By: Michael Hill, Associated Press
WATERBURY, VT. (AP).- The floodwaters of Tropical Storm Irene that ripped up roads and washed into living rooms across Vermont took a dramatic toll on quaint old villages — filling white, steepled churches with muck and knocking 19th-century clapboard houses off their foundations. That’s a big problem for a small state that cherishes its history. The classic villages of clapboard and stone buildings hugging the state’s rivers and streams are the essence of Vermont and a big tourist draw. While Irene damaged many “individual gems” with historical and architectural value, preservationists also fear the broader toll the storm levied on entire neighborhoods deemed historically important by the state and federal governments. A preliminary survey of downtowns and village centers around