Barnard is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Windsor County,

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. The population was 992 at the 2020 census. The town has two unincorporated villages: Barnard and East Barnard, along with the hamlets of Newcombsville, Mountain Meadows, and Fort Defiance.

History

The town was chartered on July 17, 1761, by a New Hampshire Grant. It was named "Bernard" after one of the five grantees of the town,

Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet (bapt. 12 July 1712 – 16 June 1779) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of the provinces of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay. His uncompromising policies and harsh tactics in Massachus ...

, who was governor of the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...

from 1760 to 1769. The town's name was changed to Barnard some time before 1810. In 1928,

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

–winning novelist

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...

bought Connett Place with a total and adjacent Chase Farm. He named the property Twin Farms and used it as a vacation house during the 1930s and 1940s with his wife

Dorothy Thompson Dorothy Celene Thompson (July 9, 1893 – January 30, 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany, in 1934, and was one of the few women news commentators broadc ...

. In 1941, German playwright

Carl Zuckmayer Carl Zuckmayer (27 December 1896 – 18 January 1977) was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer. His first two dramas were failures. In 1929, he wrote the script ...

, a refugee from Nazi Germany whom Dorothy Thompson had helped to get into the US, rented Backwoods Farm, with its farmhouse from 1783 nowadays owned by Hannah Kahn and a total , from Joseph Ward (of Maynes & Ward hardware store on Main Street in

Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Cha ...

) for 50 dollars a month. Zuckmayer worked this property as a farmer until 1946 and wrote the play ''Des Teufels General'' (''The Devil's General'') there. His autobiography ''A Part of Myself'' (1966) deals extensively with these years. Zuckmayer's wife Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer also wrote a memoir of their time in Barnard: ''The Farm in the

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont and are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Que ...

'' (''Die Farm in den grünen Bergen'').

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which 48.7 are land and 0.2 is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 958 people, 383 households, and 276 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 19.7 people per square mile (7.6/km²). There were 629 housing units at an average density of 12.9 per square mile (5.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.43%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.42% Hispanic or Latino, 0.31% Asian and 1.04% from two or more races. There were 383 households, out of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.7% were non-families. 21.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.84. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.4% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 32.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $45,787, and the median income for a family was $48,125. Males had a median income of $29,485 versus $25,385 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $25,354. About 4.7% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 10.0% of those under age 18 and 2.4% of those age 65 or over.

Silver Lake State Park

Silver Lake State Park, encompassing the northern shoreline of Silver Lake, was established in 1955 when some land with shore frontage was donated to the state by John McDill of Woodstock, Margaret Crosby of Barnard, and Richard H. Field of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Silver Lake had originally been called Stebbings' Pond after Benjamin Stebbings who owned land at the outlet where the village now stands. Later the lake became known as Barnard Pond. In 1869, it was renamed Silver Lake.

Education

Barnard Academy is a public elementary school located on Route 12. It has educational programs from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Barnard Academy is part of the Windsor Central Supervisory Union.

Notable people

* Andrew J. Aikens, newspaper editor * Asa Aikens, Justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The court ...

, Nobel Prize-winning novelist, short story writer, and playwright * Mark Mitchell, architect and politician * Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, American author, political thinker and educationist * Lloyd I. Rudolph, American author, political thinker and educationist *

, journalist * Tulius Cicero Tupper, Major General of the Mississippi State Troops in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. *

, German writer and playwright

References

External links

*
Official website
{{authority control Towns in Vermont Towns in Windsor County, Vermont 1761 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies