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This article is about the U.S. state. For other uses, see Vermont (disambiguation).
Vermont (IPA: /vɜrˈmɒnt/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 45th by total area, and 43rd by land area at 9,250 square miles (24,000 km²), and has a population of 608,827, making it the second least populous state (second only to Wyoming). The only New England state with no coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, Vermont is notable for the Green Mountains in the west and Lake Champlain in the northwest. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.
Originally inhabited by Native American tribes (Abenaki, and Iroquois), the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France but became a British possession after France\'s defeat in the French and Indian War. For many years, the surrounding colonies disputed control of the area, especially New Hampshire and New York. Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state. Vermont became the 14th state to join the United States, following a 14-year period during and after the Revolutionary War as the independent Vermont Republic.
It is the leading producer of maple syrup in the United States.US Department of Agriculture - Economic Research Service. \'Table 44--U.S. maple syrup production and value, by state, calendar years. Retrieved on 2007-01-05. The state capital is Montpelier, and the largest city is Burlington.
Contents |
Vermont is located in the New England region in the eastern United States and comprises 9,614 square miles (24,902 km²), making it the 45th largest state. Of this, land comprises 9,250 square miles (23,955 km²) and water comprises 365 square miles (948 km²), making it the 43rd largest in land area and the 47th in water area. In area, it is larger than El Salvador and smaller than Haiti.
Map of Vermont, showing cities, roads and rivers
The west bank of the Connecticut River marks the eastern border of the state with New Hampshire (the river itself is part of New Hampshire). Lake Champlain, the major lake in Vermont, is the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the United States and separates Vermont from New York in the northwest portion of the state. From north to south, Vermont is 159 miles (256 km). Its greatest width, from east to west, is 89 miles (143 km) at the Canadian border; the narrowest width is 37 miles (60 km) at the Massachusetts line. The state\'s geographic center is Washington, three miles (5 km) east of Roxbury.
There are six distinct physiographic regions of Vermont. Categorized by geological and physical attributes, they are the Northeastern Highlands, the Green Mountains, the Taconic Mountains, the Champlain Lowlands, the Valley of Vermont and the Vermont Piedmont.Academics Content Server at Saint Michael\'s. The Physiographic Regions of Vermont. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
The origin of the name Green Mountains (French: Verts monts) is uncertain. Some authorities say that they are so named because they have much more forestation than the higher White Mountains of New Hampshire and Adirondacks of New York. Other authorities say that they are so named because of the predominance of mica-quartz-chlorite schist, a green-hued metamorphosed shale. The range forms a north-south spine running most of the length of the state, slightly west of its center. In the southwest portion of the state are the Taconic Mountains; the Granitic Mountains are in the northeast.Google Books In the northwest near Lake Champlain is the fertile Champlain Valley. In the south of the valley is Lake Bomoseen.
Several mountains have timberlines with delicate year round alpine ecosystems. These include Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in the state, Killington Peak, the second highest, and Camels Hump the state\'s third highest. About 77 percent of the state is covered by forest; the rest is covered in meadow, uplands, lakes, ponds and swampy wetlands.
Areas in Vermont administered by the National Park Service include the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock.
Burlington, Vermont\'s largest city
Cities (2003 estimated population):
Although these towns are large enough to be considered cities, they are not incorporated as such.
Largest towns (2003 estimated population):
Vermont has a continental moist climate, with warm, humid summers and cold winters, which become colder at higher elevations.http://academics.smcvt.edu/vtgeographic/textbook/weather/weather_and_climate_of_vermont.htm accessed September 15, 2007 It has a Koppen climate classification of Dfb, similar to Minsk, Stockholm and Fargo.http://vermont.wedding.net/geography.html accessed September 15, 2007 Vermont is known for its mud season in spring followed by a generally mild early summer, hot Augusts and a colorful autumn, and particularly for its cold winters. The northern part of the state, including the rural northeastern section (dubbed the "Northeast Kingdom") is known for exceptionally cold winters, often averaging 10 °F (-12 °C) colder than the southern areas of the state. Annual snowfall averages between 60 to 100 inches (150–250 cm) depending on elevation, giving Vermont some of New England\'s best cross-country and downhill ski areas.
In the autumn, Vermont\'s hills experience an explosion of red, orange and gold foliage displayed on the sugar maple as cold weather approaches. This famous display of color that occurs so abundantly in Vermont is not due so much to the presence of a particular variant of the sugar maple; rather it is caused by a number of soil and climate conditions unique to the area.
The highest-recorded temperature was 105 °F (41 °C), at Vernon on July 4, 1911; the lowest-recorded temperature was -50 °F (-46 °C), at Bloomfield on December 30, 1933.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec High °F | 59 | 63 | 84 | 91 | 94 | 96 | 101 | 98 | 95 | 87 | 69 | 62 |
| Norm High °F | 25 | 31 | 43 | 51 | 64 | 76 | 81 | 78 | 71 | 54 | 36 | 28 |
| Norm Low °F | 4 | 10 | 22 | 30 | 43 | 55 | 60 | 57 | 50 | 33 | 15 | 7 |
| Rec Low °F | -38 | -35 | -18 | 9 | 24 | 36 | 41 | 38 | 21 | 4 | -16 | -32 |
| Precip (in) | 0.61 | 0.63 | 0.68 | 1.99 | 4.01 | 4.06 | 4.07 | 4.00 | 3.95 | 2.48 | 0.66 | 0.62 |
| Source: USTravelWeather.com [1] | ||||||||||||
Mount Mansfield, at 4,393 feet (1,339 m), is the highest elevation point in Vermont. Other high points are Killington Peak, Mount Ellen, Mount Abraham, and Camel\'s Hump. The lowest point in the state is Lake Champlain at 95 feet (29 m). The state\'s average elevation is 1,000 feet (300 m).
Vermont was covered with shallow seas periodically from the Cambrian to Devonian periods. Lower areas of western Vermont were flooded again, as part of the St. Lawrence Valley "Champlain Sea" at the end of the last ice age, when the land had not yet rebounded from the weight of the glaciers.
Little is known of the pre-Columbian history of Vermont. The western part of the state was originally home to a small population of Algonquian-speaking tribes, including the Mohican and Abenaki peoples. Between 8500 to 7000 BC, at the time of the Champlain Sea, Native Americans inhabited and hunted in Vermont. From 8th century BC to 1000 BC was the Archaic Period. During the era, Native Americans migrated year-round. From 1000 BC to AD 1600 was the Woodland Period, when villages and trade networks were established, and ceramic and bow and arrow technology was developed. 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 is estimated to be around 10,000 people.
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 the area of what is now Lake Champlain, giving to the mountains the appellation of les Monts vert (the Green Mountains). France claimed Vermont as part of New France, and erected Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La Motte in 1666 as part of the fortification of Lake Champlain. This was the first European settlement in Vermont and the site of the first Roman Catholic Mass.
During the latter half of the 17th century, non-French settlers began to explore Vermont and its surrounding area. In 1690, a group of Dutch-British settlers from Albany under Captain Jacobus de Warm established the De Warm Stockade at Chimney Point (eight miles or 13 km west of present-day Addison). This settlement and trading post was directly across Lake Champlain from Crown Point, New York (Pointe à la Chevelure).
In 1731, more French settlers arrived. They constructed a small temporary wooden stockade (Fort de Pieux) on what was Chimney Point until work on Fort St. Frédéric began in 1734. The fort, when completed, gave the French control of the New France/Vermont border region in the Lake Champlain Valley and was the only permanent fort in the area until the building of Fort Carillon more than 20 years later. The government encouraged French colonization, leading to the development of small French settlements in the valley. The British attempted 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 and retreated to other forts along the Richelieu River. One year later a group of Mohawks burnt the settlement to the ground, leaving only chimneys, which gave the area its name.
The first permanent British settlement was established in 1724, with the construction of Fort Dummer in Vermont\'s far southeast under the command of Lieutenant Timothy Dwight. This fort protected the nearby settlements of Dummerston and Brattleboro. These settlements were made by the Province of Massachusetts Bay to protect its settlers on the western border along the Connecticut River. The second British settlement was the 1761 founding of Bennington in the southwest.
The flag adopted by the Vermont Republic served originally as an infantry banner for the Green Mountain Boys, and still serves as the banner for Vermont’s Army and Air National Guard.
The Old Constitution House at Windsor, where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted on July 8, 1777.
During the Seven Years War, locally known as the French and Indian War, some Vermont settlers, including Ethan Allen, joined the colonial militia assisting the British in attacks on the French. Fort Carillon on the New York-Vermont border, a French fort constructed in 1755, was the site of two British offensives under Lord Amherst\'s command: the unsuccessful British attack in 1758 and the retaking of the following year with no major resistance (most of the garrison had been removed to defend Quebec, Montreal, and the western forts). The British renamed the fort Fort Ticonderoga (which became the site of two later battles during the American Revolutionary War). 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. A fort at Crown Point had been built, and the Crown Point Military Road stretched from the east to the west of the Vermont wilderness from Springfield to Chimney Point, making travel from the neighboring British colonies easier. Three colonies, Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire, laid claim to the area. The Province of Massachusetts Bay claimed the land on the basis of the 1629 charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Province of New York claimed Vermont based on the early Dutch Charter to the West India Company for lands west of the Connecticut River, and the identical land granted to the Duke of York (later King James II) in 1664. The Province of New Hampshire also claimed Vermont based upon a decree of George II in 1740. In 1741, George II ruled that Massachusetts\'s claims in Vermont and New Hampshire were invalid and fixed Massachusetts\'s northern boundary at its present location. This still left New Hampshire and New York with conflicting claims to the land.
The situation resulted in the New Hampshire Grants, a series of 135 land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by New Hampshire\'s colonial governor, Benning Wentworth. The grants sparked a dispute with the New York governor, who began granting charters of his own for New Yorker settlement in Vermont. 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. When a New York judge arrived in Westminster with New York settlers in March 1775, violence broke out as angry citizens took over the courthouse and called a sheriff\'s posse. This resulted in the deaths of Daniel Houghton and William French in the "Westminster Massacre."
Vellum manuscript of the Constitution of Vermont, 1777. This constitution was amended in 1786, and again in 1793 following Vermont\'s admission to the federal union in 1791.
In the summer of 1776, the first general convention of freemen of the New Hampshire Grants met in Dorset, Vermont, resolving "to take suitable measures to declare the New Hampshire Grants a free and independent district."Esther Munroe Swift, Vermont Place-Names: Footprints in History Picton Press, 1977 On January 18, 1777, representatives of the New Hampshire Grants convened in Westminster and declared the independence of the Vermont.Second Vermont Republic. Vermont\'s Declaration of Independence (1777). Retrieved on 2007-01-17. For the first six months of the state\'s existence, the state was called New Connecticut, after the name of an existing state. During the years prior to acceptance for statehood the legislature met many times at the Cephas Kent tavern in Dorset, Vermont.Esther Munroe Swift, Vermont Place-Names: Footprints in History Picton Press, 1977
On June 2, a second convention of 72 delegates met at Westminster, known as the "Westminster Convention." At this meeting, the delegates adopted the name "Vermont" on the suggestion of Dr. Thomas Young of Philadelphia, a supporter of the delegates who wrote a letter advising them on how to achieve admission into the newly independent United States as the 14th state. Notably, at that time the states of Pennsylvania and Connecticut were in a conflict over a separate territory called New Connecticut called the Pennamite-Yankee War and Congress would not approve the disputed name for what then became Vermont.Esther Munroe Swift, Vermont Place-Names: Footprints in History Picton Press, 1977 The delegates set the time for a meeting one month later. On July 4, the Constitution of Vermont was drafted during a violent thunderstorm at the Windsor Tavern owned by Elijah West and was adopted by the delegates on July 8 after four days of debate. 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. The Windsor tavern has been preserved as the Old Constitution House, administered as a state historic site.
The Battle of Bennington, fought on August 16, 1777, was a seminal event in the history of the state of Vermont. The nascent republican government, created after years of political turmoil, faced challenges from New York, New Hampshire, Great Britain and the new United States, none of which recognized its sovereignty. The republic\'s ability to defeat a powerful military invader gave it a legitimacy among its scattered frontier society that would sustain it through fourteen years of fragile independence before it finally achieved statehood as the 14th state in the union in 1791.
During the summer of 1777, the invading British army of General John Burgoyne slashed southward from Canada to the Hudson River, captured the strategic stronghold of Fort Ticonderoga, and drove the Continental Army into a desperate southward retreat. Raiding parties of British soldiers and native warriors freely attacked, pillaged and burned the frontier communities of the Champlain Valley and threatened all settlements to the south. The Vermont frontier collapsed in the face of the British invasion. The New Hampshire legislature, fearing an invasion from the east, mobilized the state\'s militia under the command of General John Stark.
General Burgoyne received intelligence that large stores of horses, food and munitions were kept at Bennington, which was the largest community in the land grant area. He dispatched 2,600 men, nearly a third of his army, to seize the colonial storehouse there, unaware that General Stark\'s New Hampshire troops were then traversing the Green Mountains to join up at Bennington with the Vermont continental regiments commanded by Colonel Seth Warner, together with the local Vermont and western Massachusetts militia. The combined American forces, under Stark\'s command, attacked the British column at Hoosick, New York, just across the border from Bennington. General Stark reportedly challenged his men to fight to the death, telling them that: "There are your enemies. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" In a desperate, all-day battle fought in intense summer heat, the army of yankee farmers 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 and convinced the French that the Americans were worthy of military aid. Stark became widely known as the "Hero of Bennington", and the anniversary of the battle is still celebrated in Vermont as a legal holiday known as "Bennington Battle Day." Under the portico of the Vermont Statehouse, next to an heroic granite statue of Ethan Allen, there is a brass cannon that was captured from the British troops at the Battle of Bennington.
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, called Vermont coppers, from a mint operated by Reuben Harmon in East Rupert (1785-1788)Margaret Bucholt Manchester and the Mountains Chamber of Commerce An Insider\'s Guide to Southern Vermont, Penguin, 1991 and operated a statewide postal service. Thomas Chittenden, who came to Vermont from Connecticut in 1774, acted as head of state, using the term governor over president. Chittenden governed the nascent republic from 1778 to 1789 and from 1790 to 1791. Chittenden 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, and a counterweight to slave holding Kentucky, which was admitted to the Union shortly afterward.
Vermont had a unicameral legislature until 1836.
An 1854 Vermont Senate report on slavery echoed the Vermont Constitution\'s first article, on the rights of all men, questioning how a government could favor the rights of one people over another. The report fueled growth of the abolition movement in the state, and in response, a resolution from the Georgia General Assembly authorizing the towing of Vermont out to sea. 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, first on the state level and later for the presidency. In 1860 it voted for President Abraham Lincoln, giving him the largest margin of victory of any state. This strong lean toward the Republican Party has continued until very recently as evidenced by only electing two senators from other parties since the Civil War (Patrick Leahy from the Democratic Party and Bernard Sanders, an independent).
During the American Civil War, Vermont sent more than 34,000 men into United States service, contributing 18 regiments of infantry and cavalry, three batteries of light artillery, three companies of sharpshooters, two companies of frontier cavalry, and thousands in the regular army and navy, and in other states’ units. Almost 5,200 Vermonters, 15%, were killed or mortally wounded in action or died of disease. Vermonters, if not Vermont units, participated in every major battle of the war.
Among the most famous of the Vermont units were the 1st Vermont Brigade, the 2nd Vermont Brigade, and the 1st Vermont Cavalry.
A large proportion of Vermont’s state and national-level politicians for several decades after the Civil War were veterans.
The northernmost land action of the war, the St. Albans Raid, took place in Vermont.
The two decades following the end of the American Civil War (1864-1885) saw both economic expansion and contraction, and fairly dramatic social change. Vermont\'s system of railroads expanded and were linked to national systems, agricultural output and export soared and incomes increased. But Vermont also felt the effects of recessions and financial panics, particularly the 1873 Panic which resulted in a substantial exodus of young Vermonters. The transition in thinking about the rights of citizens, first brought to a head by the 1854 Vermont Senate report on slavery, and later Lincoln\'s Gettysburg Address in changing how citizens perceived civil rights, fueled agitation for women\'s suffrage. 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.
On April 25, 2000, as a result of the Vermont Supreme Court\'s decision in Baker v. Vermont, the Vermont General Assembly passed and Governor Howard Dean signed into law H.0847, which provided the state sanctioned benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples in the form of civil unions. Controversy over the civil unions bill was a central issue in the subsequent 2000 elections.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1790 | 85,425 | ||
| 1800 | 154,465 | 80.8% | |
| 1810 | 217,895 | 41.1% | |
| 1820 | 235,981 | 8.3% | |
| 1830 | 280,652 | 18.9% | |
| 1840 | 291,948 | 4.0% | |
| 1850 | 314,120 | 7.6% | |
| 1860 | 315,098 | 0.3% | |
| 1870 | 330,551 | 4.9% | |
| 1880 | 332,286 | 0.5% | |
| 1890 | 332,422 | 0.0% | |
| 1900 | 343,641 | 3.4% | |
| 1910 | 355,956 | 3.6% | |
| 1920 | 352,428 | -1.0% | |
| 1930 | 359,611 | 2.0% | |
| 1940 | 359,231 | -0.1% | |
| 1950 | 377,747 | 5.2% | |
| 1960 | 389,881 | 3.2% | |
| 1970 | 444,330 | 14.0% | |
| 1980 | 511,456 | 15.1% | |
| 1990 | 562,758 | 10.0% | |
| 2000 | 608,827 | 8.2% | |
The center of population of Vermont is located in Washington County, in the town of Warren [2].
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, Vermont has an estimated population of 623,050, which is an increase of 1,817, or 0.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 14,223, or 2.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 7,148 people (that is 33,606 births minus 26,458 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 7,889 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 4,359 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 3,530 people.
| Demographics of Vermont (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN | Asian | NHPI |
| AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native — NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
| 2000 (total population) | 98.12% | 0.76% | 1.05% | 1.09% | 0.05% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 0.83% | 0.06% | 0.04% | 0.02% | 0.01% |
| 2005 (total population) | 97.95% | 0.89% | 0.97% | 1.24% | 0.04% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 1.03% | 0.06% | 0.04% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| Growth 2000–2005 (total population) | 2.16% | 20.33% | -5.49% | 16.42% | -9.09% |
| Growth 2000–2005 (non-Hispanic only) | 1.94% | 21.76% | -5.13% | 17.31% | -2.66% |
| Growth 2000–2005 (Hispanic only) | 26.76% | 2.62% | -13.81% | -39.42% | -46.67% |
Vermont\'s population is:
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Vermont ranks:
The largest ancestry groups are:
Residents of British ancestry (especially English) live throughout most of Vermont. The northern part of the state maintains a significant percentage of people of French-Canadian ancestry.
In the last two decades, the Burlington area has welcomed the resettlement of several refugee communities. These include individuals and families from South East Asia, Bosnia, Sudan, and Tibet. These communities have grown to include non-refugees and in some cases are several generations in the making.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 2.54% of the population aged 5 and over speak French at home, while 1.00% speak Spanish [3].
| Religion | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Christian | 67% |
| Roman Catholic | 38% |
| Protestant | 29% |
| Congregational/United Church of Christ | 6% |
| Methodist | 6% |
| Episcopal | 4% |
| Other Christian | 4% |
| Baptist | 3% |
| Other Protestant | 2% |
| Assemblies of God | 1% |
| Evangelical | 1% |
| Seventh-day Adventist | 1% |
| Non-Denominational | 1% |
| Other Religions | 2% |
| No Religion | 22% |
| Declined to answer | 8% |
Like many of its neighboring states, Vermont\'s largest religious affiliation in the colonial period was Congregationalism. In 1776, 63% of affiliated church members in Vermont were Congregationalists. At the time, however, most settlers were not church members because much of the land was wilderness. Only 9% of people belonged to a church at the time. The Congregational United Church of Christ remains the largest Protestant denomination and Vermont has the largest percentage of this denomination of any state.Adherents.com. Religion in Vermont. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
Today more than two-thirds of Vermont residents identify themselves as Christians. The largest single religious body in the state is the Roman Catholic Church. A Catholic Church survey in 1990 reported that 25% of Vermonters were members of the Catholic Church, although more than that self-identify as Catholics.
Over one-fifth of Vermonters identify themselves as non-religious, tying Vermont with Oregon as having the second-highest percentage of non-religious people in the United States. Only Washington State has a higher percentage.
Twenty-four percent of Vermonters attend church regularly. This low is matched only by New Hampshire.Sullivan, Will (June 11, 2007). A New Shade of Granit. US News and World Report.
Almost one-third of Vermonters are self-identified Protestants. The largest Protestant denomination in the state is the United Church of Christ, and the second largest is the United Methodist Church, followed by Episcopalians, "other" Christians, and Baptists.
Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young—the first two leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—were both born in Vermont. Adherents to the Mormon faith, however, do not make up a single percentage point of Vermont\'s population. A memorial to Joseph Smith, at his birthplace in Sharon, is maintained by the LDS.
The state has 5,000 people of Jewish faith - 3000 in Burlington and 500 each in Montpelier-Barre and Rutland—and four Reform and two Conservative congregations.2001 Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia
Vermont has the highest concentration of western-convert Buddhists in the country. It is home to several Buddhist retreat centers.http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2005/02/23/green_mountains_good_karma/ Buddhist retreat centers
In 2007, Vermont was ranked 32nd among states in which to do business. It was 30th the previous year.Gram, David (July 14, 2007). Forbes ranks Vt. 30th (sic) for business. Burlington Free Press.
According to the 2005 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report, Vermont’s gross state product (GSP) was $23 billion. This places the state 50th among the 50 states. It stood 38th in per capita GSP.http://en.wikipedia.orgList_of_U.S._states_by_GDP_per_capita_%28nominal%29Rankings tend to favor higher cost of living areas and downrate lower cost of living areas The per capita personal income was $32,770 in 2004.
Components of GSP were:Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% because of roundinghttp://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2006/gsp1006.htm
Canada is Vermont\'s number one external trading partner, followed by Taiwan.Creaser, Richard (October 24, 2007). Illuzi learns about economy of Taiwan during visit. the Chronicle.
.png/58px-Craft Breweries Per Capita (US).png)
Vermont ranks first nationally in craft breweries per capita.http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/statistics.html
Agriculture contributes $2.6 billion,Figure includes the possible economic affect on all other areas in addition to Agriculture. This explains the wide variance with the figure in GSP above about 12%, directly and indirectly to the state\'s economy.Vermont Sustainable Agriculture Council. Vermont\'s Agriculture: Generating Wealth from the Land. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.Over the past two centuries logging has fallen off as over-cutting and the exploitation of other forests made Vermont\'s forest less attractive. Loss of farms has had the beneficial effect of allowing Vermont\'s land and forest to recover. The accompanying lack of industry has allowed Vermont to avoid many of the ill-effects of 20th century industrial busts, effects that still plague neighboring states. Today, most of Vermont\'s forests consist of second-growth.
Of the remaining industries, dairy farming is the primary source of agricultural income.
In the last half of the twentienth century, developers have had plans to build condos and houses on what was relatively inexpensive, open land. Vermont\'s government has responded with a series of laws controlling development and with some pioneering initiatives to prevent the loss of Vermont\'s dairy industry.
In 1947 there were 11,206 dairy farms in the state. In 2003 there were fewer than 1,500, a decline of 80%. The number of cattle had declined by 40%. However, milk production had doubled in the same period due to tripling the production per cow.http://www.vermontdairy.com/dairy_industry/farms/numbers In 2007, there were 1,087 farms left, down from 1,138 in 2006. While milk production rose, Vermont\'s market share declined. Within a group of states supplying the Boston-NYC market,called "federal order one" Vermont was third with a 10.6% share of the market.New York has 44.9%, Pennsylvania has 32.9%Dunbar, Bethany (November 14, 2007). Vermont Milk Commission takes a look at hauling costs. the Chronicle.
An important and growing part of Vermont\'s economy is the manufacture and sale of artisan foods, fancy foods, and novelty items trading in part upon the Vermont "brand" which the state manages and defends. Examples of these specialty exports include Cabot Cheese, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Fine Paints of Europe, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, several micro breweries, ginseng growers, Burton Snowboards, Lake Champlain Chocolates, King Arthur Flour, and Ben and Jerry\'s Ice Cream.
In 2001, Vermont produced 275,000 US gallons (1,040,000 L) of maple syrup, about one-quarter of U.S. production. For 2005 that number was 410,000 accounting for 37% of national production.((cite web | author = Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Assoc. | title=Maple Facts |url=http://www.vermontmaple.org/maplefacts.html | access date = 2007-04-08))
In 2000, only 3% of the state\'s working population was still engaged in agriculture.Liz Halloran (2007). Vermont\'s War. US News and World Report, January 22, page 45.
Wine industry started in Vermont in 1985. There are 14 wineries today.Curran, John (July 29, 2007). Winemakers hope new state council will help them grow. Burlington Free Press.
IBM, in Essex Junction, is Vermont\'s largest for-profit employer. It provides 25% of all manufacturing jobs in Vermont. In 2007 it employed 6,800 workers.America\'s Career Infonetaccessed February 3, 2008 It is responsible for $1 billion of the state\'s annual economy.The Burlington Free Press, February 28, 2007,page 8C, "IBM:Enriching economy for 50 years."
Vermont is the 17th highest state in the nation for mortgage affordability. However, in 41 other states, inhabitants contributed within plus or minus 4% of Vermont\'s 18.4% of household income to a mortgage.Vermont Business Roundtable. Housing Prices, Availability, and Affordability in Vermont. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
Housing prices did not rise that much during the early 2000s. As a result, the collapse in real estate values was not that precipitous either. While foreclosure rose significantly in 2007, the state stood 50th (last) in ratio of foreclosure filings to households.Braithwaite, Chris (December 19, 2007). Vermont weathers mortgage storm. the Chronicle.
As of 2006, there were 305,000 workers in Vermont. 11% of these are unionized.http://www.empirecenter.org/2007/01/unions_shrink_e.phpA separate study shows over 325,000 workers in 2000!http://www.bishca.state.vt.us/hcadiv/Data_Reports/healthinsurmarket/SurveyVTFamilyHealth2000/DataTables126_146/128_WorkingStatewideOfferFirm.PDF A 2007 survey claimed that Vermonters were the least satisfied with their job in the whole nation and were the most likely to be making plans to leave.http://aol.salary.com/careersandwork/salary/articles/atcl_careeradvice.asp?atc=593
Captive insurance plays an increasingly large role in Vermont\'s economy. With this form of alternative insurance, large corporations or industry associations form standalone insurance companies to insure their own risks, thereby substantially reducing their insurance premiums and gaining a significant measure of control over types of risks to be covered. There are also significant tax advantages to be gained from the formation and operation of captive insurance companies. According to the Insurance Information Institute, Vermont in 2004 was the world\'s third-largest domicile for captive insurance companies, following Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.Insurance Information Institute. Captives & Other Risk-Financing Options. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
Tourism is a large industry in the state. In winter, the ski resorts Stowe, Killington Ski Resort, Mad River Glen, Sugarbush, Stratton, Jay Peak, Okemo, Suicide Six, Mount Snow and Bromley host skiers from around the globe, although their largest markets are the Boston, Montreal and New York metropolitan areas. In the summer, resort towns like Stowe, Manchester, and Woodstock host visitors. Resorts, hotels, restaurants, and shops, designed to attract tourists, employ people year-round.
Summer camps contribute to Vermont\'s tourist economy. Trout fishing, lake fishing, and ice fishing draw outdoor enthusiasts to the state, as does the hiking on the Long Trail. In winter, nordic and backcountry skiers visit to travel the length of the state on the Catamount Trail. Several horse shows are annual events. Vermont\'s state parks, historic sites, museums, golf courses, and new boutique hotels with spas were designed to attract tourists.
The towns of Rutland and Barre are the traditional centers of marble and granite quarrying and carving in the U.S. For many years Vermont was also the headquarters of the smallest union in the U.S., the Stonecutters Association, of about 500 members. The first marble quarry in America was on Mount Aeolus overlooking East Dorset.VirtualVermont.com Up the western side of the state runs the "Marble Valley" joining up with the "Slate Valley" that runs from just inside New York across from Chimney Point until it meets the "Granite Valley" that runs west past Barre, home of the Rock of Ages quarry, the largest granite quarry in America. Vermont is the largest producer of slate in the country.ApartmentLinks.com Production of dimension stone is the greatest producer of revenues by quarrying.
Vermont stands 14th highest out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for state and local taxation, with a per capita load of $3,681. The national average is $3,447.DatabankUSA,AARP Bulletin, April 2007, compiled from figures from the US Census However, CNNMoney ranked Vermont highest in the nation based on the percentage of per capita
