Mount Tabor

Deep in the Green Mountain National Forest, Mount Tabor is one of Vermont's least populated towns, with roughly 210 residents. Chartered in 1761 as part of the Wentworth Grants, the town's rugged terrain discouraged large-scale settlement, and the landscape remains heavily forested today. Big Branch, a tributary of the Otter Creek, runs through a designated wilderness area within town boundaries.

The town had a brief moment in the industrial spotlight in the 1800s when charcoal kilns operated in the surrounding forests, supplying fuel to the iron furnaces of the Otter Creek valley. Some of the old kiln sites can still be found along hiking trails in the national forest.

Mount Tabor's tiny population means that civic participation is not just encouraged — it's essential. Town meeting here is an intimate affair where nearly every resident knows every other, and decisions about road maintenance, the volunteer fire department, and the town's modest budget are made face to face.