Proctor

Marble built Proctor — literally. The Vermont Marble Company, founded by Redfield Proctor in the 1880s, became one of the largest marble quarrying operations in the world, and the town that grew up around it was named for the family. Redfield Proctor served as Vermont's governor and later as a U.S. Senator, and the Proctor family's influence on Vermont politics lasted for generations.

The town's marble heritage is visible everywhere: in the bridges, sidewalks, and public buildings constructed from the local stone. The Vermont Marble Museum, housed in a former company building, tells the story of the industry and the immigrant workers — Italian, Swedish, Polish — who carved and polished the stone. Proctor marble was used in the U.S. Supreme Court building and the Lincoln Memorial.

With about 1,900 residents, Proctor is smaller than it was in the quarrying heyday, but the town retains a tidy, well-maintained character. Otter Creek runs through town, and the surrounding hills offer hiking. Town meeting and a selectboard handle governance — the same democratic structure that every Vermont community uses, regardless of how powerful its founding family once was.