Putney Travel Guide
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The sleepy village of Putney is like Brattleboro, only more so. Infused with a sort of pleasant ennui, you're likely to see more dreadlocks here than in any other comparably sized New England village. (Much of this is thanks to the Putney School, a boarding school founded in 1935 whose well-bred students tend a farm when not attending classes.) The village is home to an uncommonly high number of artists and healers of various stripes, including New Age physical therapists, writing counselors, freelance social workers, and at least one drum maker. There's also a good natural foods store, and -- improbably -- a good barbecue joint as well.
Putney's free-spirited character has a long history. In the early 19th century, the son of a congressman (and cousin of President Rutherford B. Hayes) named John Humphrey Noyes settled here with a band of followers, called Perfectionists. For several years, they quietly practiced not only communism of household and property but also communism of love (called "complex marriage" by Noyes). "In a holy community there is no more reason why sexual intercourse should be restrained by the law than why eating and drinking should be," Noyes wrote. When discovered, this did not go over well among the townsfolk. Noyes was arrested in 1847, and it took decades for Putney residents to recover from the great indiscretions that had been taking place under their noses.
