Remember enslaved person

BENNINGTON - Margaret “Peg” Bowen was born about 1742 in or near Hadley, MA. She was enslaved in Bennington by Stephen Fay from 1772 to 1778. On Saturday, June 25, at 10 am, she will be remembered and honored by the people of Bennington.
Peg lived and worked at Fay’s Tavern, better known as the Catamount Tavern, during some of the most important years of the state’s and the nation’s history. In 1778 she was sold back to the Massachusetts farm where she’d lived before being sold to Fay.
Recovering the lost, discarded, and sometimes intentionally-erased stories of enslaved persons is a challenge. The Stopping Stones project seeks to unearth these stories, remember the names of the enslaved, and recognize their contributions to communities as well as acknowledge and work to repair the legacy of slavery. In October 2021, Bennington Museum was awarded a Herbert and Louise Whitney Fund community preservation grant from Historic New England as well as additional support from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation to support placing a stopping stone honoring an enslaved person in Bennington. Since then, a small group of museum staff and volunteers has worked to collect information about early Black Bennington residents and to bring their stories to light.
On Saturday, June 25, the Stopping Stone honoring Peg will be dedicated with a ceremony beginning at 10 am at the former site of the Catamount Tavern on Monument Avenue, followed by a reception at Bennington Museum. The museum invites the community to join as it shares and reflects upon Peg’s story.