Chester native Travis Van Alstyne wins 2025 Hathaway History Award
Shawn Cunningham | Oct 22, 2025 | Comments 0
By Shawn Cunningham
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC
Travis Van Alstyne accepting the Hathaway Award at the History Center in Barre last week. Photo provided
According to a VHS press release the award was presented to Van Alstyne at the Society’s annual meeting on Thursday Oct. 16. The award is presented each year to an individual, group or organization that has made outstanding contributions to the study of Vermont’s history.
Love of the Land is based on the story of Ascutney farmer Romaine Tenney, who committed suicide in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, 1964, just hours before his house and barn were to be bulldozed by construction workers building Interstate 91.
Van Alstyne wrote, directed, and animated the short film, which features voice-over narration by George Woodard. Van Alstyne’s work, which was supported in part by Vermont Public’s “Made Here” fund, consisted of more than 3,000 frames that he produced using the rotoscope process. The work took four years to create.
The film is available to watch for free online by clicking here.
VHS Executive Director Stephen Perkins says, “This profoundly moving film humanizes an event often seen as a footnote to the mid-20th century transformation of Vermont. In place of the former interpretation of the event as public protest, Travis Van Alstyne’s work instead shows Tenney’s actions as a requiem to a lost way of life.”
“To be recognized as having created something that’s deemed an outstanding contribution to Vermont history is very touching,” said Van Alstyne. “For me though, this award shows the power and universality of Romaine Tenney’s story. Sixty-one years after his passing and his story still resonates. It’s been an honor to tell it.”
Click here to read more about Tenney and Van Alstyne’s film in The Telegraph’s Sept. 2024 article on its screening in Springfield, and click here to read more about Van Alstyne’s animation process.
Filed Under: Community and Arts Life • People
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