The slate-blue house at 384 Lower Main Street in Johnson doesn’t have the striking architecture or quaint curbside appeal that naturally attracts public attention. The modest two-story cottage on Route 15 has served various functions since it was built in 1840, including as a health clinic and, m ost recently, a rental duplex — that is, until it flooded in July 2023 and had to be abandoned. Indeed, about the only eye-catching element of the house is the roadside historic site marker out front that commemorates its most famous resident: Julian Scott (1846-1901), the Civil War-era soldier and artist who was born and raised there. If Scott’s 19th-century boyhood home isn’t remarkable, his artwork certainly is. Anyone who has toured the Vermont Statehouse or attended a press conference or reception there has undoubtedly stood before Scott’s monumental 10-by-20-foot painting “The First Vermont Brigade at the Battle of Cedar Creek,” which hangs in the aptly named Cedar Creek Room. One of five paintings by Scott on display there, the iconic mural is what state curator David Schutz called “Vermont’s principal memorial to the state’s participation in the war.” And the reputation of its creator extends far beyond Vermont’s borders. “If you were to name artists of the Civil War,” Schulz added, “Julian Scott would always show up in the top two or three nationwide.” “The First Vermont Brigade at the Battle of Cedar Creek,” 1874, by Julian Scott at the Vermont Statehouse Credit: Kevin McCallum And yet, it doesn’t appear that the state ever conveyed that historically relevant information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency when it applied for a hazard mitigation grant in 2024 to tear it down. Under the federal program, FEMA gives money to states, tribes and municipalities to buy homes and businesses that are repeatedly damaged in natural disasters, such as floods, to prevent them from incurring future losses. Once buyouts take place, those structures must be moved or demolished within 90 days of the closing — which, in the case of the Julian Scott house, is April 29. The impending demolition raises important questions, namely: When are historic structures worth saving? And, when and how was the decision made to let this one be destroyed? According to a December 9, 2024, letter from FEMA to the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, the Julian Scott house sits in the floodplain of the Lamoille River. It was one of 14 residential properties and two commercial ones in Johnson damaged in the historic flood of July 2023, thus qualifying it for inclusion in the buyout program. Although the house has been listed on the State Register of Historic Places since 1992 and is eligible for inclusion in National Register of Historic Places, the 99-page letter from FEMA outlining the project never mentions Scott. In fact, the house is repeatedly referred to as the Patch-Shattuck House, a reference to the family who owned it in 1992. That said, the FEMA letter notes that “the demolition of the Patch-Shattuck House will completely remove an important, historic resource from the Town of Johnson.” Nevertheless, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation concurred with the buyout plan in January 2025, with little in the way of public discussion or debate. In an email last week to Seven Days, State Historic Preservation Officer Laura Trieschmann cited various factors for the decision to proceed with the demolition. She noted the risk to public safety, the absence of “original items relating to [Scott’s] tenure there,” and other “significant additions and changes” to the building and its appearance that have “detracted from its original character and significance.” “I appreciate its importance as a landmark of Julian Scott’s life; it was a remarkable life,” Trieschmann wrote. “With FEMA buyouts, these are the decisions we make every day, between the present’s public good and the past’s crucial role in our lives. In this case, we’ve concluded that the public good outweighs history’s impact.” Those determinations appear to have been based largely on a March 12 site visit — six weeks after ownership of the house was transferred from its most recent owner, a Hyde Park LLC, to the Town of Johnson. By then, the town was legally obligated to move it or tear it down. Johnson town administrator John Sutherland, who only started in his position in January, participated in last month’s site visit, along with representatives from Vermont Emergency Management, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Johnson Historical Society. “We looked in, and, unfortunately, there’s a bunch of spray-foam insulation,” Sutherland said. “So the question is: How much of the history are we really preserving?” When a reporter visited the house last week, the interior was clearly visible through the back door. Aside from the hardwood floors, which may be original, much of the ground level looked like a 21st-century rental unit, with drywall, light switches, recessed ceiling lights, electrical outlets and modern kitchen tiles. That said, the exterior of the house, with its Greek Revival features, looks remarkably similar to a pencil sketch of the house done by Scott. Johnson Historical Society president Dick Simays said his group was not notified about plans to demo the house until shortly before the town took ownership on January 29. The Johnson Selectboard only brought it up for public discussion on January 22, a week before the closing. “When [town officials] got the list of property buyouts, it was just a list of street addresses, not property owners, so it went right over their heads,” Simays said. “They didn’t recognize it early on.” Could the house be dismantled and moved, much the way the historic Milton home of Civil War general George Stannard was deconstructed in 2019 and its salvageable parts preserved? Simays said neither the town nor the historical society has the money to do so. “Everyone involved seems to want to pass the buck or say ‘All the boxes have been checked,’” wrote George “Ned” Spear, a Swanton attorney and amateur historian, in a March 26 letter to Gov. Phil Scott imploring him to intervene. “Nothing has been accomplished to save this incredibly important part of the fabric of Vermont’s history and heritage.” Julian Scott was born in Johnson in 1846 and attended Lamoille Academy, now part of Vermont State University-Johnson, which has an art gallery on campus named in his honor. Only 15 years old when the Civil War broke out, he joined his two brothers when they enlisted in the 3rd Vermont Infantry in 1861. According to Vermont Historical Society executive director Steve Perkins, Scott was deemed too scrawny to carry a rifle, so he became a fifer and drummer. Julian Scott Credit: Courtesy of Vermont Historical Society In those years, army musicians also served as field medics. During the 1862 Battle of Lee’s Mill in Virginia, Scott crossed a stream numerous times under heavy Confederate fire to evacuate wounded soldiers. He was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his battlefield bravery, one of the first and youngest soldiers to receive that distinction. In the Battle of White Oak Swamp in Virginia the same year, Scott was badly wounded in the hip. During his convalescence in a New York hospital, a wealthy patron noticed Scott’s creative sketches and paid to send him to Europe to study art. In 1870, the Vermont Legislature commissioned Scott to paint a mural that celebrated the state’s participation in the war. According to state curator Schutz, Scott and lawmakers selected the Battle of Cedar Creek mostly because more Vermonters participated in that engagement than in any other battle of the war. Scott was paid $9,000 for the mural, which barely covered his expenses. Scott would go on to paint other battlefield scenes, always highlighting the deeds of common soldiers rather than generals. They included his 1872 painting “The Fourth Vermont Forming Under Fire,” which was unknown to Vermont collectors until a social studies teacher at Champlain Valley Union High School, Tyler Alexander, tracked it down for a book he was writing. The painting was at the University of Houston and soon to come up for public auction. So in 2025, Schutz and others enlisted the help of Lyman Orton, owner of the Vermont Country Store and an avid collector of Vermont artwork, to buy it for $110,000. It is currently on loan to the state and hangs in the Cedar Creek Room. When Seven Days contacted Schutz about the plan to demolish Julian Scott’s house, he was flabbergasted. “Oh, my word! Does the Division of Historic Preservation know about this?” he asked. “It would be horrible if Julian Scott’s house were demolished.” Swanton historian Spear, who has tried to raise the alarm about its impending destruction, agreed. “It takes time and money and interest. I get all that,” he said in a phone interview. “But if it goes, it goes forever.” It’s unclear at this point what, if anything, can be done or how strictly FEMA enforces its 90-day deadline. According to a FEMA spokesperson, no one at the agency was available to answer a reporter’s questions. Many of its employees have been furloughed as a result of the Congressional impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security. A spokesperson for ReArch Construction, the South Burlington firm contracted to do the demolition, said the project is slated to go ahead in mid-April or early May following an assessment for the presence of asbestos. In the meantime, ReArch has agreed to a request by the Johnson Historical Society to salvage any original posts or beams worth saving. Said Lois Frey, a member of the Johnson Historical Society, “Maybe we’ll end up with a floorboard or something.” ➆ The original print version of this article was headlined “Dwelling on the Past | With little fanfare or public debate, the historic boyhood home of Civil War artist Julian Scott is about to be torn down” The post The Historic Julian Scott House Is About to Be Torn Down appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less