THOMPSON'S VERMONT. 



mvt KDtta. 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



TOPOGRAPEICAL AND HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE 



COUNTIES, TOWNS, RIVERS, MOUNTAINS, &c. 



ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED. 



ADDISON. 



AcTOiV. — This was a small township sit- 

 uated in the northern part of Windham 

 county and bounded north by Grafton, 

 east by Athens, south by Townshcnd and 

 west by Windham and Jamaica. It was 

 granted to Moses Johnson and thirty three 

 others, and chartered February 23, 17S2. 

 It contained .5,045 acres, and was origi- 

 nally called Johnson's Gore. It was con- 

 stituted atownsiiip by the name of Acton, 

 November 6, 1800, and the town was or- 

 ganized March 3, 1801, Waitstill Scott 

 being the first town clerk. It was repre- 

 sented only in connexion with Towns- 

 hend. The settlement was commenced 

 in 1781 by Noah and Timothy Fisher, 

 Ebenezer Bivens and Riverius Hooker. 

 Timothy Fisher cut the first tree with the 

 view of clearing the land. The surface 

 of tlie ground is uneven. It is well v/ater- 

 ed by springs and brooks, but has no good 

 mill stream. In October, 1340, Acton 

 was annexed to Townsheud, and it now 

 constitutes the northern part of that town- 

 ship. 



Addison, a post town in the western 

 part of Addison county, in hit. 44° 4' north 

 and long. 3'^ 42' east," is bounded north 

 by Panton, east by Weybridire and Wal- 

 tham, south by Bridport and v/est b}' 



* As the whole .^tate is in norili tatiiudft, and in 

 east longituilo from Washington, the terms nurt/i 

 and east will lisreufter be omitted. 



Ft. III. 1 



lake Champlain, which separates it from 

 the townships of Moriah and Crown Point 

 in the state of New York. It lies 83 miles 

 nortlnvesterly from Bennington, 62 west 

 from Newbury, 40 from Montpelier and 

 29 soutluvesterly from Burlington. It 

 was chartered October 14, 17G1, and ori- 

 ginally contained 28,800 acres, measuring 

 about 7 miles from east to west and 6 from 

 north to south. A portion of the north- 

 eastern part, lying ea.st of Otter creek, has 

 since been annexed to Waltham, and the 

 southeastern part, east of Snake mountain, 

 to Weybridge. The first civilized estab- 

 lishjnent in Vermont on the west side of 

 the mountains, was on Chimney point in 

 the soutJiwest corner of this township. It 

 was made by the French in 1731, the same 

 year in which they built fort Frederick, 

 afterwards Crown Point, and a stone wind- 

 mill which was bailt and garrisonedhere 

 constituted an outpost of that important 

 fortress while in possession of the French. 

 The first settlement made by the English 

 was in the )'ear 1769 or 1770, by a Mr. 

 Ward, the Flon. John Strojig and Zadock 

 Everest, Esq. with their families. Tliis 

 settlement was broken up and the settlers 

 retired to the south, u])on the advance of 

 the British up the lake in the fall of 1776, 

 and none of them returned with their fam- 

 ilies till the month of May, 1783. During 

 their seven years absence, every building 

 which they had erected was destroyed by 



