 60 years ago with his parents and siblings (sisters Violet Howard & Leone Beam) from South Deerfield, Massachusetts. His parents, Mildred and George Powling, built what was Violet’s house—the first homestead on this part of the Augur Hole. Calvin built the house in the photograph about 1950 and has lived here ever since. He and his nephew Bobby run their business, R.L. Powling Logging and Trucking Company, from here. His daughter, Betty Jane Brown, also lives in Marlboro, and is married to logger Francis Brown.

Bobby grew up in Marlboro just up the road from this house. He lived in New Hampshire and in Putney for a time, but moved back to Marlboro. His wife Theresa was brought up in Halifax and Brattleboro and has lived here with Bobby for the last 23 years. She is a slef-employed housecleaner. Her older daughter, Madonna Racine, also lives in Marlboro with her husband Tim Racine, who works with Bobby and Calvin. Their children Timmy and Eliza appear in the photograph.