Barnet is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,663 at the 2020 census. Barnet contains the locations of Barnet Center, East Barnet, McIndoe Falls, Mosquitoville, Passumpsic and West Barnet. The main settlement of Barnet is recorded as a census-designated place by the U.S. Census Bureau, with a population of 127 at the 2020 census.

History

thumb|upright=0.6|left|[[Horace Fairbanks, 36th governor of Vermont, was born in Barnet in 1820]]

The town of Barnet, Vermont, originally took its name from the town of Barnet, England.

On September 16, 1763, the town received its charter from the royal governor of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth.

The first European descendants to work the land and stay in the town were three brothers, Daniel, Jacob, and Elijah Hall, along with Jonathan Fowler. Their homestead was built along the Connecticut River and to the north near McIndoe Falls. Elijah Hall built the first house in Caledonia County in Barnet, near the base of Stevens Falls. Colonel Alexander Harvey came from Dundee, Scotland, for those in the town who wished to find new land in the American colonies. Despite losing contact with almost all of them after the American Revolution broke out, he decided to stay, claiming of land and a lake, now known as Harvey's Lake.

The five early villages within the town of Barnet were:

  • Barnet village (formerly called Stevens Village) located at the falls in the river
  • McIndoe Falls (also referred to as McIndoes) near the southeast corner of the town lying along a terrace at the falls
  • Passumpsic village (formerly called Kendall's Mills) in the northeast part of the town and spreading into the adjoining town of Waterford
  • East Barnet (in 1875 named Norrisville), near the mouth of the river just before it enters the deep gorge
  • West Barnet at the outlet of Harvey Lake, on the road from Barnet village to Peacham.

Additional hamlets that have arisen within the town are:

  • Mosquitoville, located south of Harvey Lake
  • Barnet Center, on the road from Barnet village to West Barnet.

thumb|left|West Barnet and Harvey's Lake, VT, from the north

The main settlement of Barnet village has grown in population and is often referred to as "the town", yet the town itself includes the populated places listed above.

Two governors of the state of Vermont were from Barnet: Erastus Fairbanks, who served two terms from 1852–1853 and 1860–1861, and his son, Horace Fairbanks, who served from 1876 to 1878. The Fairbanks family left Barnet for nearby St. Johnsbury, where they were known for manufacturing the first platform scale.

Ocean explorer and scuba inventor Jacques Cousteau had influential experiences on Harvey's Lake as a young boy in the early 1920s. While attending a summer camp he experimented with staying underwater by breathing through hollow reeds found in the lake shallows. Though he could not yet swim well, this allowed him to stay underwater for extended periods.

Religion

Christianity

alt=Barnet Village Church|thumb|left|upright=0.65|Formerly Barnet Congregational Church, now Barnet Village Church.

On January 24, 1784, the town of Barnet voted unanimously to make the Presbyterian denomination the official one of the town, as it was "founded on the word of God as expressed in the Confession of Faith, Catechisms Longer and Shorter, with the form of church government agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and practiced by the Church of Scotland."

The Passumpsic Calvinistic Baptist church was first created by a council of neighboring churches on July 1, 1812. The village of Passumpsic was chosen due to its centralized location.

thumb|Barnet's Post Office

The First Congregational Church of Barnet was created by Reverend David Sutherland in September 1829 after a new brick church had been built. Its first permanent minister was the Reverend Henry Fairbanks. The church which stands now was constructed in 1854.

The earliest Reformed Presbyterian Church in Vermont was organized in Ryegate in October 1798. In the early part of the nineteenth century, a group of members in Barnet built a new meeting house on the land formerly owned by Walter Harvey, and the property has gone by that name since then. The longest-tenured minister was Daniel C. Faris, who served the congregation from 1873 until 1923. The congregation's Barnet branch became a separate congregation on July 9, 1872, and it continued until disorganization in 1970.

Buddhism

In 1970, upon his arrival in North America, Chögyam Trungpa established the teaching center "Tail of the Tiger" (now Karmê Chöling). It was consolidated with others in Colorado in 1973.

Geography

thumb|left|Fall foliage in early October

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 3.04%, is water. The Barnet CDP, comprising the town center, has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.96%, is water.

The eastern border of the town is the Connecticut River, which is also the boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire. The Passumpsic River enters the Connecticut at East Barnet. Neighboring communities are Ryegate to the south, Groton to the southwest, Peacham to the west, Danville to the northwest, St. Johnsbury to the north, and Waterford, Vermont, to the northeast. Across the Connecticut River is the New Hampshire town of Monroe.

Barnet is traversed from north to south by Interstate 91, with access to the town at Exit 18, West Barnet Road. U.S. Route 5, a two-lane highway, parallels I-91 and passes through the town center.

The highest point in town is Roy Mountain in the southern part of town, east of Harvey Lake.

Climate

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Barnet has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

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Demographics

As of the census

  • Neko Case, musician
  • Taylor Coppenrath, professional basketball player
  • Jacques Cousteau, ocean explorer and SCUBA inventor. Summer resident who made his first dive at Harvey's Lake
  • Jay Craven, filmmaker; Marlboro College film professor
  • Horace Fairbanks, 36th governor of Vermont from 1876 to 1878, was born in Barnet
  • Ralph Flanders, mechanical engineer, industrialist and politician
  • Luis Guzman, actor
  • Chris Hedges, author
  • Henry Clay Ide, statesman and judge
  • Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author and aviator; died in Passumpsic (2001)
  • Harvey T. Moore, Vermont and Wisconsin state legislator, was born in Barnet
  • Benjamin Franklin Stevens, bibliographer
  • Henry Stevens, bibliographer

References

  • Town of Barnet official website
  • Barnet Genealogy page