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Around And About Addison County-Ripton

Tuesday November 4, 2008

By M. Stuart Parks

    The town of Ripton sits at a height of 1,778 feet above sea level and is nestled in the heart of the Green Mountain National Forest.  With the exception of Mt. Abraham in Bristol at 4,052 feet high, Ripton has the highest mountains in the county:  Robert Frost Mt. at 2,513 feet, Bread Loaf Mt. at 3,823 feet, Mt. Wilson at 3,756 feet, Mt. Roosevelt at 3,580 feet and Battell Mt. at 3,471 feet.  

    A quick look at an Addison County map determines that Ripton is one of the largest townships with 31,599 acres or 49.37 square miles.  It was not that large when it was chartered in 1781 and the records give the spelling as Riptown.  There were many stories told about the reason for this and one local wit suggested that the name ‘Riptown’ was given because bits of land were taken, or ‘ripped’, from other towns to increase its size.  The town was actually named after Ripton, CT, where Abel Thompson, the first-named grantee came from.  Several other grantees including the DeForest family were also living in Ripton, CT when they petitioned Vermont for land.  The spelling was changed soon after the town was settled.

    Ripton remained uninhabited for about twenty years after its charter date of 1781.  In 1800, when other towns were being settled and even Hancock had a population of 149, Ripton was still without its first real settler.  A rumor sprang up that the proprietors would give a right of land, usually 100 acres, to the first child born in Ripton.  Ebenezer Collar, thinking to cash in on this, cut his way into the forest and erected a temporary shelter.  There, on November 11, 1801, his wife delivered a daughter whom they named Fanny.  Fanny later married Amasa Piper but never received the right of land.   

    Ebenezer Collar was soon followed by other settlers.  Some of those who came before the town was organized in 1828 were Asa Collar, Ebenezer’s father and Thomas Fuller along with Luman Cogswell, William Ellis, Jonathan Brown and Abraham Fulsom.  Also included in that list were Parsons Billings, William Alden, Noah Bailey and his brother Orin Bailey, Benjamin Hale and his son Daniel, and Nathaniel McQuivey.

    However, settlement increased slowly and by 1825 there were still only eighteen families in town.  The first efforts at organization came in 1828, the year that Daniel Chipman came to Ripton from Middlebury.  In March the men met at the home of Calvin Pier and elected officers as follows:  Daniel Chipman, Moderator; Calvin Pier, Town Clerk; Lucius Abbey , Ethan Owen, Nathaniel McQuivney, Selectmen; Daniel Chipman, Treasurer; Jonathon Brown, Ethan Owen, Samuel Beebe, Listers; William Arnold, First Constable; Daniel Chipman, Grand Juror; Jonathan Brown, Lewis Huntley, William Hunter, Benjamin Hale, Surveyors of Highways; James Miles, Tidingman and John Maganety, Hog Howard.  A tidingman was apparently a tax collector and a hog howard was the equivalent of today’s dog catcher.

    For the most part the soil in Ripton is too rough for cultivation so it wasn’t long before it became clear the best assets of the town were the vast forests of hemlock, beech, maple, birch, spruce, balsam, basswood and ash with some pine.  Along with this the Middlebury River rises in Hancock and carries the spring melt and summer rainstorms down the mountain.  From 1830 to 1840 there were as many as twelve sawmills in town because of the high price of lumber.  The boom lasted until about 1860 when the old mills were allowed to decay although they were later replaced by newer mills with circular saws.  Along with the sawmills there was a grist mill and two large kilns that supplied charcoal to the East Middlebury Iron Forge.  Before 1850 there was a butter-tub factory and a tannery.

    Ripton is the home of several important historical sites including the Chipman Inn, the Noble farm which was the home of Robert Frost, the Middlebury College Summer School and the Breadloaf Writers Conference. Daniel Chipman, Robert Frost and Colonel Joseph Battell were men who contributed immensely to the town and helped it in every way possible.  Considerable histories have been written about these men, their accomplishments and their influence on the town and are available at any local library.

    Although the sawmills are gone and the town has no real industry Ripton is still a vibrant community where a great number of its citizens are active in community affairs while they enjoy the privilege of living in one of the most beautiful towns in the County.

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