Brownsville is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
West Windsor,
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
, United States. Located on
Vermont Route 44
Vermont Route 44 (VT 44) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Vermont. The highway runs from Vermont Route 106, VT 106 in Reading, Vermont, Reading east to U.S. Route 5 in Vermont, U.S. Route 5 (US 5) and Vermont Route ...
, the village houses a number of administrative offices for the town of
West Windsor.
History
The village derives its name from two settlers, John and Briant Brown. The West Windsor Historical Society is in Brownsville and has a wealth of information on the sheep farms and industries that sustained the early residents.
Just east of Brownsville is the entrance to
Ascutney Mountain Resort
Ascutney Mountain Resort was a downhill ski area on the western side of Mount Ascutney in Brownsville, Vermont that operated from 1946 until 2010. It was purchased by local communities and the Trust for Public Land in 2015, with plans to reopen a ...
, which used to be one of the major ski areas in the state, until it closed for good in 2010 and their ski lifts were sold in August 2014. In 2015, Brownsville bought the failed ski area, working with the state of Vermont and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.
Geography
Slightly south and west of Brownsville is the Little Ascutney Wildlife Management Area, a state owned conservation area hosting wildlife such as white-tailed deer, fisher, coyotes, bobcats, beaver and otter.
File:Brownsville_VT_Cemetery.jpg, View of town and Mt. Ascutney from the cemetery
Covered Bridges
Three of Vermont's covered bridges are nearby –
Best's Bridge
Best's Covered Bridge ''(aka'' Swallow's Bridge) is a historic covered bridge in West Windsor, Vermont, that carries Churchill Road over Mill Brook, just south of Vermont Route 44. Built in 1889, it is an architecturally distinctive laminated ar ...
near Churchill Road and
Bowers Bridge
The Bowers Covered Bridge ''(aka'' Brownsville Bridge) is a historic covered bridge, carrying Bible Hill Road across Mill Brook in the Brownsville section of West Windsor, Vermont. Built in 1919, it has a laminated-arch deck covered by a post-a ...
, both of which are listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. The Twigg bridge on Yale Road was moved to its location by a developer and was heavily damaged by wind in 2002. The flooding caused by
tropical storm Irene The name Irene has been used for twelve tropical cyclones worldwide. Seven in the Atlantic, two in the South and Western Pacific, and one on the South-West Indian Ocean and Australian region basins. It has also been used for two European windstorms ...
in 2011 damaged several bridges such as the Bowers Bridge.
Government
File:Brownsville_VT_Town_Hall.jpg, West Windsor Office Building
File:Brownsville_VT_Post_Office.jpg, US Post Office on Highway 44
Notes
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Unincorporated communities in Vermont
Brownsville
Unincorporated communities in Windsor County, Vermont