1823 schoolhouse moves back to its original spot atop hill

The 105-ton timber-frame school building was moved Monday up a hill by an engine on the back of a barge-like rolling platform that filled both lanes of the narrow country road.

Twilight is the town's central historical figure and was the first African-American to graduate from an American college or university, getting a degree from Middlebury College.

Residents voted to offer the building to the Orleans County Historical Society, which oversees the Brownington historic district.

Besides the engine pushing the schoolhouse up the hill, utility crews lowered power lines and communications cables so the 34-foot-high building could have clearance.