GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Pakt III. 



■ERANDOK. 



BRATTLEBOROCGH- 



1788. The Baptist society, which is nu- 

 merous, erected a commodious and ele- 

 gant church in 183:2, a figure of which 

 may be seen in part second, page ld5. It 

 has been for some time under the pasto- 

 ral care of the Rev. C. A. Thomas. The 

 Congregational church was organized 

 September 23, 1785, but had no settled 

 minister till 17;t2, when they settled the 

 Rev. Enos Bliss. His successors have 

 ■been the Rev. Ebenezer Hebard, from 

 Januarys, 18U0, to September 7, lb20 ; 

 the Rev. Beriah Green, from April 16, 

 1823, to May 11, 1829; the Rev. Ira In- 

 graham, from September 1, 1830, to Feb. 

 17, 1836; and the Rev. Harvey Curtis, 

 from February 17, 1836, to December 15, 

 1840. The Episcopal church was organ- 

 ized in 1839, under tiie name of St. Thom- 

 as' Church. Their minister is the Rev. Jo- 

 aiah Perry. They are erecting a neat 

 gothic church the present season. The 

 surface of this township is generally lev- 

 el. The Green Mountains lie along the 

 east line, and present some lofty summits. 

 The principal streams arc Otter creek, 

 which runs through the town from south 

 to north, and Mill river, whicli rises amontr 

 the motintains in Goshen and enters this 

 town from the east. At tlie foot of the 

 mountains. Mill river receives the waters 

 of a small pond, called Spring pond, and 

 becomes a considerable mill stream. In 

 this stream are several falls, which afford 

 excellent sites for mills and other ma- 

 chinery. It runs about ten miles and 

 falls into Otter creek about a mile from 

 the village. The soil of the town is vari- 

 ous, but generally a light loam, easily til- 

 led and very productive. The eastern 

 part is an extensive pine plain and is con- 

 sidered poor land ; yet, by proper atten- 

 tion, it is converted into good farms. The 

 western part is a mi.xture of clay and loam. 

 The alluvial flats, or intervale, along Ot- 

 ter creek in this town, are extensive and 

 ■beautiful, and are not surpassed in fertili- 

 ty by any in the vicinity. The town pro- 

 duces every variety of timber common to 

 the country. Pine, oak, cherry, sugar 

 and red maple, ash and cedar are found in 

 abundance. A bed of bog iron ore was 

 discovered in this town about 1810, which 

 is inexhaustible, and which has been ex- 

 tensively wrought for some years past in- 

 to bar and cast iron. From seven to nine 

 tons of this ore can be melted in a quarter 

 furnace, in 24 hours, yielding 33 per cent, 

 of soft grey iron, which is not liable to 

 crack from the eftects of heat, and, con- 

 sequently, makes the best of stoves. Small 

 cannon have been made from it, which 

 are bored with facility and answer a good 

 purpose. The bar iron, which is made 



from the ore, is of the best quality. The 

 ore is found by digging five or six feet, 

 and is covered by strata of sand andocher. 

 The bed has been penetrated about 100 

 feet, but its depth is not known. Manga- 

 nese is found here in abundance and of 

 the best qualit}^ Nearly 200 tons are 

 annually sent to market, much of which 

 is exported to Europe. Marble is exten- 

 sively quarried and manufactured, and a 

 quarry has recently been opened which is 

 thought to be equal to the finest Italian 

 marble. About 1.^ mile east of the vil- 

 lage, are two caverns in limestone ledges, 

 and about half a mile apart. The descent 

 into the largest is about 18 feet perpen- 

 dicular, into a room 16 or 18 feet square. 

 From this room is a passage, barely suffi- 

 cient to admit a middling sized person to 

 pass along in a creejjing posture, into an- 

 other room still larger, which has not been 

 much explored. Brandon village is 

 among the most flourishing in the state. 

 It is situated, in the centre of the town, 

 and is divided nearly equally by Mill riv- 

 er. It is 16 miles from Middlebury, 16 

 from Rochester, 16 from Rutland, and 16 

 from lake Champlain. It contains 130 

 dwelling houses, 3 brick meeting houses, 

 a seminary, 100 feet by 30, under the pat- 

 ronage of the Baptist denomination, 2 

 two-story brick school liouses, and a va- 

 riety of iron works, mills, and other build- 

 ings, and about 940 inhabitants. There 

 are in town, 13 scliool districts and 13 

 school houses, 2 blast and 2 cupola fur- 

 naces, 1 flouring mill and 10 saw mills, a 

 last factory, a lead pipe factory, &c. — 

 Statistics of 1840. — Horses, 331 ; cattle, 

 1,395; sheep, 14,091; swine, 546; wheat, 

 bu. 1,498; barley, 20; Oats, 7,174 ; rye, 

 2,803; buck wheat, 959; In. corn, 10,222; 

 potatoes, 26,052; hay, tons, 5,172 ; sugar, 

 lbs. 13,586; wool, 32,758. Pop. 2,194. 



Brattlf.borough, a post town in the 

 southeastern part of Windham county, is 

 in lat. 42° 52' and long. 4° 25'. It is the 

 principal town in the county and is boun- 

 ded north by Dummerston, east by Con- 

 necticut river, which sej)arates it from 

 Chesterfield, N. H. south by Vernon and 

 Guilford, and west by Marlborough. The 

 town was chartered, December 26, 1753, 

 and contains about 34 square miles. It is 

 about 100 miles south from Montpelier, 

 30 east from Bennington, 75 west from 

 Boston, 60 from Albany and 390 from 

 Washington. This town derives its name 

 from Colonel Brattle, of Massachusetts, 

 one of the principal proprietors. Fort 

 Dummer, the first civilized establishment 

 within the present limits of Vermont, was 

 built in 1724, in the southeast corner of 

 the tov/n, on what is now called '■'■Dummer 



