Cavendish is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The town was likely named after William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. The population was 1,392 at the 2020 census. The town of Cavendish includes the unincorporated villages of Cavendish and Proctorsville.

History

Early settlers

Captain John Coffeen, the town's first permanent settler, brought his family and possessions into the wilderness of Cavendish in June 1769. They built a dwelling in the northern part of town on what is now E. I. Heald's farm, on the lot still called the "Coffeen pasture". The Coffeens remained the only family in Cavendish for two years. In the early 1780s, Leonard Proctor and Salmon Dutton came from Massachusetts and gave their names to the two major settlements on the Black River, Proctorsville and Duttonsville. In 1782, the first recorded town meeting occurred and Dutton was elected town clerk. He is credited with having conducted a 1784 survey for the first road from Duttonsville along the Black River to Ludlow (now Vermont routes 103 and 131). In 1786 he became the town's first justice of the peace. He also served as moderator of the town meeting, as selectman, and as town treasurer. The marriage of Redfield Proctor and Emily Dutton in 1858 joined the leading families of the two villages and promised to put an end to the former rivalry.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.59%, is water.

Cavendish was one of thirteen Vermont towns isolated by flooding caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Climate

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

Images

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Cavendish VT Downtown VT131.jpg|Downtown on a foggy day

File:Cavendish VT Post Office.jpg|Post office

File:Cavendish, VT Architecture.JPG|House in Cavendish

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Demographics

As of the census

  • Colonel Thomas O. Seaver, Civil War era Medal of Honor recipient
  • Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and historian, Nobel prize winner
  • Nettie Maria Stevens, American geneticist

References

  • Official website
  • Cavendish Connects Community Website
  • Cavendish Community & Conservation Association
  • Information at VirtualVermont.com
  • Cavendish Community Profile; with an old postcard