XX indexVermont  

 

 

 

BARRE lies in the southeast part of the county, in latitude 44° 11' and longitude 4° 31', and contains 19,900 acres. It is bounded north by East Montpelier and Plainfield, east by Orange, Orange county, south by Williamstown, Orange county, and west by Berlin. 

      This town was chartered by the name of Wildersburgh, and granted to William WILLIAMS and his associates November 6, 1780. 

      The surface is uneven and hilly, but there are no great elevations, Cobble and Millstone hills being the highest, and composed of an almost solid mass of granite. Mainly the town has a good soil, and Barre ranks with the good farming and dairying towns of the state. Large quantities of maple sugar are also produced and exported annually. 

      The town is abundantly watered by its numerous springs and running brooks. The principal streams are Stevens Branch and Jail Branch. Stevens Branch has its source in Williamstown, Orange county, flows in a northerly direction, crosses the south line of Barre, continues a north course until it reaches Barre village, then takes a northwest- course, and crosses the northwest corner of Berlin and unites with the Winooski river. In the early history of this location a hunter by the name of STEVENS had a camp near the mouth of this stream, and was found dead in his hut on a bed of beaver skins. From this circumstance the branch received its name. Jail Branch rises in Washington, runs northerly into Orange, thence westerly into Barre, and unites with Stevens Branch near the center of the town, a little south of the lower village. Gunners Brook is also a considerable stream. The only natural pond in town is Peck's pond, situated in the northwest corner, and is quite small in size. There is a mineral spring near jail Branch, and about two miles southeast of Barre village. 

      The first settlement was made in Barre in 1788 by Samuel ROGERS and John GOLDSBURY, and their families, and from 1790 the town was rapidly settled by an enterprising and industrious class of pioneers who came from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and hewed out of the wilderness homes which are in many instances now occupied by their descendants. 

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     Town of Barre
     Gazetteer Of Washington County, Vt. 1783-1899, 
     Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child, 
     Edited By William Adams. 
     The Syracuse Journal Company, Printers and Binders. 
     Syracuse, N. Y.; April, 1889. 
     Page 129. 
 
 

Complete text of "The Town of Barre"

 


1883–1884 Barre  City Business Diectory
from The Gazetteer Of Washington County, Vt. 1783-1899, 
Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child; May 1889