A Look at Vermont Trivia Quiz

Answer: Montpelier

Montpelier is located in the heart of Vermont's snow belt, which may explain why even the guy hired to shovel the State House steps takes a long time to do it. And who came up with the idea of four sets of steps, each as wide as the row of columns on the capitol building in a place where snow is measured in feet, not inches?

Montpelier, a town of modest population, became Vermont's capital in 1805, after some strenuous debate. There were attempts over the next fifty years or so to move it to another city but they all failed. It was given a city charter in 1895.

Answer: Burlington

Though chartered in 1763, Burlington wasn't really settled until 1775. With the advent of the Revolutionary War much development was put off until about 1783. Of all the cities that are the largest in their state Burlington has the smallest population.

The University of Vermont was founded there in 1791 and there are several colleges in the city and the surrounding area. The street shown here is Church Street, part of the main business section.

Answer: Lake Champlain

Named for French explorer Samuel de Champlain, the lake forms about one-third of the border between Vermont and New York. Because of land deformation caused by glaciers thousands of years ago it runs from south to north and empties into the St. Lawrence River. It was an important waterway in the 18th and 19th centuries but is mainly used for pleasure-boating now.

Among some of the unusual interesting things about Lake Champlain are Chazy Reef, a carbonate rock formation, mostly visible in the northern part of the lake, which can be traced from Newfoundland to Tennessee. And then there's Champ, the supposed lake monster, who was first reported by de Champlain himself in 1609. He said it was about 5 feet (1.5 m) long. Since then the monster seems to have grown in length, much as the story seems to have grown in the telling. It should be remembered that Lake Champlain has a sizable population of sturgeons.

Answer: Proctor

Proctor called itself the "Marble Capital of the World" for 80 years from 1880 to 1960, and perhaps rightly so. There were many large deposits of marble in the area, ranging in color from white through green to black. Railroad lines built into the region allowed marble to be shipped all over the United States.

Besides buildings, bridges and even sidewalks in Vermont, marble from the Vermont Marble Company was used in the construction of the Jefferson Memorial and Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. and buildings in many other places.

Answer: maple syrup

Maple syrup is made by boiling maple sap down until it turns into syrup. It is usually made in a specially constructed building, known as a sugar house in a large stove-like device called an evaporator. There are vents in the cupola to allow the steam to escape. Even so, there is still plenty of sugar residue in that steam to leave a sticky film. That's why they use a separate building.

It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Syrup is graded according to taste and color. It is one of Vermont's most important products as well as being a Vermont icon. The Vermont grading system is more stringent than national standards.

Answer: White River Junction

White River Junction is an unincorporated village in the town of Hartford. Besides being at the confluence of the White and Connecticut rivers, it became the junction of five railroad lines, and included an eight-track crossing that served fifty passenger trains a day.

The coming of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s dealt a severe blow to WRJ's economy, as it did to many small towns nationwide. Nowadays much of the rail traffic in the area is of the scenic tour variety.

Answer: Rutland

Rutland was chartered in 1761, named after John Manners, Third Duke of Rutland, England. The fair was originally an agricultural gathering, as most old fairs were. Rutland serves as a commercial center of western Vermont and was home to the Rutland Railroad, a busy line until the mid 1960s, when it was taken over by the Vermont Railway.

The picture for this question was taken in 1941. There seems to have been little change from then until I started going to that fair about 17 years later. Some other fairs in Vermont are the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction and "The World's Fair" in Tunbridge, which is a town low in population but high in self-esteem!

Answer: Bennington

The Battle of Bennington was actually fought in Walloomsac, New York, 10 mi (16 km) away, on August 16, 1777. British soldiers, part of the army of General John Burgoyne, were on their way to Bennington, where they expected opposition. The American troops, under General John Stark met them in New York.

The battle was important for both armies and a British victory would have split New England away from the rest of the colonies. General Stark put the importance of the battle directly to his men: "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories.

They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow."

Answer: Barre

Vermonters are considered to be self-effacing but some of the towns in the state must have been settled by relatives of P.T. Barnum! In fact, though, Barre (pronounced 'berry'), on the eastern side of the state has been a world center of granite quarrying. "Barre Gray" granite is known for being even-textured and very weather-resistant and is much sought-after. Some geologists think the veins of granite near Barre may be as much as 10 mi (16 km) deep.

The town received its grant from the British governor of New England in 1780. It was originally called Wildersburgh and was later renamed Barre. There is some local debate over whether the renaming rights were the result of a public auction or a fist fight! Much of its population growth came from stone-working immigrants from Italy, Greece, Scotland and many other European countries.

Answer: snowboarding

Snowboarding began when an engineer in Michigan made a sliding device for his daughters by fastening two skis together and attaching a rope for control. He called it a "Snurfer". Many people were interested and it became a niche sport. Then in 1977, a Vermonter and Snurfer fan named Jake Burton Carpenter took a critical look at the devices and came up with ways to improve them.

He founded Burton Snowboards, in Londonderry, Vt. Some people thought his original boards were rather pricey, at $38. Before long they caught on and snowboarding became an Olympic sport, a multi-billion dollar industry - and the bane of traditional skiers everywhere.