Editing Bethel, Vermont (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Bethel, Vt. (2675060343).jpg|thumb|[[Lithograph]] of Bethel from 1886 by [[L.R. Burleigh]] with list of landmarks]]
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|117.7|sqkm|disp=flip}}, of which {{convert|117.0|sqkm|disp=flip}} is land and {{convert|0.7|sqkm|disp=flip}}, or 0.58%, is water.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Bethel town, Windsor County, Vermont |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=July 30, 2012 }}</ref>

Bethel is crossed by [[Interstate 89]] (Exit 3 serves the town), [[Vermont Route 12]] and [[Vermont Route 107]]. [[Amtrak|Amtrak's]] ''Vermonter'' train, operating daily between [[Saint Albans, Vermont|St. Albans]] and [[Washington, DC]] also passes through, but does not stop in town as it traverses the [[New England Central Railroad]]. The closest stations are [[Randolph, Vermont|Randolph]] to the north and [[White River Junction, Vermont|White River Junction]] to the southeast.

===Etymology===
Dudley Chase, a grantee, was on a surveying expedition with a group of men. The men made camp in an area near the (now)entrance to Gilead Brook road where there is a group of large moss covered rocks. The men slept on the rocks and upon waking, Dudley Chase declared that it was the best night sleeping he had just like the Biblical experience of Jacob when sleeping in a field with a stone for a pillow.<ref>Genesis 28:11-22</ref> In the Biblical story, Jacob named the place [[Beth-el]] (House of God). Chase's associates were so impressed that they named the town the same.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virtualvermont.com/towns/bethel.html|title=Bethel, Vermont, New England, USA|access-date=February 5, 2017}}</ref>