The Old Stone House Museum opened in 1925, as the museum of Orleans County history. The massive four story granite block building was constructed in 1836 to serve as the dormitory for the Orleans County Grammar School. It was purchased in 1917 by the Orleans County Historical Society to save it from destruction by a building company, intent upon using the granite blocks for railroad bridges. Inside its thirty rooms are exhibits of furniture, paintings, tools, textiles, folk art, and the stuff of everyday life, which tell the story of early Orleans County. Two barns display antique agricultural implements, boats, horse drawn  transportation
& maple sugaring equipment.

The museum’s seven historic buildings and 60 acres of grounds, including the barns, observatory tower and blacksmith shop, are within the Brownington Historic District, listed on the National Registrar of Historic Places.

Alexander Twilight, who served as headmaster of the school and built the Old Stone House, was the first African American to graduate from and American college (Middlebury College) and to be elected to public office. Samuel Read Hall, who was the first teacher educator in the United States and wrote the first teacher training manual, lived in the neighborhood for the last 25 years of his life.
Group Tours, Bike Tours, and Bus Tours Welcome!