Trip 9 - Granville, Hancock And Sharon

It was my 36th birthday yesterday and I wanted to do a 251 jaunt to celebrate.  After all the hot, sticky weather we've been having, we were blessed with some cooler temps and lower humidity:  gorgeous sunny day as though I'd ordered it up special!

We grabbed some lunch at the Austrian Tea Room at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, then we headed south on Route 100...

Our first official stop was in Granville (history, demographics):

Granville was granted to Reuben King and six other members of his family, and named Kingston in the charter. Unlike the grantees of some other towns, the Kings took part in the settlement of their town. The first proprietors' meeting was held at Windsor in the spring of 1783, at which Reuben King was elected proprietors' clerk. The following year the proprietors offered 100 acres of land to any woman who would make a permanent settlement in Kingston with her family. Mrs. Daniel King was given the first award, and her husband became the proprietors' clerk. Daniel later became the first justice of the peace and built the first sawmill and gristmill, for which he was awarded four more 100-acre lots. Their son, Henry King, was the first child born in town.

Hemenway's Gazetteer (1868) said about Kingston: "This name it retained until 1834 when, for some local prejudice on the part of the inhabitants, it was changed by the legislature to Granville." It seems more probable that it was changed because there weren't enough Kings left for the name to be meaningful any longer. The town's name was changed by the legislature in November 1834; the name of the post office was not changed by postal authorities until a year later.

Moss Glen Falls in Granville.

Granville Town Hall/Methodist Church.

Atop the Granville Town Hall.

Our plan was to continue along Rt 100 over to Rt 107 and just stop in Sharon (which we see from I-89 all the time).  But then something caught our eye in Hancock, so we added it officially to the trip: (history, demographics):  

Named for John Hancock, the Revolutionary Boston patriot. It is commonly held that Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independance; while that is not the case, his signature is indeed the most noticeable, because of its size and bold flourishes, such that his name has long been synonymous with "signature" ("Put your John Hancock right there...").

The town had 56 residents in the 1791 census, doubling every ten years for the next forty, reaching a peak in 1820. Since then, the population has declined more or less steadily with each census, largely because 19,000 acres (over 80% of its area) are taken up by the Green Mountain National Forest.

Hancock's Post Office is attached to somebody's (the Postmaster's?) house, so we just had to take a shot.  While we were doing so, a truck pulled in and a woman inside the house informed us that it would be backing up to the door, so we had to hurry.

Life in Vermont: sometimes even on state highways you get stuck behind a tractor and can't pass for a while.

And finally, Sharon (history, demographics):

Undoubtedly named for Sharon, Connecticut, where most of the town's grantees and many of the subsequent settlers lived, which had been named during the religious revival of the 1730's and '40's known as the Great Awakening. In Biblical times Palestine's Plain of Sharon was celebrated for its fertility and as the place where the youth David tended his sheep. The name was as suitable for the new town in Vermont as it had been for the older town in Connecticut...

Birthplace of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons), for whom there is a monument in the town.

We didn't go to the Joseph Smith birthplace, though we did drive by the road it's on.  It was late in the day.

In front of the Sharon Historical Society, which you probably can't tell from the sign at web resolution.

Stef took a little nap in the gazebo in the center of town while I meandered looking for pictures.

After that, we headed back up I-89 to Waterbury, drove over the Notch and stopped in Jeffersonville for dinner.  A lovely birthday trip!

ntodd

Comments

[Thers]

Nice trip!

Who took the pics of the 2 of you + the dog?

[NTodd]

Tripod and a timer, dude!

[TheaLogie]

Moss Glen Falls is heartbreakingly beautiful.

Must come up and visit this state sometime - you're the best advert for VT I know, NTodd!

[MH]

That part of Route 100 in Vermont is so nice. We saw Moss Glen Falls after the crazy rains of earlier this spring. The falls was scary--mist and spray hitting the cars on Route 100, winds blowing from the falls. It's an amazing little spot, that's for sure.

[Tony]

If you get the chance I recommend Bethel, VT. Not just because myself and my entire family are from there, but it was the first town established in VT and has a lot of history. Also, The Joseph Smith Memorial has a HUGE Christmas light display in December with a nativity scene with live animals, and it's the largest single piece of Granite in the world. Good luck on your adventures.

[Linda Jenkins]

Thanks for all the stories about Vermont. It looks like you had fun. Vermont is a beautiful state to visit with year round activities.

[Jimi aka Jersey Jimi]

I am living in Granville most days. Building a house where a barn used to be, I call the property FraggleRock. When you drive up rt 100 to Moss Glen Falls look for the place and wave. If I am there I will wave back. Happy Trails

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