Shrewsbury

Set among the hills of Rutland County, Shrewsbury was chartered in 1761 and settled in the years following the Revolutionary War. The town occupies high, rolling terrain east of Rutland, with elevations that kept the growing season short and the farming challenging. Shrewsbury Peak, part of the Green Mountain range, rises to over 3,700 feet and draws hikers along a stretch of the Long Trail.

The town's population of around 1,094 is spread across several small settlements — Cuttingsville, Northam, and Shrewsbury Center among them. The Shrewsbury Community Meeting House and the town's volunteer fire department serve as gathering points. The Pierce Store, a community-owned cooperative general store, reopened in recent years as a local effort to preserve a central meeting place. Town meeting in March remains the foundation of local governance, a chance for neighbors to debate budgets, elect officers, and tend to the shared work of running a hill town.