Oral history interview with Bridget Downey-Meyer

Oral history interview with Bridget Downey-Meyer

Bridget Downey-Meyer speaks of dropping out of the University of Vermont in 1966, becoming a single mother, joining Libby Albright in working with draft resisters at the Mount Philo Inn in Charlotte, Vermont in 1969, and of Stewart and Susan Meacham. She describes communal living at the Inn, and of transitioning into a collective, the decision-making process and the difficulty of arriving at consensus. She talks of her work at Mount Philo and in the Burlington area, including the founding of the People's Free Clinic, and the relationship of Mount Philo to other communes, particularly Earthworks in Franklin, Vermont. She speaks of helping draft resisters and of the network to help them cross the Canadian border, of open relationships, nudity, and child rearing. She talks of taking in the Earthworks children after a fire, of transitioning to more structured schooling with an emphasis on experiential learning, and of The Schoolhouse, an alternative school in Shelburne. She ends the interview by describing her work after leaving Mount Philo in 1973 and the effect of the counterculture on Vermont.

9 October 2015

AudioFile1970s-59

MP3

Audio Files

Charlotte (Vt.)

Burlington (Vt.)

Permission to publish material from the Vermont 1970s Counterculture Project must be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Calder, Jacqueline, 1954-

Downey-Meyer, Bridget, 1946-

Montpelier (Vt.)

1 hr., 28 min., 20 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4209