Post by Grubb.
Dateline: Burlington, Vermont, late 18th century. Ethan Allen was a hometown hero before there was even a town. People settling in the area from New Hampshire claimed it was New Hampshire, people settling from New York claimed it was New York. Ethan joined with a bunch of investors and bought a whole lot of land in this disputed territory. Protesting New York governance, he and other pesky farmers formed a rebellious group of brigands called the Green Mountain Boys. When Washington wanted to capture a northern British stronghold at the beginning of the American Revolution, he sent Benedict Arnold through the Green Mountains to take Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold didn’t have enough troops, so Allen and the Green Mountain Boys joined the assault. It wasn’t much of a fight. Arnold and Allen showed up before dawn and the British, rubbing sleep from their eyes, immediately surrendered. It was the first offensive victory for the American patriots. Hence Allen’s fame. Later he tried to take Montreal and was captured by the British. When he was released, his published account of his imprisonment became a best seller. Although he was a vocal advocate for Vermont’s statehood, he was never a member of any congressional delegation since his contentious religious views didn’t square with the politicians in power at that time. So he set up a farm on his homestead and wrote “Reason: The Only Oracle of Man”. A diatribe against organized religion, it didn’t make him many friends. So no best seller. But it’s an interesting tract. He comes off as a proto-Transcendentalist with a Deist belief that nature provides a sacred environment for the exercise of rationally-directed free will. Kind of like Spinoza tending to the back-forty.
And what a back-forty! We paid the Ethan Allen Homestead a visit yesterday (Wednesday). His land overlooks a valley on one side, a river on the other. Living on it would make anyone a Deist.
We took a tour of his home and peeked in the bedroom where the sleeping accommodations looked a little cramped for a guy who was 6ft 5’. Maybe he curled up to snooze? Or, more likely, the original four-poster was repurposed as fire wood.
Then we caught a glimpse of where he penned his contrarian views.
The fascinating thing about his writing is that he believes in God, it’s just that to claim to know God is a contradiction since it puts one on the same level and the true God is beyond anyone’s comprehension. There is only evidence that God exists and it’s in the abundance of nature which, husbanded correctly, will make one happy in the century to come. This isn’t a desert philosophy; it requires plenty of water and a climate where plant growth thrives.
To bear witness to Ethan’s views, we took a river walk on the periphery of the property.
If you’re not a believer, check out the zinnias!
