Shaftsbury

Chartered in 1761, Shaftsbury was among the earliest New Hampshire Grants and saw its first permanent settlers arrive in 1763. The town played a direct role in Vermont's pre-statehood conflicts — Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys had strong ties to the area, and several early leaders of the Vermont Republic called Shaftsbury home. The town's Baptist congregation, organized in 1768, was one of the first in Vermont.

Robert Frost lived in Shaftsbury for years, writing some of his most celebrated poems from a farmhouse on Route 7A. The stone house where he lived is now a museum. With a population around 3,571, Shaftsbury today is a mix of working farms, small businesses, and residential neighborhoods spread across the valley between the Taconic Range and the Green Mountains. The town operates under a selectboard form of government, and the annual town meeting in March remains the primary venue for residents to shape local policy.