Nestled in the mountains of Vermont, in the town of Rupert, is a two-hundred-year-old church. A man named Howard Mudget has written a history of this church. In it he records that, in 1831, the citizens of Rupert first added a steeple and bell to their church. But something unusual happened. "When the steeple was added," Mudget writes, "one agile Lyman Woodard stood on his head in the belfry with his feet toward heaven."

Not much else is known about Lyman Woodard. He is remembered only for the minor stunt that he pulled over a hundred and sixty years ago. He took a small risk, and did something that must have been somewhat embarrassing to the members of his church. After all, New Englanders are not supposed to act like that. (1) Lyman was so excited about the improvement to his church tha…