Royalton

On October 16, 1780, a raiding party of roughly 300 Loyalists and Indigenous warriors descended on Royalton and the neighboring towns, burning homes, killing settlers, and taking captives. The Royalton Raid was one of the last major attacks on the Vermont frontier during the Revolutionary War, and the town has never forgotten it — a monument in the village marks the event.

Chartered in 1769, Royalton sits along the White River in Windsor County. The town includes the villages of Royalton, South Royalton, and North Royalton. South Royalton is home to Vermont Law and Graduate School (originally Vermont Law School), the state's only law school and a nationally recognized center for environmental law. The school's presence brings students, faculty, and legal conferences to a village that might otherwise be a quiet river crossroads.

With about 2,790 residents, Royalton has the economic benefit of hosting a graduate institution while maintaining the agricultural landscape that has defined it for centuries. Town meeting governance continues, as it has since the ashes of the 1780 raid cooled and the settlers returned to rebuild.