Vermont - Day 2

Greenwood Lodge and Campsites
Saturday, 2 June 2018

I put quite a bit of information about Vermont in the Vermont page in 49 States + 1, to the right of this post, but I've got some extra stuff to add here.

Several of the 50 states once considered themselves independent nations, and Vermont is one of them.  With the Declaration of Independence, Vermont declared itself an independent nation and established its own constitution and government, with a capital in Windsor.

Early in the Revolutionary War, Vermonters in the Green Mountain Boys militia were instrumental in helping defeat British General Burgoyne in 1777.  As the war went on, however, Vermont became more neutral and accepted deserters from both sides.  In fact, the Continental Congress finally insisted Gen. Washington get Vermont back under control, but since he was already a little busy with the British, he ignored them.

Between 1791 (Vermont statehood) and 1801, Vermont was the fastest growing state; many Vermont families were French-Canadian and most of Vermont's trade was with Canada.

Vermont had thriving sheep farms until large ranches in the West reduced prices too much for VT to compete.  Many crops they tried wouldn't grow on their rocky soil in their cool climate.  Dairy farming became important when railroads grew to allow dairy products to get to markets in Boston and NYC.

Trains were also able to haul granite and marble, which Vermont has a lot of, so mining grew.  Immigrants arrived from Italy, Spain, Wales, and Scotland who were able to work on stone.

In the Civil War, 10% of the state's population volunteered to fight; almost 15% of those were killed in action or died of disease - a higher percentage than any other state experienced.

Despite its small population, 2 Vermonters became US President: Chester A. Arthur, in 1880, after Garfield was assassinated, and Calvin Coolidge, in 1923, after Harding died in office.

During the Depression, after the granite and marble mines closed and the machine-tool industry collapsed, FDR's New Deal provided electricity to rural areas (which is about all Vermont is).  The CCC built roads and state parks and flood-control dams, then they cut ski trails and built Vermont's 1st ski tow, allowing for year-round tourism.

The 1938 hurricane (which my mother remembered because it hit her hometown) blew down 1/3 of New England's forests; as a result, most of the trees in Vermont now are less than 80 years old.  3/4 of Vermont is forestland (which I can confirm, now that I'm looking at it).

The Green Mountains run the entire length of Vermont.  They may have gotten their name because they're more heavily forested than either the White Mountains in NH or the Adirondacks in NY; or it may be because the mica-quartz-chlorite schist found in Vermont's mountains is a green-colored shale.

All the islands in Lake Champlain belong to Vermont; none to New York.

Morgan horses were first bred in Vermont, and the University of Vermont Morgan Horse Farm has the oldest, continuous Morgan horse herd in the world.

The von Trapp family still has a lodge in Stowe where people can stay.

As of 2011 (granted a few years ago but most of this likely still true): Vermonters were the healthiest in the US, the 6th most fit, and the 2nd most active; VT was the 4th most peaceful state; Vermonters came in 8th in their rate of volunteering; VT was the 12th happiest state.  (The moral  seems to be that being healthy, peace-loving, and volunteer-minded doesn't always make you happy.)