Wallingford, Vermont: Boy and the Boot

Wallingford takes pride in its statue of little scrapper with the dribbling boot, one of a number of nearly-identical fountain sculptures of mysterious origin around the U.S. and elsewhere.

This fountain (water comes out of the toe of the boot) was a gift to the town of Wallingford in 1898, in memory of Arnold Hill, by his children. One of his sons, who lived in Chicago, had seen a similar statue there, and the siblings all agreed that such a statue would be a fitting memorial to their late father, who had been the owner of the Wallingford Inn from 1861-1871. It is presumed that damage of some sort (c1910) prompted him being stored away and seemingly forgotten until the Inn's new owner found him in the attic in 1920. He was restored, and has occupied this same position in front of the Inn ever since (taken indoors during the winter to avoid weather damage).