A Brief History of St. Johnsbury

Tucked away in the dark forests of Vermont's Northeast

Kingdom, St. Johnsbury was mostly unbroken wilderness

when first chartered in 1786. Swinging axes soon made way

for the burgeoning split-level town, with stately Main Street

homes on St. Johnsbury Plain presiding in grandeur over the

bustling commerce of Railroad Street below. Peggy Pearl brings

a decidedly human element to this comprehensive history,

wandering the graves of Mount Pleasant Cemetery and bringing

to life the stories of those tanners, cobblers, millworkers and

brick makers who made St. Johnsbury their home. With excerpts from vintage newspapers like the Caledonian-Record and the Farmer's Herald, Pearl unfolds the transformation from quiet mill town into picturesque manufacturing hub of Caledonia County