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Vermont is uncrowded and serene, a place to renew yourself and have a great time doing it! Vermont is easy, convenient, and scenic to boot. Ask your travel agent! Vermonters' dry sense of humor evolved through two centuries of hill farming when many Vermont families had to "make do," or do without.
Vermont is known for its distinctive scenery (especially the fall colors), its variety of four-season recreation, and its generally relaxing atmosphere where visitors can "just get away from it all."
The scale is small and intimate here, and Vermont's many small cities, from Burlington to Brattleboro, St. Johnsbury, Newport and St. Albans, are filled with interesting restaurants, shops and inns. You can spend an hour at a farmers' market, visit an artist's studio and cap the visit off with a stop nearby for a snack or fine food. Places like Barre, Bennington, Lyndonville, Rutland, Middlebury and Bellows Falls are treasure troves of 19th and even 18th century architecture. And there are many more towns and villages to explore! Shopping and antiquing are year-round pastimes and there is almost always a wide selection of concerts, plays, and other arts events to choose from, often presented in an historic theater or opera house.
Vermont is for exploring.
Whether you explore our state through the map pages in this section, the numerous page on "What to Do" or discover the number facts we have "About Vermont", Vermont is waiting for you. Explore!
 Thoughts on Touring Vermont
The Scenery: the mountainous and rolling landscape contrasts the hillside forest lands against the rich fields and small villages and towns of the valleys. Nowhere is the image of New England, its traditions and historic architecture, better preserved.
Touring: winding roads and lanes invite exploration. Inn to inn tours were invented in Vermont, whether the travelers are conveyed by car, motor coach, bicycle, canoe, a horse, or their own two feet. Even packing your gear on llamas is an option!
The People: contrary to the old jokes about Yankees, Vermonters are responsive and hospitable to their visitors. the traditional respect for personal independence offers another plus to visitors: Vermonters typically seem to have a seventh sense about when to leave someone alone. That "Yankee respectfulness" has made the Green Mountain state a popular retreat for celebrities (of course, we won't necessarily say who's in town).
Winter Recreation: the concentration of winter sports facilities and activities found in Vermont is without comparison. Within two hours of anywhere in the state are:
19 alpine/downhill ski resorts;
50 cross country ski areas;
4,300 miles of snowmobile trails;
and dozens of places for sleigh rides and ice skating.
Skiing: Vermont has more of the biggest mountains in the northeast, served by the most extensive snow-making and the greatest natural snowfall of the region. The high standards of grooming also mean the most consistent ski conditions as well as the longest season.
Cocooning: When it's snowy and brisk our innkeepers are masters at keeping their guests cozy. That experience alone attracts many winter visitors who may not ski at all.
Summer Recreation/Events: No, it doesn't snow here all year. We do get a summer; and what a summer it is. In Vermont, the greens of summer seem to explode during May and early June. Outdoor activities and special events do likewise. Mountain trails and lakeshore beaches are found in abundance and are rarely crowded. The expansive Lake Champlain has 212 miles of shoreline in Vermont, and the mountain valleys are dotted with sparkling lakes. You'll also find 50 golf courses and literally hundreds of tennis courts along with mountain slides, gondola rides and recreation paths.
Events range from big-scale balloon rises and music festivals to crafts fairs and chicken pie suppers. Annual highlights include, the Discover Jazz Festival (June), and Ben & Jerry's One World One Heart Festival (June).
Vermont is blessed with an exceptional mix of colorful trees and a landscape which provides scenic views in every direction, almost everywhere in the state.
Vermont History
Pre-Columbian
Between 8500 to 7000 BC, at the time of the Champlain Sea, Native Americans inhabited and hunted in Vermont. During the Archaic period, from the 8th millennium BC to 1000 BC, Native Americans migrated year-round. During the Woodland period, from 1000 BC to AD 1600, villages and trade networks were established, and ceramic and bow and arrow technology was developed. In pre-Columbian Vermont, the western part of the state was originally home to a small population of Algonquian-speaking tribes, including the Mohican and Abenaki peoples. Sometime between 1500 and 1600, the Iroquois drove many of the smaller native tribes out of Vermont, later using the area as a hunting ground and warring with the remaining Abenaki. The population in 1500 was estimated to be around 10,000 people.
Colonial Vermont
The Old Constitution House at Windsor, where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted on July 8, 1777.The first European to see Vermont is thought to have been Jacques Cartier, in 1535. On July 30, 1609, French explorer Samuel de Champlain claimed Vermont as part of New France, and erected a fort which was the first European settlement in Vermont.
In 1690, a group of Dutch-British settlers from Albany established a settlement and trading post at Chimney Point 8 miles (13 km) west of present-day Addison).
The first permanent British settlement was established in 1724, with the construction of Fort Dummer protecting the nearby settlements of Dummerston and Brattleboro.
From 1731-4, the French constructed a fort which gave the French control of the New France/Vermont border region in the Lake Champlain Valley.
The British failed to take the Fort St. Frédéric four times between 1755 and 1758. In 1759, a combined force of 12,000 British regular and provincial troops under Sir Jeffrey Amherst captured the fort. The French were driven out of the area.
Following France's loss in the French and Indian War, the 1763 Treaty of Paris gave control of the land to the British.
The end of the war brought new settlers to Vermont. Ultimately, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York all contended for this frontier area.
On 1764-07-20, King George III established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the Connecticut River, north of Massachusetts, and south of the parallel of 45 Degrees north latitude. When New York refused to recognize land titles through the New Hampshire Grants (towns created earlier by New Hampshire in present Vermont), dissatisfied colonists organized in opposition, which led to the creation of independent Vermont on 1777-01-18.[13][14]
In 1770, Ethan Allen, his brothers Ira and Levi, and Seth Warner recruited an informal militia, the Green Mountain Boys, to protect the interests of the original New Hampshire settlers against the new migrants from New York.
Vermont Independence and Statehood
1790 Act of Congress admitting Vermont to the federal union. Statehood began on March 4, 1791.
The gold leaf dome of the neoclassical Vermont State House (Capitol) in Montpelier designed by Ammi B. Young and amplified by Thomas Silloway.Main article: Vermont Republic
On January 18, 1777, representatives of the New Hampshire Grants declared the independence of the Vermont.[15] For the first six months of the state's existence, the state was called New Connecticut.[16]
On June 2, 1777, a second convention of 72 delegates met to adopt the name "Vermont." This was on the advice of a friendly Pennsylvanian who wrote them on how to achieve admission into the newly independent United States as the 14th state.[16] On July 4, the Constitution of Vermont was drafted at the Windsor Tavern adopted by the delegates on July 8. This was among the first written constitutions in North America and was indisputably the first to abolish the institution of slavery, provide for universal manhood suffrage and require support of public schools.
Vermont and the Revolutionary War
Main article: Battle of Bennington
The Battle of Bennington, fought on August 16, 1777, was a seminal event in the history of the state of Vermont.
A combined American forces, under General Stark's command, attacked the British column at Hoosick, New York, just across the border from Bennington and killed or captured virtually the entire British detachment. General Burgoyne never recovered from this loss and eventually surrendered the remainder of his 6,000-man force at Saratoga, New York, on October 17.
Battles of Bennington and Saratoga are recognized as the turning point in the Revolutionary War because they were the first major defeat of a British army. The anniversary of the battle is still celebrated in Vermont as a legal holiday .
Vermont Statehood and the Ante-bellum era
Vermont continued to govern itself as a sovereign entity based in the eastern town of Windsor for fourteen years. The independent state of Vermont issued its own coinage from 1785-1788[17] and operated a statewide postal service. Thomas Chittenden was governor from 1778-1789 and 1790-1791. The state exchanged ambassadors with France, the Netherlands, and the American government then at Philadelphia. In 1791, Vermont joined the federal Union as the fourteenth state–the first state to enter the union after the original thirteen colonies.
Vermont had a unicameral legislature until 1836.
The mid to late 1850s saw a transition from Vermonters mostly favoring slavery's containment, to a far more serious opposition to the institution, producing the Radical Republican and abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens. As the Whig party shriveled, and the Republican Party emerged, Vermont strongly trended in support of its candidates. In 1860 it voted for President Abraham Lincoln, giving him the largest margin of victory of any state.
The Civil War
Main article: Vermont in the American Civil War
During the American Civil War, Vermont sent more than 34,000 men into United States service. Almost 5,200 Vermonters, 15%, were killed or mortally wounded in action or died of disease.
The northernmost land action of the war, the St. Albans Raid, took place in Vermont.
Postbellum era and beyond
The first election in which women were allowed to vote was on December 18, 1880, when women were granted limited suffrage and were first allowed to vote in town elections, and then in state legislative races.
Large-scale flooding occurred in early November 1927. During this incident, 85 people died, 84 of them in Vermont. Another flood occurred in 1973, when the flood caused the death of two people and millions of dollars in property damage.
In 1964, the US Supreme Court forced “one-man, one-vote” redistricting on Vermont, giving cities an equitable share of votes in both houses for the entire country.[18] Until that time, counties were often represented by area in state senates and were often unsympathetic to urban problems requiring increased taxes.
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Vermont's peaceful beauty is unique in the Northeast. It is a place where farm fields still roll right up to the edge of villages and where lofty mountains and crystal clear lakes are everyday companions. Wild deer still occasionally browse on the lawn at the Vermont State House in Montpelier, and nature is close at hand everywhere.
