SHREWSBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – A trip to Shrewsbury, population 1,096, might include a stop at a famous country store. The historic Pierce’s store first opened in 1865 and is now a co-op and local gathering spot. As our Darren Perron reports in this Vermont’s Own, it’s the heart of a town that still embraces a wild, two-and-a-half-month relationship that doubled the population daily decades ago.
It’s easy to see why Bennie Carrara loves where he lives. He’s just down the road from his family’s former farm on a hillside nicknamed Carrara Mountain.
“It’s the best place in the world,” Carrara said.
Shrewsbury has terrific views and not much traffic, but that wasn’t always the case. Forty years ago this month, Shrewsbury was put on the world map when a bull moose made his way into a meadow and made his move on a cute Hereford cow named Jessica.
“She was a good-looking female cow. She was beautiful in his eyes, she was special,” Carrara said.
The two became inseparable and the courtship caught the attention of WCAX and news agencies everywhere.
“It’s a great story. It’s unbelievable that would happen. When does a moose walk out of the woods and start courting a cow? When does that happen?” Shrewsbury’s Larry Abelman said laughing.
At the time, Abelman lived across the country in California, and the passionate pair made headlines there.
“The front page was a picture of the moose standing behind the cow. Then I looked at Reno, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco and every paper had that picture on the front, so it was national news,” Abelman said.
All that attention turned a silent Shrewsbury street into a packed parkway.
Herb Carrara takes care of the cemetery now, but he was the road foreman at the time of the moose-cow tryst. Traffic was so heavy, he said, that Northam Road was nearly impassable at times.
“People came from all over to see it. It was a one lane road for a mile here,” Herb Carrara said.
Bennie Carrara, 68, was 27 at the time and took a break from his job to help park cars and tour buses. About 1,000 people a day showed up to catch a glimpse of the quirky couple.
“It was just a strange love affair,” Bennie Carrara said.
The strange love affair led to a country record and made Bennie’s parents famous for a while. Bennie’s dad, Larry, was so busy with interviews, selling swag and managing an estimated 75,000 visitors at the farm, he gave up his job at General Electric.
“He had to be home, you know what I mean? He had to be there,” Bennie Carrara said about his father.
They even wrote a book. For 76 days the moose, originally called Bullwinkle, kept wooing his bovine beauty. A copyright issue led to a name change and soon it was Josh and Jessica, cuddling among the other cows. Until Josh dropped an antler and, according to Bennie Carrara, everything changed.
“I think he was embarrassed he lost his antler,” Carrara said.
Some say Jessica the cow gave bull moose Josh the cold shoulder after that too, but she was well-loved by the family for another 23 years.
“That was my dad’s favorite cow,” Bennie Carrara said.
The bull moose Josh went back to where he came from, never to be seen again, but left behind a piece of himself and a story with heart that still has legs 40 years later.
The family still gets calls about the moose that was head over hooves for the cow. People are fascinated by the love affair.
And just maybe Josh’s offspring are still in the area. Bennie’s sister-in-law Kathy captured video of a moose near the family farm.
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