Newark

Tucked into the hills of Caledonia County in the Northeast Kingdom, Newark was chartered in 1781 and has remained one of the region's quieter communities ever since. The town's centerpiece is Newark Pond, a modest body of water that provides fishing and a focal point for the scattered homes nearby.

With a population of about 584, Newark has no commercial center to speak of. The economy has historically been tied to logging and small-scale farming, and the town's forested hills continue to produce timber. The landscape is classic Northeast Kingdom: rolling, wooded, and crossed by unpaved roads that turn to mud each spring.

Newark's town meeting is a straightforward affair — budgets, road crew, school funding. In a community this size, the meeting serves as both a governing body and a neighborhood gathering, keeping alive the tradition of direct democracy that Vermont has practiced since its founding.