Chester, Vermont, USA (Chester Depot) (North Chester) (Gassetts)
1849 - Chester

Windsor Co. William's River is formed in this township by the union of three considerable branches. These branches unite, nearly in the same place, and about one and a half miles south-east of the two villages ; they constitute the principal waters, heading in the towns of Andover, Ludlow, and Windham. No natural pond, cave, or Indian name or relic was ever known or recorded in this town The surface is considerably diversified with hills and valleys, but the soil is generally I good ; the uplands yield excellent pasturage, and when newly cleared, produce abundance of grain. The intervales are rich and fertile, producing good crops of rye, corn, barley, oats, peas, beans, potatoes, &c. The roads are now all free, remarkably well laid, level and well wrought for such an uneven township, mainly following streams. Timber, mostly hard wood, with some hemlock, spruce, and pine. Minerals, granite, actynolite, augite chlorite, common and potter's clay, cyanite, epidote, feldspar, garnet, hornblend, iron, magnetic, oxyde of sulphuret, quartz, serpentine, talc, and mica. There are two villages, called the north and south village,; the north village is situated near the centre of the township, on the northerly side of the north branch of William's River. The south village is situate in a pleasant valley on the north side of the middle branch of William's River, three fourths of a mile south of the north village, and one and a half mile south-easterly of the centre of the town.

Boundaries. North by Cavendish and Baltimore, east by Springfield, south by Grafton and a small part of Rockingham, and west by Andover and part of Ludlow.

First Settlers. The settlement was commenced in 1764, by Thomas Chandler and his two sons, John and Thomas Chandler, Jr., Jabez Sargeant, Edward Johnson, Isaiah Johnson, Charles Man, William Warner, Ichabod Ide, and Ebenezer Hotton, from Woodstock, Ct., and Worcester and Malden, Mass.

First Ministers. A Congregational Church was organized in 1773, and Rev. Samuel Whiting was settled by this town and Rockingham for five years ; he officiating one third of the time at Chester, the remainder at Rockingham ; after which they had no settled minister for thirty-six years.

Productions of the Soil. Wheat, 1,477 bushels ; Indian corn, 8,627 bushels ; potatoes, 35,255 bushels; hay, 4,490 tons; maple sugar, 18,987 pounds; wool, 30,263 pounds.

Distances. Sixteen miles south-west from Windsor, and seventy-nine south from Montpelier. The great Southern Railroad between Boston and Burlington, passes through this handsome town, which will greatly facilitate the business of this fertile region.

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

Visit Chester, Vermont, USA (Chester Depot) (North Chester) (Gassetts)
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.