East Poultney - The Beginning

Poultney dates to 1761 when it was charted by Benning Wentworth, Royal Governor of New Hampshire. The first settlers came from Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Initial growth centered in East Poultney. A grist mill was built in 1777 and the village grew up around this mill. East Poultney was the original home of Heber Allen, brother, and Ebenezer Allen, cousin, of Revolutionary War hero, Ethan Allen. The East Poultney green and nearby streets look very similar to the way they were in the 1800s…

The Rise of the Village and Downtown Poultney

The 19th century saw the emergence of West Poultney as the center of town. The construction of Green Mountain College, Route 30 and later the railroad from Rutland to Albany assured the rise of the village and downtown area.

The last half the 19th century was a period of economic growth for Poultney spearheading a rise in the town's population from 2,278 in 1860 to 3,664 in 1910…

The Slate Industry

The slate industry transformed Poultney in the last half of the 19th century. An agrarian community populated principally by Yankees became an industrialized town enriched by a diverse group of immigrants. Allegedly, the slate industry was due to an accidental event. According to an old story, around 1843, a farmer was showing his land to a prospective buyer. The buyer kicked at a mound of soil and looked at the rocks he dislodged. He exclaimed to the farmer "Why that is slate" The farmer then decided not to sell!

The slate industry began in our area, when Colonel Alonsen Allen started the first quarry on Scotch Hill in Fair Haven in 1845. The first quarry in Poultney was the famed Eureka Quarry established in 1852 by Daniel Hooker. The initial applications of slate products were school slates for writing and slate pencils. By the late 1840s the Allen quarry was producing 600 school slates per day…