Bennington County

Before Vermont was a state, before it was even a republic, there was Bennington. The town was chartered in 1749 by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth — making Bennington County, organized in 1779, one of the oldest governing bodies in what would become the 14th state. The Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777, was a turning point of the American Revolution, though the actual fighting took place across the border in Walloomsac, New York. The 306-foot Bennington Battle Monument, completed in 1891, remains the tallest structure in Vermont.

The county occupies the southwestern corner of the state, bordered by New York to the west and Massachusetts to the south. The Green Mountains run through its center, dividing the county into two distinct regions: the Battenkill Valley to the west and the broader Deerfield and Walloomsac watersheds. Manchester, in the northern half, became a fashionable resort destination in the 19th century — Abraham Lincoln's family summered there, and Robert Todd Lincoln built Hildene, his Georgian Revival mansion, in 1905.

Manufacturing once drove the local economy. Bennington Potters has operated since 1948, carrying on a ceramics tradition that dates to the early 1800s. The county is home to about 37,000 people across 17 towns. Bennington serves as the county seat, where the courthouse, sheriff's office, and state's attorney handle matters for Vermont's southernmost judicial district.