St. Johnsbury History & Heritage Center Celebrates Nation’s Birthday, Outgoing Director/Founder Peggy Pearl

Fund Named In Pearl’s Honor; New Director Emily Demers Welcomed (story from The Caledonian Record)

Amy Ash Nixon nixona@caledonian-record.com Staff Writer

Jul 21, 2026

ST. JOHNSBURY — To have her son Thomas Daniels give a talk about his 25 years working for the National Park Service educating people about American History at Independence Hall in Philadelphia could not have been a prouder sendoff for St. Johnsbury History & Heritage Center’s founding director, Peggy Pearl, on Monday afternoon.

Daniels spoke for about an hour, sharing a slideshow that included insider looks at the restorations Independence Hall has undergone involving teams of restoration experts who brought the building back to its original state as much as possible, and honored the integrity of the history with careful craftsmanship when it was necessary to craft replica pieces for the historic hall.

“They were committed to getting it right,” explained Daniels, who was on hand for the July 20th celebration at the history center on Summer Street his mother founded after her career educating students and visitors to the Fairbanks Museum.

Like the historians at Independence Hall, who tirelessly worked to investigate the building’s walls to bring it back as close as possible to its historic original state, Daniels’ mother, Peggy Pearl, has been committed much of her life to preserving the history of this part of northeastern Vermont and getting it right.

“What was done at Independence Hall was groundbreaking,” Daniels shared of the significant restoration of the hall during the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, a time when visitors were still able to visit many days despite work crews being busy tending to all sorts of details. In a slide he shared, a school group on a field trip can be seen in a roped-off section of the historic room, the front rows looking forward towards their guide, presumably, but Daniels pointed out that the students in the back rows are more focused on the man way up on the ladder in the back of the room.

He shared that the room is 80 percent original details and the rest was “recreated done to the finest standards of the 18th century.”

Daniels spoke before a display of historic wedding gowns on display in the carriage house collection of the history center, and spent a good deal of time speaking about the Liberty Bell, a fitting tribute to the nation’s 250th birthday celebration happening this month.

He showed multiple slides of the Liberty Bell’s different homes through the years, including Independence Hall, where it was on display in Philadelphia from 1915-1976, remaining there through visits by many important figures in our nation’s history, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy Jr., and more. “It was a wild life there inside Independence Hall,” he said.

Daniels told the packed audience taking in his talk that “Every state has a liberty bell.”

He showed a slide of himself posed with a handful of them, and said they are often housed “somewhere around the state capitol.”

“The last time I was in Montpelier, it was at the state library,” Daniels said.

When the nation celebrated its 200th birthday in 1776, the Liberty Bell was moved to a newly constructed Liberty Bell Pavilion, Daniels said. It was an ultra-modern building across the street, and people had opinions on it: “You either loved it, or you hated it.”

He described the building as “a workhorse,” saying 150 people could be moved through the space every 10 minutes like clockwork, and it opened on January 1st, 1976, for the historic 200th bicentennial birthday of the United States of America.

In 2003, the Liberty Bell Center was built, and the historic Liberty Bell has been on display there since then, said Daniels.

“I work with the most dedicated team of professionals I’ve ever worked with in my life,” said Daniels. “We love what we do. We get to go to work every day and talk about history.”

Following his talk, Daniels took questions, including one about the Betsy Ross House. That site is owned and operated by a nonprofit organization called Historic Philadelphia, Inc., explained Daniels, and it is about a 15-minute walk from Independence Hall.

Daniels credits his mother, father and grandfather William Pearl for instilling in him an appreciation for history.

Prior to his work in Philadelphia, Daniels worked for the park service educating visitors about Civil War history at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.

Following his talk, St. Johnsbury History & Heritage Center Board Chair Staci Smith Lantagne shared remarks, thanking everyone for turning out. There was barely a seat available in the carriage house and barn, named in Pearl’s honor and featuring local history exhibits and rotating special displays, an historic wedding gown exhibit now on view.