Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

prospected for stone to build foundations for homes, to mark lot boundaries, and to support early
industries. Local bog iron or hematite ore was smelted into iron, supplying early blacksmiths
and later industrial purposes.
Towns gradually became responsible for the maintenance of other local roads as soon as they
were surveyed, laid out, and officially entered onto town records (Garvin and Garvin, 1988;
Hance, 1991). Later, bridges were constructed to access other routes where perhaps only fords
existed. Economic and regional growth patterns ultimately dictated the evolution of a growing
road framework.
Near the end of the nineteenth century investors were building grand hotels along coastal areas,
in the mountains and surrounding the lakes of Vermont to serve tourists from all over the United
States and Europe. Rustic camps and summer homes grew in popularity as well, and in no time,
“summer people” began buying up old hill farms for summer homes.
Government
Administratively part of New York after 1766, Vermont became an independent republic in 1777
during the Revolutionary War. In 1791, Vermont ratified the U.S. Constitution, becoming the
fourteenth state of the union. Vermont has 14 counties.
Domestic, Social, and Cultural
Family cemeteries often provided the nucleus of what would ultimately become a hamlet,
village, town, or municipal cemetery. The progress toward establishing characteristic town
features of a town plot or village common, meeting house and school varied, often they were not
in place until the community was actually settled (Woodard, 1936).
A general downward population trend is attributed to the natural and social upheaval described
and the attractiveness of less expensive and fertile land in western New York and Ohio. Large
waves of people emigrated from Vermont and New Hampshire as land became less available and
opened elsewhere. This process started early, but accelerated as better routes opened up to the
west. Those who stayed behind continued to consolidate small farms, eventually developing into
the rural agriculture familiar through town histories. Farmers in northern New England had to
change and adapt their mode of agriculture to stay competitive (Donath, 1992:215).
After the Civil War, temporary jobs in New England’s textile mills, logging and mining camps,
railroad construction, and agriculture offered economic opportunity to new groups of
immigrants.
Manufacturing centers began to attract new industries such as clothing and electronics. Only in
the last decades of the twentieth century has the population curve of New Hampshire rebounded.
The prominence of the dairy industry in the early to mid-twentieth century and improved farming
methods led to increased yields and decreased dairy product prices hastening the demise of the
family farm. Presently, small family farms persist in Vermont and there is hope that specialty
products will maintain agriculture and the wood products industry in this area for future
generations.
Northern Border Activities H-80 July 2012