Polly Simmons Williams, born in 1923, has written a lively memoir of her childhood in North Bennington. Short Berry Cake recounts family life in the village between the two wars. It is illustrated with a wide selection of photographs.

The chapter linked here (11 MB pdf) describes North Bennington in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Short Berry Cake can be ordered here.

Right, Polly Simmons, cousins Art & Allen, and her brother Fred.

North Bennington's Upper Main Street, left, in the summer of 1923.

Proprietor Pete Panos stands in front of his store. Beyond the A&P, the striped barber pole marks Jack Clark's Barber Shop.

Photographs courtesy of Polly Simmons Willliams.

And so, this is the world that I was born into.