Brandon

Iron forges were burning in Brandon before the American Revolution ended. This Rutland County town, chartered in 1761, sits at the western edge of the Green Mountains where Otter Creek flows through a broad valley, and its iron deposits made it one of Vermont's earliest industrial centers. Thomas Davenport, a Brandon blacksmith, built one of the first electric motors in America here in 1834 -- a fact that deserves more recognition than it typically receives.

Brandon's village is one of the most architecturally intact in Vermont, with Federal and Victorian buildings lining a main street that feels like a museum of nineteenth-century New England commercial architecture. The town has reinvented itself in recent decades as an arts community, with galleries, studios, and public art installations bringing new energy to the historic core. Branbury State Park on nearby Lake Dunmore provides swimming, camping, and access to the hiking trails of Moosalamoo National Recreation Area.

With a population of roughly 3,740, Brandon serves as a regional center for western Rutland County. Town meeting and the selectboard system govern local affairs, continuing a democratic tradition that began when Brandon's iron forges were still the town's most important enterprise.