Vermont Trivia & Tidbits - Page 7

Looking for Vermont trivia? Try our list Vermont little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Mount Ascutney near Windsor (pop. 3,756) is a monadnock, a freestanding mountain independent of a mountain range.

first appeared: 2/13/2005

U.S. Sen. Jacob Collamer (1792-1865) of Woodstock (pop. 977), a confidant of President Abraham Lincoln’s, praised his picturesque hometown with the words, "The good people of Woodstock have less incentive than others to yearn for heaven."

first appeared: 1/30/2005

For a ski run offering the morning’s freshest powder, make plans to stay at the Stone Hut on Mount Mansfield near Stowe (pop. 4,339). Built as a warming hut by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936, the one-room structure sleeps 12 on wooden platforms with mattresses and is heated by a wood-burning stove. You’ll have to take your chances on availability, however. Reservations are handled by lottery.

first appeared: 1/16/2005

Two-acre Button Island, located in the 253-acre Button Point State Park on Lake Champlain near Ferrisburgh (pop. 2,657), is part of an ancient coral reef estimated to be 450 to 500 million years old.

first appeared: 1/2/2005

In May 2000, Gov. Howard Dean signed a law naming These Green Mountains the new state song. It replaced Hail, Vermont!, which had been the state song since 1938.

first appeared: 12/19/2004

In 1955, Larry Damon, a student at the University of Vermont in Burlington (pop. 38,889), became the state’s first cross-country skier to win an NCAA championship. He went on to become a four-time Olympian.

first appeared: 12/5/2004

Established in 1984, Landmark College in Putney (pop. 2,634) was the first college devoted to students with learning disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder.

first appeared: 11/21/2004

Poet Robert Frost (1864-1973), who spent half his life in Vermont, was once asked if he were an introvert or an extrovert. He replied, "Just a plain vert from Vermont."

first appeared: 11/7/2004

The now-defunct Robbins and Lawrence Co. of Windsor (pop. 3,756) was the first volume manufacturer of rifles that made use of interchangeable parts.

first appeared: 10/24/2004

After the British drove French settlers from the Lake Champlain area near Addison (pop. 1,393) in 1760, all that remained of burnt homes were their chimneys. The area thus became known as Chimney Point.

first appeared: 10/10/2004

Montpelier (pop. 8,035) bills itself as the Rotten Sneaker Capital of the World by virtue of a unique competition. Each March, contestants from around the world submit their smelly footwear to a panel of sniffing judges in the city’s Rotten Sneaker Contest.

first appeared: 10/3/2004

The Martin-Wasp, a luxury touring car of the 1920s, was commercially produced in Bennington (pop. 15,737). Of the fewer than 20 built, only one car still exists.

first appeared: 9/19/2004

Frederick Billings of Woodstock (pop. 3,232), builder of the Northern Pacific Railroad, also was a conservationist and progressive farmer. He is credited with reforesting Mount Tom and Mount Peg.

first appeared: 9/12/2004

Merino sheep were introduced to America in 1811 at a farm in Weathersfield (pop. 2,788). The animals’ long-fibered coat revolutionized the woolen industry, and by 1837 there were more than 1 million sheep in Vermont.

first appeared: 9/5/2004

By writing it into the state’s constitution in 1777, Vermont became the first state in the nation to outlaw slavery.

first appeared: 8/29/2004

The Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury (pop. 8,183) was founded in 1984 to preserve and present the region’s folk art and cultural traditions.

first appeared: 8/22/2004

Often called the Cradle of Inventions, Springfield (pop. 9,078) is where the common spring clothespin, the sheep-shearing machine and the steam shovel were invented.

first appeared: 8/15/2004

The Battle of Bennington, a turning point in the Revolutionary War, was fought Aug. 16, 1777, to protect storehouses of American food and munitions in Bennington (pop. 15,737). The actual battle occurred west of town in what is now New York state.

first appeared: 8/8/2004

The year 1816 was known as the “year without a summer” in the Northeast. In Vermont, it is reported that not a month passed without below-freezing temperatures. The North Star newspaper in Danville (pop. 2,211) reported five successive nights of frost or snow in June as severe as in December.

first appeared: 8/1/2004

In 1874, Charles Orvis, founder of the Orvis Co., a still-thriving sporting goods business in Manchester (pop. 4,180), invented the first upright, ventilated fly fishing reel that allowed the line to dry on the spool.

first appeared: 7/25/2004

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