From The Archives: Abraham The Snowman

On February 12, 1982, 600 Bellows Free Academy students and over 60 community volunteers built Abraham, a 42-foot-tall snowman. Standing tall in Taylor Park, the snowman was named after Abraham Lincoln. The goal? The Saint Albans community intended to make the world's largest snowman to be featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. The current record is held by a Maine snowwoman that stands over 100 feet tall.

The BFA home economics class knitted the 40ft long gold and green scarf that Abraham wore, while the art class made the carrot nose. The buildings trade class fabricated the metal pipe and a 6-foot-tall magic hat. Municipal workers dumped 211 truckloads of snow in the park, while students and community members alike worked in groups of 10, taking shifts to build Abraham.

Although Abraham didn't make the Guinness Book of World Records, many locals look back fondly on the winter of 1982 when they either visited or contributed to the construction of this larger than life creation.

Photo credits: Jennifer Sutton, Stacie Callan, LaDawna Netherton and Richard Jarvis.