These are changing times in the Kingdom, and the mission of the journal is more important than ever.
For the last 20 years, VT’s Northland Journal has been the only publication dedicated to sharing and preserving the history and heritage of the Northeast Kingdom. The monthly journal, which comes in both print and electronic versions, also celebrates the sacrifices of our veterans, and it gives people, particularly our seniors, a forum for them to share their memories. In addition, the journal is
an educational tool to not only educate our young people about the region, but to instill pride within them for the region they call home.
04/27/2025
The print version of “Jay Peak: Voices from the Mountain”, which was published in 2018, is forever out of print, but because of continued interest in the book, we are now offering the book in digital form for $14.25.
The Northeast Kingdom’s Jay Peak region has a rich history—logging, farming, bootlegging, and an international arms dealer who fell victim to a faceless assassin. However, it is best known as the home to Jay Peak Resort, a four-season destination resort that opened in 1956. Many people of the time viewed the men behind this plan as delusional dreamers. Today their dream brings upwards of 650,000 people to the Jay Peak region each year. This book 224-page book explores the history and evolution of the Jay Peak region and of Jay Peak Resort.
Click here to learn how to order a digital copy of the book: northlandjournal.com/store/Digital-Version-of-Jay-Peak-Voices-from-the-Mountain-p745854304
Scott Wheeler/Publisher
04/26/2025
A friend of mine sent me a small souvenir booklet that was made leading up to the 1920 centennial of the village of Orleans, which for many of those years was known as Barton Landing. These are some of the photos from the booklet.
Please consider subscribing the VT's Northland Journal. The monthly print magazine is dedicated to sharing and preserving the history of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, often through the words of people who lived it. It is delivered to subscribers in almost all 50 states. We also sell NEK books (by Scott Wheeler), caps, winter hats, and NEK coffee mugs.
Check out our store site at https: northlandjournal.com/store/ .
Scott Wheeler/Publisher Vermont’s Northland Journal
04/26/2025
This is an old postcard put out by the Border Motel in Derby. Despite the current political stress between the two countries, I have no doubt the strong bond between the people of the two countries will stand firm, and will certainly outlive the politics of the day.
The Last of the Northland Journal Delivery Dogs Passes into History
For more than half of the history of the Northland Journal, my goldens – Boulder and Molly, were our mascots. They were also our delivery team, delivering the Journals to stores with me, meeting people as they went. I also joked that they were our security team, but if you knew them, you knew they were just too happy to be a threat to everybody. They would have allowed somebody to carry me away for a single dog biscuit and a pat on the head.
Boulder died a bit more than a year ago, and yesterday, at 14 plus years old, his littermate – his best buddy, Molly, also passed into the pages of history, two years and nine months since losing their “mother”, Penny, the co-founder and co-publisher of the Journal.
I can only conjecture what dogs actually know and understand about the world around them, and about the people and animals in it. However, when Penny died, I could tell that Boulder and Molly understood, at least to some degree, that a very important person in their lives was no longer present. After Boulder died, I tried to keep Molly occupied, including frequent trips and adventures (Oh, she loved to travel!), but I don’t think she ever overcame losing Boulder on top of losing her “mother”. After Penny died, Boulder and Molly were the constants in my life. They were with me through the horrible roller coaster of loss. I can't help but wonder if they got sick of me now and then.
This is a photo of Penny and the “lapdogs”, with Molly on the right, having a morning coffee together. Penny was a lifelong dog lover. I’ve heard how some people, in their final days of life, have visions of family and friends who went before them. On the other hand, there was Penny. One night during her battle, while talking in her sleep, she laid there not talking to family members and friends that passed before her – instead she was naming off all the dogs she’d had in her life, ones she’d grown up with, and others we shared together. The next morning, when I told her about the list of dogs, she was amazed, because some of the dogs she mentioned in her sleep, she said she hadn’t even thought about in years, even decades – but those memories came to life in her sleep in her dying days.
Yes, I lost Molly yesterday, but in losing her, along with Boulder, I have lost yet another piece of life that Penny and I shared together. But I’m okay, after all, in losing Penny, I learned there is not much I can’t survive.
Despite having a dog most of my life, at least for now, I’m taking a break and just maybe some day another dog will adopt me to be its father – only time will tell.
Scott Wheeler/Publisher VT’s Northland Journal
04/25/2025
Here are a couple old photos of the Catholic church in Irasburg from an earlier time. One of the photos is of it burning down. I can't seem to find the year of the fire - does anybody have the answer?
While doing a bit of organizing today, I found this postcard photo of a covered bridge in Morgan. Does anybody have any idea where it stood?
Thank you,
Scott Wheeler Publisher VT's Northland Journal
04/22/2025
Special Short Time Internet Special
Get two 15-ounce ceramic coffee mugs and two Navy blue adjustable caps, all emblazoned with the words — Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, all for $70.90 (shipping included to addresses in the U.S.). This is a savings of $14. Online and phone purchases only. To order online click on this link https://northlandjournal.com/store/%E2%80%8BSpecial-Short-Time-Internet-Special-p744437115 , or to order by phone, call (802) 487-0254.
Scott Wheeler/Publisher VT's Northland Journal
04/21/2025
NOW ONLINE - Passumpsic Bank Educate People About Financial Scammers
There are so many scammers out there working hard to get your money, and they are getting more ingenious with every passing day. They are tricking even some of the savviest people. A couple weeks ago, Pam Sanderson, the Vice President of Branch Operations and Risk Administrator at Passumpic Bank, was a guest on my Northeast Kingdom Voice television show, and on my VT Voice radio show. She talked about how to protect yourself against scammers. And she shared a bit about what Passumpsic is doing to protect you and your money.
Nips Snack Bar (later the LB Snack Bar) was a popular destination for the young, old, and everybody in between. It stood where North Country Credit Union is today. The photo is from a booklet published by the City of Newport in 1968, commemorating the community's 175 year as a settlement, and its 50th year as a city.
Here is a photo of a balloon accession at Gaines Park on July 4, 1911. The park was on the land where North Country Union High School is today in Newport. Later known as Veterans Park, the property once included a horse racing track and a grandstand to watch the races. Circuses and fairs were also held there, and for a year or two in the early 1950s, it was home to a jalopy racing track. At the time this photo was taken, the park was in the community of West Derby, which was dissolved in 1918 when it joined with Newport, at which time Newport became the Northeast Kingdom’s only official city.
Scott Wheeler/Publisher Vermont’s Northland Journal
04/19/2025
North Troy was once a happening place. It was home to a busy train station, a few stores, and industry. This photo was likely taken during the early years of the 20th century. The store stood in the proximity of where the post office is today.
Scott Wheeler/Publisher VT's Northland Journal
northlandjournal.com/store/
04/18/2025
This is a photo of the North Country Motors crew. It is from a booklet published by the City of Newport in 1968, commemorating the community's 175 year as a settlement, and its 50th year as a city. North Country Motors, which was owned by Rod Barrup, was located on the Derby Road in Derby where Modern Furniture is today. How many of these men do you recognize?
Justin Christopher was a recent guest on my Northeast Kingdom Voice television show, and on my VT Voice radio show.
Justin is the owner of Dead Heads Taxidermy. Click on this link to watch the show and learn about his work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPBpQvAxH48
The Story of Space Research Corporation Now in Digital Format
Since publishing a five-part series about Space Research Corporation (SRC), which included a 6,000-acre compound that straddled the U.S.–Canada border at Highwater, Quebec, and Jay, Vermont, in 2015, countless people who missed out on these issues when they were first published, have asked to buy back issues of these issues. We no longer have hard copies of these issues in stock; however, I’m now offering all five of these issues—in their entirety—in digital version, for a total of $12.
Dr. Gerald Bull operated SRC between the early 1960s and 1979. It is a story of a brilliant rocket scientist, weapons of war, international intrigue, and a faceless assassin that left Dr. Bull dead. This series, which includes many historical photos, is told through the memories of Arthur Aiken. Mr. Aiken, who is now deceased, played an important role in Dr. Bull’s enterprises in North America and in Brussel’s Belgium, what has been called the arms dealing capital of the world.
The story of Dr. Bull, his work, and his assassination have been the subject of books, documentaries, and movies, but this series provides an up close and personal look at the story through the eyes of Mr. Aiken.
A member of a West Coast cult-like group who was living in Orleans County when two other members were involved in a shootout with Border Patrol agents on I-91 in Derby - which left one agent dead, denies killing his parents. Jamie Zajko, who is transgender, also goes by the name, Michelle Zajko, has also been accused of providing the gun used by fellow cult members in the shootout. The group has been accused of several killings.
The group has been linked to killings in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California, including the shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in Vermont.
04/15/2025
Any Interest in an Option for an Online Version of the Northland Journal?
Several years ago we attempted to provide an option for people to subscribe to an online version of Vermont's Northland Journal to read online. At that time there was limited interest in such an option, but we are exploring it again. Of course we'll be continuing with the print version as well. Any thoughts about an online version, which would be identical to the print version - you'd get to choose between one or the other version?
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Vermont's Northland Journal posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Born and raised in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Scott Wheeler of Derby, who publishes Vermont's Northland Journal with his wife, Penny, is on an unstoppable mission to preserve the history and culture of the land of his birth. Proud of the Kingdom, he writes about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful, all which make the Kingdom the amazing place it is today. He sees no reason to whitewash its history to portray the Northeast Kingdom as something it isn’t, or to bend reality a bit to entice visitors. Instead, he insists the beauty of the working landscape, its history and culture, and the people speak loud enough to attract visitors from every corner of the world.
For the last 18 years, the Northland Journal has been the only magazine dedicated to sharing and preserving the history and heritage of the Northeast Kingdom. The monthly magazine, which comes in both print and electronic versions, also honors the sacrifices of our veterans, and it gives people, particularly our seniors, a forum to share their memories. The Journalis also an educational tool to not only educate our young people about the region, but to also instill pride within them for the region they call home.
This is what the now late renowned Northeast Kingdom author, Howard Frank Mosher, said about Scott and his work in a newspaper article: “Scott has kind of an inside track to some of the most interesting people in the Northeast Kingdom”.
Besides being publisher of the Journal, Scott, a Johnson State College graduate, and a former Vermont legislator, hosts a weekly television show on NEK-TV called The Northeast Kingdom Voice and a weekly radio show on WJJZ Country called The Vermont Voice. Each program is designed to serve as a forum for people to tell their stories and/or to promote community events. Scott is also the author of six regional history books: “Rumrunners and Revenuers: Prohibition in Vermont”, “When Salmon was King: Voices from the Clyde River”; “Don ‘Sleepy’ McNally: From Vaudeville to Drive-In Pioneer”; “Newport’s Centennial: Voices from a Lakeside Community”, “Jay Peak: Voices from the Mountain”, and "Booze in the Kingdom: Voices from Prohibition".
Scott is a popular public speaker, and he is a resource for local, state, national, and international media outlets for his knowledge of the history and culture of the Northeast Kingdom.
