Danby is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,284 at the 2020 census.
Etymology
According to the Vermont Encyclopedia, Danby was most likely named for Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby and Duke of Leeds. However, Henry Gannett in 1905 attributed the town's name to Danby, North Yorkshire, in England. Historian Willard Sterne Randall, in his biography of Ethan Allen, gives yet another name origin: that Allen named Danby "after the French Naval commander whose fleet invaded New England's waters in the French and Indian War."
Geography, geology, and landmarks
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.22%, is water.
Most of the town lies in the Taconic Mountains; the eastern boundary of the town generally follows the course of Otter Creek in the narrow Valley of Vermont. It was reported in 2001 to have a total monthly output of about 1,200 tons of marble, half of which consists of Imperial Danby, a fine architectural marble with a variety of uses.
Demographics
As of the census
- Asher Crispe, Orthodox Rabbi and technology futurist
- Silas L. Griffith, Vermont businessman and politician and First Vermont millionaire
- Henry D. Hitt, farmer, businessman, Wisconsin legislator
- Thomas Rowley, "poet of the Green Mountain Boys" – lived in Danby