Strafford

Home to one of the most photographed town halls in Vermont, Strafford's white-columned Town House sits on an elevated green that commands the surrounding landscape. Built in 1799, the building has hosted town meetings continuously since its construction. Justin Smith Morrill, author of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts that created America's public university system, was born in Strafford in 1810. His Gothic Revival home, now a National Historic Landmark, stands as a monument to one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in American education.

Strafford's population of about 1,059 reflects a community that has maintained its rural character through the centuries. The town lies in Orange County along the Ompompanoosuc River, and its landscape of hill farms and sugar bushes has changed less than most places in the state. Town meeting in the historic Town House each March connects present-day residents to an unbroken tradition of self-governance — the same walls, the same purpose, for more than two hundred years.