PUTNEY — Thanks to the inevitable, if perennially irksome, final roadblock known as Mud Season, which many of us must endure as a passage to springtime, I've skipped the shorter back route home these past weeks and driven the higher and drier blacktop alternative, taking me through the center of Putney.
On the ragged heels of a winter's journey that even this longtime northern girl found grueling, what an unexpected and immensely welcome dose of hope and bloom the mud inadvertently bestowed upon me this year.
Each time I traveled the longer, safer route to town and back, I was rewarded with buoying daily doses of construction progress on the new Putney General Store building.
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Even the most serious recluse in the county must know of the double tragedies dealt to the centuries-old Putney General Store, and the subsequent amazing groundswell of local, community, and state support that resulted in raising awareness, money and, eventually, the timber beams of a new store this past winter.
After the timber frame was ceremoniously raised last December, I was thrilled to witness the advances as I approached my turn off Route 5 at the center of town, slowing each time to observe the daily progress.
It seemed that neither snow nor sleet nor the harshest cold winds kept that Putney hard-hat crew - as loyal as postal workers - from the daily toil of fitting joists, erecting two-by-fours (so many two-by-fours!), nailing plywood up and down, and then across, to finish out interior rooms.
Then came a day of extra delight when I happened to drive by just as a huge crane lifted one of the newly delivered roof trusses from a flatbed, gently dangling and swaying the peaked piece toward its permanent skyward destiny.
Soon, the roof surface was being fitted and hammered in. Several days later, two workers were attached to ropes as they balanced themselves, rolling tarpaper over the structure's highest points.
On nicer days, passersby stopped, tipping their heads up to admire the latest developments. Some souls even braved the winter elements to take their lunch break and watch - munching from across the street as they observed the day's progress.
A few times, I saw drivers pull over and park their cars just to sit and take in the labor of the hour. Even the construction crew seemed hard-pressed to keep their eyes off the evolving structure - as evidenced by a hard-hat-wearing, tool-belted worker I saw standing on the sidewalk eating scoops of his mid-morning yogurt snack while diligently inspecting a fellow crew member's active efforts atop.
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But efficient and expert as the work could be, it wasn't the crew's construction prowess that filled my winter-weary heart with joy at each passing.
Nor was it awe at the materials, such as beams hewn from locally felled trees, that lifted my dark-day spirits.
It was the impressive phenomenon of charity, the deluge of caring, and the outpouring of generosity that exuded from every single stick of lumber on that corner.
That carried the day for me.
Each two-by-four raised vertically, every poised nail and uplifted hammer, though ostensibly just the reflections of the due diligence of a hard-working construction crew, came to symbolize the indomitable nature of the collective human spirit.
I am a newcomer to Putney. And though I am extremely saddened by, and sympathetic to the impact of, the catastrophes that plagued the historic store, I admit having nothing to do with its resurrection.
Yet somehow - perhaps just as a fellow member of the human race - the power of so many caring individuals, so many heartfelt donations, so much time and dedication by the amazing and resolute souls involved in this project simply fills me with pride.
I am astonished and awed by the magnificent community that created the momentum, persevered the bumpy course, and brought this project to fruition. And though just a lowly spectator and temporary tenant of the township, I still find myself inspired and a bit puffed up at every passing.
I've heard locals quoted as saying that the Putney General Store was “the heart of the town.”
Yet when that central structure was destroyed, reduced to a hole in the ground, it was the compassion of the residents and friends of the town, near and far, who rallied to the rescue.
United in their desire to bring life back to a time-honored local institution, breathing life into the intangible remains, this mighty collective effort, from the smallest donors to the politicians and master planners, wouldn't quit until the pulse beat strong enough to put that heart back on the map.
Who wouldn't be proud to live in a town like this one!