Calais, Vermont
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Calais is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,529 at the 2000 census. Calais is pronounced similar to palace, not chalet.
Calais once had a village called Sodom. This name was allegedly given because the village had no church, though it did have a few active quarries. In 1905 the residents petitioned the state legislature to change the name to Adamant, chosen to suggest the hardness of granite. "Adamant is supposedly a name just as hard but not as wicked." says Frank Suchomel, the president of the Adamant Music School and local historian. Calais also contains East Calais, North Calais, Kent's Corner, Maple Corner and Pekin.
Pekin is after Peking (now Beijing), China, the result of a local farmer who had a friend who was a missionary to China. The missionary sent some Chinese wheat back to Vermont, the farmer planted it, and it flourished. It became the style to give directions using the wheat field as a landmark ("up by the Pekin wheat", or "just past the Pekin wheat"). Eventually, the location of the field came to be known simply as Pekin.
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[edit] History
The Wheelocks and Parkers were the first families to settle the town, in the latter part of the 18th century. In the early and mid 19th century, the Vermont wool industry spawned Sheep pastures in the town. Photos of the time show a heavily de-forested Calais. Like many small Vermont towns, Calais was devastated by the Civil War. Volunteers from Calais flocked to the Union cause, most serving in the Armies volunteer regiments. In the post Civil War era, agriculture turned from sheep to dairy and new families came to fill farms that were sold by the families and widows of Civil War Veterans. Until the 1960s and 1970s the town was a Republican stronghold, like much of Vermont but is now firmly Democratic, a combination of an influx of out of staters moving in during the same period, and native-born Vermont Republicans finding that party's increasing social conservatism incongruous with their beliefs.
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 99.9 km² (38.6 mi²). 98.5 km² (38.0 mi²) of it is land and 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (1.45%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 1,529 people, 616 households, and 418 families residing in the town. The population density was 15.5/km² (40.2/mi²). There were 773 housing units at an average density of 7.8/km² (20.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.08% White, 0.33% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.39% from other races, and 2.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.39% of the population.
There were 616 households out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were couples living together and joined in either marriage or civil union, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 32.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $46,083, and the median income for a family was $49,107. Males had a median income of $33,000 versus $27,917 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,722. About 4.9% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Points of interest
- Kents Corner[1]
- Old West Church[2]
- Maple Corner
- Robinson Saw Mill
- Curtis Pond
- Nelson Pond
- Bliss Pond
- Grand View Winery[3]
- Adamant Co-op[4]
[edit] Notable residents
- Nathaniel George Clark, clergyman.
- John La Touche, musical lyricist.
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
[edit] Local Business Links
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