Editing Wardsboro, Vermont (section)

==History==

[[Image:Main Street, Wardsboro, VT.jpg|thumb|left|Main Street {{circa|1915}}]]
The town was settled circa 1779 by Samuel Davis and his wife from [[Milford, Massachusetts|Milford]], [[Massachusetts]].<ref>[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtwindha/vhg5/vt_gazetteer-wardsboro.htm John P. Warren, MD, ''Vermont Historical Gazetteer -- Wardsboro;'' Brandon, Vermont 1891]</ref> It was granted and chartered on November 7, 1780, to William Ward of [[Newfane, Vermont|Newfane]], for whom the town was named Wardsborough, together with 62 others. In 1788, it was divided into north and south districts, the latter set off and incorporated in 1810 as [[Dover, Vermont|Dover]]. Although the terrain is very uneven and in parts rocky, farmers worked the soil into productivity.<ref>[http://newenglandtowns.org/vermont/wardsborough Hayward's ''New England Gazetteer of 1839'']</ref>

[[Water mill|Mills]] were built along the brook, a [[tributary]] of the [[West River (Vermont)|West River]]. In 1859, industries included three [[gristmill]]s, six sawmills, one [[Tanning (leather)|tannery]], and a [[Rawhide (textile)|rawhide]] whip factory.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OcoMAAAAYAAJ&dq=coolidge%20mansfield%20history%20description%20new%20england%201859&pg=PA931 Austin J. Coolidge & John B. Mansfield, ''A History and Description of New England;'' Boston, Massachusetts 1859]</ref> During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Wardsborough Center was called Unionville because of its strong Federal sentiment. In the 1880s, Jebediah Estabrook's tub, bucket and pail factory at Wardsborough Center was the area's principal employer.<ref>[http://www.virtualvermont.com/towns/wardsboro.html Virtual Vermont -- Wardsboro, Vermont]</ref> In 1894, the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Post Office]] dropped the "ugh" from town names ending in "borough," so Wardsborough was thereafter known as Wardsboro.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Wardsboro was one of thirteen Vermont towns isolated by flooding caused by [[Hurricane Irene (2011)|Hurricane Irene]] in 2011, and it was the last of those towns to be released from its isolation.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/us/31floods.html Floodwaters From Storm Isolate 13 Vermont Towns], ''The New York Times''</ref>

In April 2016, the Vermont State Legislature voted to make the Gilfeather Turnip the Official Vermont State Vegetable. This unusual hybrid, dating back to the early 1900s, is credited to Farmer John Gilfeather of the Gilfeather Farm in Wardsboro.