Marlboro

Up on the hills of Windham County, about nine miles west of Brattleboro, Marlboro has been shaped by two forces: farming and music. The town was chartered in 1751 — making it one of the older grants in the region — and settled by families who cleared the rocky upland terrain for sheep pasture and small-scale agriculture.

The Marlboro Music Festival, founded in 1951 by Rudolf Serkin and Adolf Busch, transformed this tiny hill town into a destination for classical musicians from around the world. Every summer for decades, young performers gathered on the campus of Marlboro College to study and perform chamber music. The college itself closed in 2020, merging with Emerson College, but the music festival continues.

With just under 1,000 residents, Marlboro retains the character of a close-knit rural community. Town meeting day brings neighbors together to debate budgets, road maintenance, and school funding — the kind of direct democracy that has defined Vermont governance since before statehood.