About Vermont | Vermont History | Vermont Attractions

On July 30, 1609, French explorer Samuel de Champlain claimed the area of what is now Lake Champlain, giving to the mountains the name of Green Mountains. France claimed Vermont as part of New France, and erected Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La as part of the fortification of Lake Champlain in 1666. This was the first European settlement in Vermont. During the latter half of the 17th century, non-French settlers began to explore Vermont and its surrounding area. In 1690, a group of Dutch and British settlers from Albany established the De Warm Stockade at Chimney Point.

During the French and Indian War, some Vermont settlers, including Ethan Allen, joined the colonial militia assisting the British in attacks on the French. Fort Carillon on the New York border with Vermont, was the site of two British offensives: an unsuccessful attack in 1758 and the taking of the fort the following year with no major resistance. The British renamed the fort Fort Ticonderoga, which became the site of two later battles during the Revolutionary War.

It was in the year 1763 when Reverend Samuel Peters christened the State of Vermont from the top of Killington Peak, naming the state "Verde-Mont," French for Green Mountain, as he smashed a bottle of booze on the rocks. Following the Declaration of Independence, on January 17, 1777, Vermont declared itself an independent republic in a meeting held at Westminster, with the little republic minting its own coins and providing postal service until 1791 when Vermont was admitted to the union, the first state to join the original thirteen.