Preservation Trust Award

In 2014, Dot's Restaurant won the annual Preservation Trust of Vermont award for their efforts in rebuilding and restoring Dot's. The rebuilding process had been a long and tired one, but this award recognized it as an important task that is worthy of honor. Throughout all the fundraisers held in Wilmington and online at, www.rebuilddots.com, the greater Vermont community had come together to help to literally pick up the pieces after such a terrible event and rebuild. 

It is significant that Dot's was honored in this way because it shows that the rebuilding of Dot's is important because it preserved something bigger than just their pancakes. This award honors Dot's not because of their finesse in the kitchen, but because of their status as a center of the community and shows their efforts to rebuild as being important for more than just Wilmington, but for Vermont as a whole. 

This award does some of the work of memorializing Dot's in that it preserves the memory of Dot's perseverance through hard times. It's a bit ironic that a Preservation Award helps to preserve the memory of Dot's acting as a beacon of hope, but it's true. This award solidified Dot's as not only an important piece of the Vermont landscape but as a memorial to the power that people can have when they come together, even if it is just to save a diner.