Waitsfield, Vermont, USA
1849 - Waitsfield

Washington Co. This town is settled with industrious, enterprising, and generally flourishing farmers. The soil is diversified, but generally a mellow loam, deep, and of excellent quality, producing grass in the greatest abundance. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, &c., are raised in such quantities, as amply to reward the hand of industry.

Mad River passes through the town, near the western boundary, in a direction from south-west to north-east, and falls into Winooski River in Moretown, seven miles below Montpelier. It receives here Mill Brook and Shepherd's Brook from the west, and Fay's Brook and Pine Brook from the east, all of which are sufficient for mills. Along this river the intervales are extensive, and, together with the adjacent uplands, make many excellent farms. The high lands, too, are of a good quality, and there can hardly be said to be a poor farm in town. A range of high lands runs through the eastern part of the town, the chief summit of which is called Bald Mountain.

Boundaries. North by Moretown, east by Northfield, south by Warren, and west by Fayston.

First Settlers. Gen. Wait, the first inhabitant of this town, was born at Sudbury, Mass., Feb. 13, 1737. He possessed a firm and vigorous constitution, and early manifested a disposition and talent for military enterprise. At the age of eighteen he entered the service of his country, under the brave Gen. Amherst. In 1756 he was taken by the French, carried to Quebec, and from thence sent to France as a prisoner. On the coast of France he was retaken by the British, and carried to England. In the spring of 1757 he returned to America, and in 1758 assisted at the capture of Louisburgh. During the two succeeding years, he aided in the reduction of Canada. After the submission of Canada, he was sent, by the commandant at Detroit, to Illinois, to bring in the French garrisons included in the capitulation. He left Detroit Dec. 10, and returned on the 1st of March following, having performed the difficult service with singular perseverance and success. At twenty-five years of age he had been engaged in forty battles and skirmishes ; and his clothes were several times perforated with musket balls, but he never received a wound. la 1767 he removed to Windsor, in this State, and constituted the third family in that township. He acted a decided and conspicuous part in favor of Vermont, in the controversy with New York. In 1776 he entered the service of the United States as captain, and fought under the banners of Washington till the close of the war, during which time he had been raised to the rank of colonel. After this he was made a brigadier-general of militia, and was seven years high sheriff of the county of Windsor. Having made a large purchase here, he removed his family to this town in 1789. Here he lived to behold the wilderness converted into fruitful fields, in the enjoyment of competence, and died in 1822, aged eighty-six years.

First Minister. A Congregational Church was organized in 1796, over which Rev. Wm. Salisbury was settled in 1801.

Productions of the Soil Wheat, 1,615 bushels ; Indian corn, 3,559 bushels ; potatoes, 47,315 bushels; hay, 2,256 tons ; maple sugar, 30,495 pounds ; wool, 17,499 pounds.

Distances. Twenty miles south-west from Montpelier.

A gazetteer of Vermont... by John Hayward Boston - Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason 1849

Visit Waitsfield, Vermont, USA
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.