Rutland County History
In the early settlement and Revolutionary period, immigration to the county was somewhat different than immigration to other parts of the state due to New York settlers from the west and immigration to Vermont east of the Green Mountains via the Crown Point Road built in 1759. Agricultural settlement and initial economic development in the region, however, proceeded much as it had and would in western and northern New England and northern New York State.
From 1785 to 1820, immigration to the region became more typical of the general immigration to Vermont during these years. Potash production and wheat cultivation, staples of backcountry development in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions throughout the century, provided the wherewithal to establish a prosperous agrarian society with small-scale crafts and water-powered mills. The construction of turnpikes and the development of commercial networks centered in villages, occurred in the region much as it did throughout New England during the period.
The development and subsequent decline of the region's iron industry, although quite distinctive for Vermont, paralleled the growth cycle in iron industries of western Massachusetts and Connecticut and along Lake Champlain in New York during the first half of the 19th century. The attainment of effective full agricultural settlement by about 1820 followed by net out-migration in rural areas was also a stage in the development of agricultural settlements in the Rutland Region. Between 1820 and 1850, the county took a leading regional role in "the wool-growing craze", at least in terms of the number of sheep raised. It is evident that some farmers, mostly in valley towns, specialized in "wool-growing", while others, generally in upland areas, specialized in raising root crops or tending cattle for dairy and beef.
With specialization, farmers became increasingly involved in a cash economy and small commercial and mill villages developed. The county, together with the rest of western Vermont, shared in the maximum impact of the Champlain and Erie canals on the state economy. By connecting both Vermont and the Great Lakes to the New York market, the canals lent impetus to the abandonment of wheat cultivation in favor of the new agricultural specialties, realigned much county commerce, and allowed early development of the marble industry. more...
Bennington County History
The first town established in the area was Bennington, chartered in 1749 by Benning Wentworth, the governor of New Hampshire. Wentworth's purpose in chartering this town on the western edge of what is today Vermont was to clearly establish New Hampshire's claims in the area, since New York was known to consider much of the land to be under its jurisdiction and control. The next towns to be chartered were Woodford and Stamford in 1753. Colonization of the area was not considered safe, however, until hostilities with the French and Indians ceased in 1760. The first settlers were led into the area in 1761 by Captain Samuel Robinson, who purchased a number of land grants in Bennington, Shaftsbury, and Pownal. Most of the remaining towns in the region were chartered in that same year.
These early residents quickly began shaping their new communities by clearing land for homes and crops, building grist mills and saw mills to provide needed products, and erecting important public buildings. A school and church were built in each town within a very few years of initial settlement.
The region's natural resources provided for the basic needs of the settlers and supported the earliest industries. The most productive soils were cleared for agriculture, forests were tapped for lumber, potash, and maple products, and by 1790 a marble quarry was operating in Dorset and a paper mill in Bennington. Many of these sites still exist as archeological resources - subsurface remnants of industries, roads, public services, railroad/trolley rights-of-way still exist.
As new communities grew, roadways were laid out to connect them. One principal early road reached north from Bennington through Shaftsbury, Arlington, Sunderland, and Manchester, and another crossed Bennington west to east, connecting Troy, New York with population centers in eastern New England. An important road soon was established to connect the commercial hub of Manchester to the rich agricultural lands, quarries, and villages near the Mettawee River and the lakes of Rutland County - today's Route 30. Before long, regular stagecoach routes were established and private entrepreneurs built toll roads to facilitate travel. Naturally, systems of secondary roads evolved to serve local travel and to avoid the fees of the toll roads. Inns and taverns were sited along the roads to accommodate travelers. more...
The historic village of Dorset grew up along the
highway that connected Manchester with the
farming and mining communities to its north.
