Old Stone House Museum
The Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village is a museum run by the Orleans County Historical Society in Brownington, Vermont. The Old Stone House at the heart of the village is a part of the Brownington Village Historic District, a district of ten historic buildings added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. History The Old Stone House, or Athenian Hall, was built in 1836 by Alexander Twilight, the nation's first African-American college graduate. Twilight was the minister of the Brownington Congregational Church and the principal of the Orleans County Grammar School. The Orleans County Grammar School was the only high school in the county which required many students to travel long distances for their education. They boarded with families in town, including Twilight's. Athenian Hall was built to accommodate the larger number of students attending the Grammar School. Twilight pressed his board of trustees for a larger building but failed to receive support from the majority. He alienated many of the trustees by his adamancy, and the building was left completely to Twilight. In 1834, he laid out a foundation plan for land donated by Cyrus Eaton across the road from his house. It called for