What Vermont is known for

Many of the residents in Vermont live in Burlington as it is the largest city in the state. The capital of Vermont is Montpelier. Outside the city areas, much of the region is more rural and consists primarily of farming communities. Many people have second homes in the countryside and will live there part of the year. There are about 630,000 residents in Vermont, and many of them have British, Irish, or French ancestry. It also has a presence of the arts. Many painters visit for the landscape, the antique shops and items often found in the area, and its historical heritage.[4]

Vermont has the most covered bridges out of any other state in America. Over 100 of these covered bridges were built in the 1800s alone. The Windsor Cornish Covered Bridge is the longest two-span-covered bridge globally and the longest wooden bridge in the United States. It is a total of 465 feet long.[6] Vermont is also the starting place of the famous Ben and Jerry Icecream. Both Chester A. Arthur and Calvin Coolidge, previous presidents of the United States, were both born in Vermont.[8]

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the state of Vermont. The hospitality industry itself provides thousands of jobs for Vermont residents. There are many museums and events throughout the year. Many tourists come to the area for outdoor activities during the summer, such as hiking, biking, or fishing in the area. During the winter, skiing and snowmobiling are popular sports and bring in some of the most revenue to the state. Skiing resorts such as Mad River Glen, Bromley, Stowe, and Stratton are famous skiing areas. During the fall, many people come to watch the leaves and landscape change color. Often called "leaf peepers," this is another significant attraction in the region, along with the Green Mountains. Vermont is known as the "Green Mountain State."[8]

There are two national parks in Vermont. Appalachian and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller. Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park holds the homes of several prominent leaders of Vermont that lived in the 1700s and 1800s. The Appalachian National Park is part of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail has vast amounts of Trails. Many trials extend past the national park and lead into other states among the Appalachian Mountains range. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail itself extends from Maine to Georgia, winding approximately 2000 miles long through fourteen states. Vermont has about 150 miles of trails in the Green Mountains as part of the scenic route.[7]

Geography

Vermont is one of the six New England states in the northeast region in the United States of America. Quebec, Canada borders the state to the north, New Hampshire to the east, on the west lies New York, and to the south is Massachusetts. The border of New Hampshire and Vermont is unique because it follows a river the whole way down, with most of the river being part of New Hampshire. Vermont holds the majority of the Green Mountains, part of the northern Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains start in Canada and go as far as Alabama. Most of the terrain in the region is mountainous and hilly, with only certain areas being fertile for agriculture. The land is better used for pastures and ranches. Much of the rugged landscape is also forested with an abundance of maple trees, oak trees, and coniferous trees. The state has many rivers flowing through it.[1]



Vermont has a more humid, warmer climate in the summers, and colder weather in the winter. Temperatures fluctuate and change depending on the area of the state. On average, temperatures reach highs of 75 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit at the peak of summer in July. Lows usually average around 60 degrees during the summer. Winter can be cold and temperatures may fall to as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit. During the spring and fall, temperatures are relatively mild. During the spring and most of the summer, there are large amounts of rain. The average yearly rainfall is around 50 inches, and snowfall can sometimes reach up to 100 inches annually. It will typically snow for about three months. Humidity is 70% during the summer months and falls as the seasons change. Tourists typically visit Vermont between May to September when temperatures are milder, plants are blooming, or leaves begin changing color in the countryside.[3]

There is a lot of wildlife in Vermont, with many kinds of deer. The state bird is the hermit thrush, and the fish is the brook trout. Other animals commonly found in the area are white-tailed deer, wild turkey, great blue heron, red-tailed hawk, snapping turtle, moose, coyote, fox, bobcat, beavers, wild boar, mountain lion. The sugar maple tree is the state tree and allows Vermont to be the top producer of maple in America. Other trees and plants in the area include bigtooth aspen, shagbark hickory, white pine, American beech, Canada mayflower, Carolina spring beauty, and Solomons plume.[2]

History

Paleo Indians were some of the first Indians in the area, inhabiting it as early as 9000 BCE. Their descendants became the Abenaki people who spoke the Algonquian language. There were other people in the land known as the Iroquois and the two tribes often fought over the land. When the Europeans arrived, they began trading with the Abenaki people for furs, sometimes giving them guns in exchange. Samuel Champlain was the very first European in Vermont. He had initially colonized Quebec. Along his travels in Vermont, he came by a lake and several valleys and named them after himself. No attempts were made to establish settlements in Vermont until 1666 when a fort was built near Lake Champlain. It was abandoned after some time, and no more settling was attempted or established until the 1700s. It was a relatively inhospitable place for some time.[5]

In 1724 British soldiers established a fort in southern Vermont to protect themselves from Indians and the French. Over time tension built in areas of Vermont and other places in the New England Region, and the French and Indians war broke out in 1754. After nearly ten years, the British won and claimed Vermont in 1763. Following the war, both New York and New Hampshire claimed portions of the land to expand their territory. Ethan Green and other men in the Vermont area formed the Green Mountain Boys and began fighting off people wanting to settle in the area from New York and occasionally those from New Hampshire. He and other leaders tried to establish Vermont as its own land and government for many years.[5]

When the Revolutionary War began, Vermont was enthusiastic about the cause and the Green Mountian Boys quickly captured the British Fort Ticonderoga. This was an early victory for the colonists of the New England area. In the year 1777, Vermont declared itself as an independent republic called the New Connecticut—though the name was later changed to Vermont. In French, Vermont means "Green Mountain"—Vert means green and Mont means mountain. The citizens of the republic created their own government, currency, postal service, and constitution. In their constitution, they banned slavery making them the first state to abolish slavery in America. Windsor was established and made the capital of the country. In 1790 tensions between the United States of America and Independent Vermont were high with the United States considering invading Vermont as they thought they owned the land. Eventually, Vermont paid 30,000 dollars to end the dispute, and a year later would join the United States of America as the 14th state of the United States of America. It was officially made a state on March 4, 1791. In 1787, Montpelier was made the capital of Vermont.[5]