Benson, Vermont, USA
1849 - Benson

Rutland Co. This town, on Lake Champlain, was first settled in 1783. The lake at this place is about a mile in width. The town has some streams affording mill sites, but none of great importance. The waters are generally brackish and unpleasant. A stream issues from a swamp in this town, and after running a short distance, passes through the base of a high hill, a distance of more than half a mile. Benson has good pine, maple, walnut, oak and beach timber, and a bog of marl resembling fuller's earth. A part of this town was annexed to Orwell in 1847.

Boundaries. North by Orwell, east by Hubbardton, and a small part of Sudbury and Castleton, south by Fair Haven and West Haven, and west by Lake Champlain.

First Settlers. The settlement of the town was commenced 1783, by Barber, Durfee, and Noble. Mr. Durfee came into town and made some improvements before the Revolution, but was driven off. The town was organized about the year 1786, and Allen Goodrich was the first town clerk.

First Minister, A Congregational Church was organized here in 1790, over which the Rev. Dan Kent was ordained in 1792.

Productions of the Soil. Wheat, 2,578 bushels ; Indian corn, 5,353 bushels ; potatoes, 15,700 bushels, hay, 5,592 tons ; maple sugar, 6,285 pounds : wool, 49,048 pounds.

Distances. Seventy-five miles southwest from Montpelier, and twenty-five miles north-west from Rutland.

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

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