Peacham

I once lived in a flat, newly-built suburban area in another state, where the effort to achieve variety had such a modern touch that it resulted largely in uniformity. It lacked wholly the atmosphere which I feel--and generally feel an affection for--in Vermont...Charles Edward Crane


In my last post I went on for a bit about "pretty" being an inadequate and overused word for describing the Vermont landscape, but I have to say that Peacham is pretty. A row of imposingly formal houses gives its Main Street a genteel air, and the town has historically been a vacation spot for "quality" folks in government and academia. Peacham was also the childhood home of the ungenteel anti-slavery crusader Thaddeus Stevens, on the U.S. Congress's all time honor roll for angry, radical, powerful and principled members.

Peacham sits up high, it's fancy houses poised on a long hill fronted by stone walls. In fact, the town is situated on the ridge that divides Vermont into two watersheds, one side draining into the Connecticut River and the other towards Lake Champlain.


The Bayley-Hazen Road (built during the Revolution to move Benedict Arnold's troops north for an assault on Canada, but more successfully utilized in getting settlers to the Northeast Kingdom) runs lengthwise through the village. I always feel like it's an historical adventure to steer down that narrow, rolling route from West Danville towards Groton.

Peacham facts and figures