132 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



ORANGE COUNTY. 



ORLEANS. 



er broken. Knox mountain in the north- 

 easterly part of the town is a considera- 

 ble elevation, and affords inexhaustable 

 quantities of granite for building stone. 

 The rocks of this town are principally 

 granite ; the timber is chiefly hard wood, 

 except along the streams, where it is 

 spruce, hemlock, cedar, pine, and fir. 

 The soil in some parts of the town, par- 

 ticularly on the heights, is rather cold and 

 wet ; in other pnrts and on the streams it 

 is rich and productive. Large flocks of 

 sheep are kept in this town, and consid- 

 erable attention is paid to dairying. The 

 principal stream of water is Jail branch. 

 Coming from Washington, it receives a 

 considerable stream from the north, call- 

 ed Cold branch, and then passes into 

 Barre. The principal roads leading 

 through the town are, the Market road, 

 through from Barre on Wait's river, and 

 the Old turnpike, leading from Barre 

 through to Chelsea. There are in town 

 12 school districts and school houses, and 

 about 300 scholars, 2 stores, 2 taverns, 

 1 starch factory, 1 grist and 7 saw mills, 

 4 blacksmith shops, and 1 tannery. — 

 Statistics of 1840. — Horses, 243 ; cattle, 

 1,803 ; sheep, 5,184 ; swine, 874 ; wheat, 

 bus. 2,048 ; barley, 637 ; oats, 9,610 ; rye, 

 231; buckwheat, 768 ; Ind. corn, 2,189; 

 potatoes, 60,316 ; haj', tons, 3,412; suorar, 

 lbs. 22,208; wool, 11,619. Populatmn, 

 984. 



Orange Coustv, lies on the cast side 

 of the Green Mountains, about half wa}^ 

 between the northern and southern boun- 

 dary of the state. It is situated between 

 lat. 43'" 46' and 44° 13' north, and between 

 long. 4° 15' and 4° 57' east, extending 34 

 miles from east to west, and 28 from north 

 to south, and containing about 650 square 

 miles. It is bounded north by Caledonia 

 county, ea.st by Connecticut river, which 

 separates it from Grafton county, N H., 

 south by Windsor county, and west by a 

 part of Washington county, and a small 

 part of Addison county. This county was 

 incorporated in Feb. 1781. Chelsea, ly- 

 ing nearly in the centre of the county, is 

 the seat of justice. The Supreme Court 

 commences its session here on the 5th 

 Tuesday after the 4th Tuesday in Janua- 

 ry, and the County Court on the 3d Tues- 

 days of June and December. There are 

 several pleasant villages in this county, 

 particularly in Chelsea, Newbury, and 

 Randolph. There are no large streams 

 in this county. Wells river runs across 

 the northeast corner. Connecticut river 

 and its tributaries, particularly Ompom- 

 panoosuc and Wait's river, water the eas- 

 tern and southeastern parts ; the first, sec- 

 ond and third branches of White river 



water the south and southwestern parts, 

 and Steven's branch of Winooski river, 

 the northwestern parts. The eastern 

 range of Green Mountains, called the 

 height of lands, extends along the north- 

 western part of the county. The rocks 

 in the northern and central parts, are al- 

 most exclusively granite, which, in many 

 places, makes the best of mill and build- 

 ing stones. A range of argillaceous slate 

 extends through the western part. Lead 

 ore is found in Straftord, and immense 

 quantities of the sulphuret of iron in Thet- 

 ford. Statistics <v/ 1840.— Horses, 6,674 ; 

 cattle, 36,853 ; slieep, 156,053 ; swine, 22,- 

 516 ; wheat, bus. 69,565 ; barley, 5,265 ; 

 oats, 245,878; rye, 11,933; buckwheat, 

 30,144; Indian corn, 120,543; potatoes, 

 1,055,379; hay, tons, 73,004; sugar lbs. 

 420,639; wool, 311,674. Pop. 27,873. 



Orleans, a post town in the central 

 part of Orleans county, situated in lat. 

 44" 53' and long. 4° 45', contains about 

 35 square miles. It is 49 miles northeast- 

 erly from Montpelier, and is bounded 

 north and west by Newport, east by 

 Brownington, and south by Irasburgh. 

 It was granted October 23, 1784, and 

 chartered, by the name of Coventry, to 

 Major Elias Buel, of Coventry, Con., and 

 others. The name was altered to Orleans 

 in 1841. The first settlement of the 

 town was begun about the year 1800, and 

 it appears from the census of this year 

 that there were, at this time, seven per- 

 sops in town. The first settlers were S. 

 and T. Cobb, Samuel Wells, JohnFarns- 

 worth, Jotham Pierce, Joseph Marsh, 

 John Ide and others. The town was or- 

 ganized in March, 1803, and Joseph Marsh 

 was first town clerk. The religious de- 

 nominations are Baptists, Congregation- 

 alists, Methodists and Freewill Baptists. 

 The Rev. John Ide was ordained over the 

 Baptist church June 28, 1815. The Rev. 

 Lyman Case was settled over the Con- 

 gregational church in March, 1823. The 

 present minister is the Rev. L. S. French. 

 This societ)' have a handsome meeting 

 house, erected in the village in 1830, and 

 about 2 miles east of the village is a union 

 house. Barton and Batch rivers run north- 

 erly through this town into Memphrerna- 

 gog lake. These streams are from four 

 to eight rods wide, and very deep near 

 their mouths. There are good mill privi- 

 leges in this town on Black river, and 

 likewise on some ol the smaller streams. 

 The other waters are South hay of lake 

 Memphremagog, and two small ponds. 

 The soil is generally good. Near the 

 lake it is, in some places, clayey, and on 

 Black river it is somewhat sandy, but 

 through the township, generally, it con- 



