Calais is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,661 at the 2020 census. Calais contains the unincorporated communities of Adamant, East Calais, North Calais, Kents Corner, Maple Corner and Pekin.

History

thumb|upright|left|Old West Church on Christmas Eve

Colonel Jacob Davis named Calais after the French port city of the same name, during a time of general enthusiasm for things French as a result of France's aid during the American Revolution.

The Wheelocks and Parkers were the first families to settle the town, in the latter part of the 18th century. In the early and mid 19th century, the Vermont wool industry spawned sheep pastures in the town. Photographs of the time show a heavily de-forested Calais. Like many small Vermont towns, Calais was devastated by the Civil War. Volunteers from Calais flocked to the Union cause, most serving in the Army's volunteer regiments. In the post-Civil War era, agriculture turned from sheep to dairy, and new families came to fill farms that were sold by the families and widows of Civil War veterans.

Historical landmarks

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  • Kents Corner
  • Old West Church
  • Robinson Saw Mill
  • Adamant Co-op

Village histories

Calais once had a village called Sodom. The reason for the name change from Sodom to Adamant is also a subject of modern conjecture, with some noting that the residents petitioned the state legislature to change the name to Adamant in 1905, chosen to suggest the hardness of granite. Nelson Pond; Bliss Pond; Number 10 Pond, also known as Mirror Lake; and a portion of Woodbury Lake, also known as Sabin Pond.

Demographics

As of the census

  • Ela Chapin, state legislator
  • Kenward Elmslie (1929–2022), poet, lyricist, publisher, performer
  • John M. Gilman, Minnesota and Ohio state legislator, lawyer
  • Marcus D. Gilman, Vermont legislator, businessman, and historian
  • David Hinton, author and translator of Chinese poetry
  • Louise Andrews Kent, author
  • Asahel Pierce, merchant, pioneer and politician who was an early settler of Chicago
  • John La Touche, musician and writer
  • Dora V. Wheelock (1847–1923), temperance activist and writer

References

External material

Further reading

  • Cate, Weston. Forever Calais. Calais Historical Society: 1999..
  • Miller, Peter. Vermont People. Vermont People Project: 1991. .
  • Rodgers, Steve. Country Towns of Vermont. McGraw-Hill: 1998. .
  • Strickland, Ron. Vermonters: Oral Histories from Down Country to the Northeast Kingdom. University Press of New England: 1986. .
  • Swift, Esther Monroe. Vermont Place Names: Footprints of History. The Stephen Greene Press: 1996 .
  • Van Susteren, Dirk, A Vermont Century: Photography and Essays from the Green Mountain State. Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus: 1999. .
  • Calais Elementary School
  • Calais Resource Guide