Cabot is a six-mile-square town located in the northeast corner of Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,443 at the 2020 census. It contains the unincorporated villages of Cabot Village, Cabot Plain, South Cabot (Hookerville), East Cabot, Lower Cabot, and West Hill. There was also a community known as Petersville until property owners there sold a total of 100 acres to Molly’s Falls Electric Light and Power Company, and in 1925 a large dam was constructed on Molly’s Brook (named after Molly, the wife of Indian Joe), that completely flooded the area that had been farms and homes to create what is now known as Molly’s Falls Reservoir, or sometimes “Marshfield Dam,” which is located close to the Cabot/Marshfield town line.

Geography

The most notable of Cabot’s several ponds are:  Coit’s Pond, the origin of the Winooski River; Molly’s Pond that sits on the Continental Divide and has outlets flowing east towards the Connecticut River and west into the Winooski River and Lake Champlain; West Hill Pond, originally called the “great field” by early settlers as it was the only cleared area for miles in the wilderness before a dam on the brook created a shallow pond; and the three-mile-long, 396 acre Joe’s Pond (named for Indian Joe) situated in Cabot and Danville. Molly’s Pond State Park has over 1,000 acres and includes the 411-acre reservoir created by a dam built in 1926-27 that flooded the small farming community of Petersville. This reservoir, which is entirely within the town of Cabot, provides power to operate Marshfield No. 6 hydroelectric plant located just over the town line between Cabot and Marshfield on Rte. 215S.

Cabot is the location of the Cabot Creamery, founded in 1893 primarily as a butter factory to add value to milk production. Today the creamery is a producer and national distributor of dairy products, especially known for their cheddar cheese. Cabot Creamery is by far Cabot’s largest employer with a manufacturing and packaging plant at the original site and extensions of the business in nearby locations as well as New York state and Massachusetts. Organized as a cooperative in 1919 by 94 members with a total of 863 cows, the creamery has struggled and re-invented itself several times as economic and population changes have occurred. There were 77 farms sending milk to the Cabot Creamery Cooperative in 1952, eight of which were within the village limits. Today there are no farms within the village limits and only six dairy farms within the entire town. The creamery draws from other towns for the massive amount of product needed to sustain the ever-growing demand for Cabot cheese.

Former Cabot dairy farms are now large fruit orchards, maple operations, vegetable farms, or are growing herbs or producing hay, raising beef, sheep, turkeys, or goats. Crafters, wood carvers, arborists, gardeners/landscapers, musicians, authors and other professionals or retirees make their home in the historic scenic landscape of rural Cabot.

The village of Cabot nestles on the banks of the Winooski River. It is now the only community within the township with active commerce. The post office, church with a day-care center, library, and town offices are situated there, along with a volunteer fire department and ambulance service. Main Street businesses include a grocery store and deli; computer sales, service, and drone business; an automotive garage; a bar serving craft beer and cider located in a hardware store; and a restaurant and pub. There is also an 8-unit senior housing complex, Cabot Commons, opened in 2005, within easy access of downtown businesses and the town offices and library located in the Willey Memorial Building. The former Masonic Lodge Hall is now home to “Neighbors in Action,” an active community service organization.

Cabot is fortunate to have an art barn gallery that is open for exhibits in the summer, and the Cabot Historical Society, also open from about May to October. The historical society houses an impressive collection of artifacts, along with a library of genealogy and reference materials. The two-story former school and community hall that was built in 1849 has been uniquely preserved to display the town’s historical artifacts. The society also owns and maintains a restored one-room schoolhouse located on West Hill.

Throughout the year, the village common hosts a variety of concerts, field days, farmers’ markets, and craft events. There is a community skating rink on the common in the winter, and hiking and snowmobile trails run through the town. There is also a well-maintained town forest.

Cabot holds annual town meetings and its business is managed by a five-member selectboard that meets regularly, at least twice each month.

History

thumb|left|Molly's Falls Reservoir in Cabot

The town of Cabot was granted in 1780, and settlement began on the Plain, also known as Fortification Hill or Johnson’s Plain when the military were encamped there. The first settler, Benjamin Webster, arrived in 1783, followed by Lieut. Jonathan Heath, Nathaniel Webster, and Lieut. Thomas Lyford, with their families. The town was named by settler Lyman Hitchcock after his wife, Sophia Cabot (no relation to Venetian explorers John and Sebastian Cabot). Lyman Hitchcock became in 1788 the first town clerk of Cabot.

When the Bayley-Hazen Military Road opened in 1775-1776 from Newbury northwest to what is now known as Cabot Plain, the original intent was to build a road through the unexplored wilderness from the northernmost town of Newbury to St. Johns, Quebec, Canada, to facilitate getting supplies to the army that hoped to defeat the British and capture Canada. The road was never completed, but it served to open the northern territory for settlement.

Cabot Plain remained the business center of town until around 1796, when town officials decided to move business to the geographic center of the town, about a mile downhill south of the Plain. A meeting house was constructed, also a pound to contain wandering farm animals, and a whipping post that was used only once to punish an errant citizen. By 1799, all town business was conducted at the Center of Town and gradually traffic over the Plain diminished.

As the town grew, mills, businesses, and farms clustered near the Winooski River and extended south to form a community known as Lower Cabot. By about 1826 the business affairs of the town had moved from the geographic center of the town to the new settlement in the valley by the Winooski River, where it remains today.

The Town of Cabot was incorporated on November 19, 1866. Communities within the township clustered along brooks or near ponds, utilizing the abundant waterpower for sawmills, grist mills, and in Lower Cabot, a woolen mill.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,433 people, 570 households, and 404 families residing in the town. The population density was 37.2 people per square mile (14.4/km<sup>2</sup>). There were 771 housing units at an average density of 20.0 per square mile (7.7/km<sup>2</sup>). The racial makeup of the town was 97.2% White, 0.6% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population.

There were 570 households, out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.2% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.1% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 32.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.

As of the 2000 census,

A memorial honoring men and women from Cabot, who served in recent wars, was erected in front of Willey Memorial Hall and dedicated in 1992.

Climate and weather

Cabot has a typical northern Vermont climate with a generally short growing season. Winters can be harsh with high snow amounts and long periods of below-zero temperatures. Summers are normally moderate with fluctuating temperatures and conditions. Due to the hilly landscape of the town, it is prone to flood damage, particularly in Cabot Village, and the hill sections to damaging winds.

Notable people

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  • Zerah Colburn, math prodigy
  • Carlos Everett Conant, professor, linguist, translator, interpreter of Philippine languages
  • Edward M. Doe, Arizona Territorial jurist
  • Peter Gray, psychologist, professor, and textbook author
  • Luis Guzmán, actor; lives in Cabot
  • John H. Senter, United States Attorney for Vermont, mayor of Montpelier, Vermont
  • Ellen Bryant Voigt, poet, teacher, and founder of The Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers
  • Will Voigt, 2016 Nigerian Olympic basketball team coach
  • Charles Carroll Webster, Minnesota state senator and lawyer

See also

  • Cabot Creamery

References

  • Official website