West Brattleboro in Windham County, Vermont — The American Northeast (New England)

Mary Wilkins Freeman

Photographed by Dennis Gilkenson, June 4, 2020

1. Mary Wilkins Freeman Marker

Inscription. American writer Mary Wilkins Freeman was born in 1852 in Randolph, Massachusetts. Her family moved to Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1867. Studying for one year at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Freeman would complete her formal education at Glenwood Ladies Seminary in 1873. Returning to Randolph in 1883, she became a very successful author respected by the likes of Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling. Her years in Brattleboro influenced her development as a writer of New England life. Freeman is best known for A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887), A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891), Pembroke (1894), and The Debtor (1905). In 1926 she became the first honoree of the William Dean Howells Medal for fiction. Freeman died in 1930.

Erected 2019 by Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Women. In addition, it is included in the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation Markers series list.

Location. 42° 51.162′ N, 72° 35.952′ W. Marker is in Brattleboro, Vermont,

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in Windham County. It is in West Brattleboro. It is on Western Avenue (Vermont Route 9) just east of South Street, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 911 Western Ave, Brattleboro VT 05301, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Vermont’s Connecticut River Valley,

in the Green Mountains,

and in Southern Vermont. It is also in the American Northeast

and in New England.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Glenwood Seminary and Brattleborough Academy (here, next to this marker); West Brattleboro / Molly Stark Byway (approx. 0.7 miles away); Creamery Bridge Native Plant Restoration Project (approx. 0.7 miles away); a different marker also named Creamery Bridge Native Plant Restoration Project (approx. 0.7 miles away); Brattleboro / Molly Stark Byway (approx. 1.6 miles away); Estey Organ Company (approx. 1.9 miles away); The First Building of the Centre Congregational Church

Wide View of Mary Wilkins Freeman Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Dennis Gilkenson, June 4, 2020

2. Wide View of Mary Wilkins Freeman Marker

(approx. 2 miles away); Brattleboro Civil War Monument (approx. 2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Brattleboro.

Also see . . . The Brattleboro Words Trail-Mary Wilkins Freeman. Podcast for the Brattleboro Words Trail project.

Welcome to the Brattleboro Words Trail.

From Abenaki petroglyphs and the first known African American poet Lucy Terry Prince, to Nobel Laureates like Saul Bellow, Jody Williams and Rudyard Kipling, these surprising, artistic, community-created audio stories link places to people to create a unique Vermont experience exploring America's most storied small town!

(Submitted on May 6, 2026, by Jerry Carbone of Brattleboro, Vermont.)

Credits. This page was last revised on May 20, 2026. It was originally submitted on June 7, 2020, by Dennis Gilkenson of Saxtons River, Vermont. This page has been viewed 326 times since then and 27 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 7, 2020, by Dennis Gilkenson of Saxtons River, Vermont. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.