by Scott Wheeler

 Lola Aiken is seen in this photo with several people who love the Northeast Kingdom.  From left to right: Darcie McCann, the executive director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce in St. Johnsbury; Mrs. Aiken, Scott Wheeler, state representative and publisher of the Northland Journal; Gloria Bruce the executive director of Northeast Kingdom Travel and Tourism, and Tod Pronto, the executive director of Vermont’s North Country Chamber of Commerce in Newport.  Another promoter of the Kingdom who was at the ceremony but who is not seen in the photo is Patricia A. Whitney of the Island Pond Area Chamber of Commerce. Photos by Penny Wheeler

  Sometimes separating myth from historical fact is not always an easy task, and sometimes it is impossible. There is even a bit of myth intertwined with the historical facts when it comes to how the tri-county region of Orleans, Essex, and Caledonia Counties got its name – the Northeast Kingdom.

On March 23, 2009 the Northeast Kingdom contingent of Vermont legislators hosted an event to celebrate the Kingdom. The celebration was held in the Cedar Creek Room at the State House. The ceremony, which was very well attended, came 60 years to the year (not to the day) after various historical accounts say that the now late George D. Aiken, who at the time was the state’s beloved governor, a man who would go on to become one of this country’s most esteemed U.S. Senators, uttered the phrase “The Northeast Kingdom”. According to accounts he used the phrase in 1949 while speaking at a regional development meeting held at the Darling Inn on Depot Street in Lyndonville.

 Lola Aiken holding a campaign poster that one of the guests at the ceremony bestowed upon her

Although many accounts attribute Aiken to coining the phrase, other accounts credit a couple local men – Arthur Simpson of Lyndonville, and newspaper publisher Wallace Gilpin of Newport, for actually coming up with the phrase as a way to market this rural region of the state to the rest of the world in an attempt to attract tourists, and tourist dollars, to this rural region of the state. However, because of the governor’s statue in the state, when he used the phrase people in every corner of the state and far beyond took notice. Without a doubt the rise of the Kingdom was a team effort by many people. The region is now known throughout the world, and has even attracted the attention of National Geographic as a must visit destination.

The ceremony at the State House was not a time to debate the naming of who, and exactly when, the phrase was coined. Instead it was a time to celebrate the Northeast Kingdom and our rural way of life. It also served as a time to thank   Gov. Aiken’s widow, Lola Aiken, and the governor’s grandchildren, for keeping Governor Aiken’s love of the Kingdom alive.

“The governor loved the Northeast Kingdom,” Mrs. Aiken said. “I am very fond of it too.”

  Elliot Morse of Montpelier, one of Gov. Aiken’s grandsons, provided stories and laughter to those who attended the event. Left to right: Gov. James Douglas, Elliott Morse, and Scott Wheeler.

 The following is the wording of the resolution:

House concurrent resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of U.S. Senator George Aiken’s popularizing the geographic designation Northeast Kingdom

Offered by:  Representatives Wheeler of Derby, Crawford of Burke, Higley of Lowell, Johnson of Canaan, Kilmartin of Newport City, Larocque of Barnet, Lawrence of Lyndon, Leriche of Hardwick, Lewis of Derby, Marcotte of Coventry, Morley of Barton, Peaslee of Guildhall, Reis of St. Johnsbury, Rodgers of Glover, South of St. Johnsbury and Toll of Danville

Offered by:  Senators Choate, Illuzzi, Kitchel, Starr

Whereas, the term Northeast Kingdom is the geographic reference commonly associated with Vermont’s three most northeasterly counties—namely Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans, and

Whereas, early use of the term, dating to the 1940s, can be traced to W. Arthur Simpson of Lyndon and Newport newspaper publisher Wallace Gilpin, and

Whereas, the widely publicized popularization of this well-established Vermont geographic name can be attributed to former U.S. Senator George Aiken, who employed the term during a 1949 address to a newly established tri‑county development commission that was meeting in Lyndonville, and

Whereas, Senator Aiken referred to the Northeast Kingdom frequently during his political career, especially when discussing the external exploitation of Vermont’s natural resources and promoting locally financed development efforts, and

Whereas, although some individuals, especially newcomers, perceive the Northeast Kingdom as an economically depressed zone that modern life has left far behind, the true lovers of this region of Vermont consider it a haven of unparalleled beauty, filled with large forests, rolling highlands whose summits offer grand unspoiled vistas, and a place where the pace of life is calmer and is reflective of Vermont’s earlier way of life, and

Whereas, the 60th anniversary of Senator Aiken’s use of the term Northeast Kingdom in his Lyndonville address should not go unrecorded in the journals of the General Assembly, as Vermonters consider this wild and wonderful corner of the state as the place where unique aspects of our state’s identity are still preserved, now therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:

That the General Assembly commemorates the 60th anniversary of U.S. Senator George Aiken’s popularizing the geographic designation Northeast Kingdom

 Scott Wheeler (who, besides being the publisher of Vermont’s Northland, is also a state representative) gave this speech on the House Floor after the resolution recognizing the 60^th anniversary of the Northeast Kingdom was read on March 24, 2009.

This year Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom turns 60 years old. As you heard when the resolution was read today, the now late Vermont Governor George Aiken may not have coined the name Northeast Kingdom, but because of the tremendous love and respect for this man who would go on to become one of this country’s most powerful, respected, and beloved U.S. senators, helped introduce it to the world.

            In my travels around the state I have come to the conclusion that not everybody understands the Kingdom or the people who call it home. When some people who don’t live in the Kingdom talk about it they talk as if it is a far off land. On the other hand, whether it is true or not, it has been said that the drive north is like driving back into an earlier time, back into a simpler, not necessarily easier, time in the history of Vermont.

            The harsh weather and challenging times has bred a particularly fiercely independent, yet loyal breed of Vermonter.  Truth be told most of us enjoy the challenges that Mother-Nature sometimes dishes out to us. Whether most of us like to admit it we look forward to the news of an approaching arctic blast, or that a Northeaster is barreling in our direction. It not only tests us and toughens us, but it helps us better appreciate the first days of spring, the days when the first flows of sap begin to run.

            When many people think about the Northeast Kingdom they think of the fact that our economy often lacks behind much of the rest of the state. Well, I say, “don’t pity us. We are richer than you think”. It is true that scraping up a living in the Kingdom isn’t always easy but thanks to good old Yankee ingenuity most of us manage to get by just fine.   Besides that, while the rest of the nation has been brought to its knees by this economic recession, we do not despair easy. We have been bred to survive tough times. It is in our blood.  As we did during the Great Depression, we will survive this crisis with our respect and dignity intact as we forge ahead into the ever-changing future while at the same time struggling to maintain our rural way of life.

Yes, it is true that many of the people of the Northeast Kingdom might have less money than folks in other parts of the state, and I’m down here working to change that, but we have things that no amount of money can buy – most notably the beauty and peace of a region where we can live our lives where our friends and neighbors are like family. We play together, work together, and even occasionally fight together, but when tragedy or tough times strike we are there for one another. We are family – we are the people of the Northeast Kingdom and we invite you, and the rest of the people of the Vermont, and the people of the world, to our little piece of heaven.