Swanton

Long before European settlers arrived, the Swanton area was home to the Abenaki people, and it remains the cultural center of the Missisquoi Abenaki community today. The town was chartered in 1763 and sits at the mouth of the Missisquoi River where it empties into Lake Champlain's Missisquoi Bay. The river and lake made this a natural gathering place for thousands of years. In the nineteenth century, Swanton developed as a railroad town and agricultural center.

With a population of approximately 6,427, Swanton is one of the larger communities in Franklin County. The Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, covering thousands of acres of wetland along the lake, is one of Vermont's most important bird habitats. Dairy farming remains significant in the surrounding area. The town operates under a selectboard form of government, and residents participate in town meeting each March — continuing a tradition of local self-governance in a place where human community has roots stretching back millennia.