Caledonia County VT Archives History .....Ryegate, VT.  The Earliest Days.  Dr. Dwights Narrative. - Description. - Indian Trails 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Tina Vickery tsvickery@adelphia.net February 10, 2006, 7:04 pm

Book Title: History Of Ryegate, VT From Its Settlement By The Scotch-American Company Of Farmers To Present Time With Genealogical Records Of Many Families

In the year 1812, Rev. Dr. Dwight, president of Yale
College, published a narrative of a journey to Canada, and
took occasion to speak in very high terms of the Scotch
settlers of Ryegate and Barnet, and of the favorable
estimate in which they were everywhere held for their
industry, good order and good morals, adding also that, as
far as he could learn they were, generally, in very good
circumstances.

These towns are the only ones in the state which were
settled by colonies from beyond the Atlantic, and Ryegate is
unique among all New England towns in that its affairs were,
during some years, regulated by an association of farmers
and artizans in far-off Scotland. Its history, therefore,
must be very different from its neighboring communities,
which were settled by immigrants from the older towns along
the sea coast, who were, themselves, descended from the
earliest settlers of New England.

In many things this colony was unique.  Upon those who
formed it the Church of Scotland had laid the strong hand of
here faith, and the Presbyterian form of belief and practice
is held, almost without dissent, by their children.

It is the purpose of this work to consider the reasons which
induced the first settlers of Ryegate to leave Scotland; the
organization through which the land was selected, divided,
and governed during some years, the toils and privations of
the colonists and their ultimate prosperity, to give the
history of its institutions and gather the annals of its
families.  

In the first place it is necessary to give some account of
the region in which it lies, and what we know about its
history before its settlement.  It occupies the southeastern
corner of Caledonia County, and is separated by Connecticut
River from Bath in New Hampshire. South lies Newbury, in
Orange County, and west and north are Groton and Barnet. The
soil of Ryegate is not excelled in fertility by that of any
other town in New England, and the town has always ranked
high in the amount and value of it agricultural products,
especially those of the dairy.  The underlying rock is
granite, with limestone alternations, and the town lies in a
strip of land which extends through Barnet, Peacham and
Danville, and is considered by eminent geological authority
to be the most productive section east of the Hudson.  It is
watered by brooks which flow into the Connecticut, or into
it tributary stream called Wells River.  In the center of
the town, in the midst of rolling uplands, lies the hamlet
of Ryegate Corner.  North of it, to the height of 2192 feet
above sea level, rises Blue Mountain, its southerly side
scarred by quarries.  South Ryegate and East Ryegate,
several miles apart, are thriving villages along its
borders.  A few small ponds surrounded by romantic scenery
are found in different parts of the town.  

All over the town among the hills and upon the uplands,
which houses and huge barns evince the taste and prosperity
of it inhabitants.

This is the Ryegate that we know.  But Ryegate, when first
called by that name, was an unbroken wilderness, without a
clearing of any kind, or roads or paths, except those made
by Indian feet.  Could one have stood on Blue Mountain then,
he would have seen only a vast forest, stretching as far as
the eye could reach, with the chain of mountain peaks rising
in the east.  It formed a part of the wilderness which lay
between the English colonies, and the French settlements
along the Saint Lawrence, and we do not know whether its
first white visitors ere French or English.

Those who have devoted much time in studying Indian history
and traditions, are of opinion that this part of New England
was never the permanent abode of any large tribe of Indians,
but that it was neutral ground lying between the tribe along
the Atlantic coast, and the nations of the interior.  It is
know, however, that from time immemorial, parties from
different tribes visited the great meadows of Newbury and
Haverhill, which they had cleared, and where they raised
corn in their rude fashion.

The section of the Connecticut valley between Orford and the
mouth of the Ammonoosuc, was called Coos or Kohass, and a
similar tract near Lancaster and Guildhall was called by the
same name, and these sections were distinguished by the
titles of the Lower and Upper Coos. There is much difference
of opinion as to the precise meaning of the name.

To reach these cleared intervales there were paths or trails
which led to the distant Indian towns or hunting grounds.
One of these trails came up from the Merrimac Valley,
following very nearly the course of the railroad from
Plymouth to Haverhill.  Another lay along the Connecticut.
According to the best authorities there was a famous trail
which left the great river at the mouth of Wells River, held
a northerly course, and dived into two branches about where
Ryegate Corner is now.  One of these trails went north
through Peacham, Walden and Greensboro to the head waters of
the Lamoille, and the celebrated Hazen Road followed its
general course.  The other branch took its way over the high
lands west to the Winooski Valley.  There is a very ancient
map which gives the general course of both the Connecticut
and Wells Rivers, with the line of this trail and says, "
Along this route many captives have been carried to Canada."
The famous Indian scout known as Indian Joe or Joe Indian,
who lived at Newbury, and whose grave in the Oxbow cemetery
there is suitably marked, knew all the trails well, and much
of the little we really know about them came through those
who knew him.  He died in 1819.  Joe's Pond and Brook in
Cabot and Danville perpetuate his name, and Molly's Pond and
Brook that of his wife.

Additional Comments:
History of Ryegate, VT
From its Settlement by the Scotch-American Company of Farmers to Present Time
With Genealogical Records of Many Families
By Edward Miller and Frederic P. Wells
St. Johnsbury, VT.
The Caledonian Company, 1913
Copyright, 1913, by the Town of Ryegate
page 1-2

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