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Woodbury: An Excellent and Honorable Record
Woodbury: An Excellent and Honorable Record
by Sen. Bill Doyle
Woodbury was chartered on the 16th day of August 1781 during the time that Vermont was a republic and the Revolutionary War was still going on. The charter was granted to Colonel Ebenezer Wood and others, and most people feel this was the origin of the name of the town. However, ten other states have a Woodbury, including Connecticut, and one theory suggests that since many of the grantees were from Woodbury, Connecticut, that was likely the origin of the town name.
The charter required that the proprietors cultivate five acres of land and build a house at least 18 feet square or have “one family settled on each right in the term of three years next after the circumstances of the war will admit of a settlement with safety.” The charter went on to say that all suitable pine timber would be reserved for a navy.
There were many churches in the early history of Woodbury, including Free Will Baptists and Methodists. In 1826, there were 40 Free Will Baptists and 20 Methodists. In 1810 there was a revival in Woodbury, and in 1821 or 1822, “there was a general revival, prayer meetings being held in nearly every house in Woodbury.” One purpose of the revivals was religious conversion. In 1848, there was a Sabbath School organized with six teachers, 30 scholars and 200 volumes in the library.
The first settlement was in East Woodbury, near Cabot, where Woodbury residents went to get their grain ground and their logs sawed. The first school in Woodbury was taught by Sally White in 1808. In 1812 there were three school districts, and by 1870, there were 10 school districts, with 308 pupils.
The Woodbury Granite Company was organized in 1878 and encompassed 25 acres. Woodbury granite had a special quality of gray adapted for monumental and building purposes. Enormous blocks of granite were moved from this quarry, the largest of which was 275 feet long by 15 feet wide. In recent years, when a new wing was planned for the Pennsylvania Statehouse, the Rock of Ages Company was contracted by the State of Pennsylvania. Woodbury granite had been used in the building’s original design. Indeed, blocks of Woodbury granite were shipped all over the world and were used in the construction of at least four other state capitol buildings, in addition to Pennsylvania.
Woodbury originally had rail service to the granite quarries, but in the late 1930s, the rails were removed and sold to Japan. During the height of the granite industry, according to Vera Batchelder, postmistress of Woodbury, there were boarding houses for 800 quarry workers.
In the 1830s, “the townspeople became disenchanted with their town’s name and asked to have it changed to Monroe, which became an act of the legislature in 1838.” The residents of Woodbury selected Monroe to honor James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, who was greatly respected in Vermont. Monroe had visited Vermont in 1817 and many people traveled long distances to see him and hear him speak. In 1843, the residents asked to have the name changed back to Woodbury and said the name change was in honor of Ebenezer Wood, the first proprietor.
In addition to East Woodbury, there was Woodbury Center, which today has a post office that was established in 1828. South Woodbury had a post office established in 1864, but it closed in the 1970s. West Woodbury is part of the Worcester Range of the Green Mountains, known as the Woodbury Mountain.
There are more ponds and bodies of water in Woodbury than in any town in Vermont, the total number being 23. All of this water drains out of Woodbury either to the Lamoille River basin to the north or the Winooski basin to the south.
During the Civil War, Vermont had more volunteers per capita than any other state in the Union, and Woodbury had the highest percentage of any community in Vermont.
“In the late war, Woodbury claims and is justly entitled to an excellent and honorable war record. One hundred and forty-four of her patriotic sons enlisted and went into the army – a number that more than filled her quota, who came forward without being stimulated by public meetings, or the offer of excessive bounties. No town in the state, with a population as small, sent more men to the war than Woodbury.”
Senator Bill Doyle serves on the Senate Education Committee and Senate Economic Affairs Committee, and is the Senate Minority Leader. He teaches government history at Johnson State College. He can be reached at 186 Murray Road, Montpelier, VT 05602; e-mail wdoyle@leg.state.vt.us; or call 223-2851.
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