Eden

Chartered in 1781, Eden lies in the northern part of Lamoille County in a landscape of hills, bogs, and mixed forest. The town was named optimistically — early settlers found rocky soil and a short growing season — but they stayed and built a community around small farms, logging, and the sheer determination that marks Vermont hill towns. Eden Mills, the main village, sits along the Gihon River.

Eden has about 1,320 residents and is home to Green River Reservoir, a largely undeveloped state park that offers some of the best flatwater paddling in Vermont. The reservoir's shores are free of camps and cabins, a deliberate conservation choice that makes it unusual in a state where lakefront development is common. Eden's town government follows the selectboard model, and March Town Meeting remains the annual gathering where voters set budgets, discuss road priorities, and make the decisions that keep their community self-governing. It is a town that earns its paradise the hard way — through honest work and civic participation.