Introducing Brattleboro
Perched at the confluence of the Connecticut and West Rivers, Brattleboro is a little gem that reveals its facets to those who stroll the streets and prowl the dozens of independent shops and eateries. An energetic mix of aging hippies and the latest crop of pierced and tattooed hipsters fuels the town’s sophisticated eclecticism, keeping the downtown scene percolating and skewing its politics decidedly leftward.
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The Whetstone Brook runs through the south end of town, where a wooden stockade dubbed Fort Dummer was built to defend Vermont’s first Colonial settlement (1724) against Native Americans. The town received its royal charter a year later, named for Colonel William Brattle Jr of the King’s Militia, who never set foot in his namesake.
At the Old Town Hall (location of the current Main Street Gallery), many celebrated thinkers and entertainers held forth on the concerns of the day, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Horace Greeley and Will Rogers. Rudyard Kipling married a Brattleboro woman in 1892, and while living here he wrote The Jungle Book.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Thorn Tree forum discussion
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Re: Vermont in the Fall
by grumpieroldman 29 August 2011
In response to #4, itzawonnder: +Vermont has done a brilliant job of marketing, and claiming ownership, of a natural occurrence which…
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RE: Vermont in the Fall
by Melanielovescats 28 August 2011
No toll parking on Sundays Flat Street Low Lot in Brattleboro. But, on a better note. On 142 from Brattleboro on the way to Mass,…
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Re: Vermont
by angelajoy 23 July 2011
I second Brattleboro. I had a friend growing up in the "Tri-state region" VT, MA, and NH, and I can tell you that the whole south of…
