Newbury, Vermont
Orange county. This is a beautiful town on the W. side of Connecticut river, and supplied with mill privileges by Wells river, and Hariman's and Hill's brooks. These brooks have their sources in ponds of considerable size. Newbury comprises the tract commonly called the Great Oxbow, on a bend in Connecticut river. This tract is of great extent, and celebrated for its luxuriance and beauty. The agricultural productions of the town are very valuable, consisting of beef cattle, wool, and all the varieties of the dairy. The town contains a number of mineral springs, of some celebrity in scrofulous and cutaneous complaints.
The villages of Newbury and Wells River are very pleasant: they command a flourishing trade, and contain manufacturing establishments of various kinds. Some of the buildings are very handsome. The scenery of the windings of the river through this fine tract of alluvial meadow, contrasted with the abrupt acclivities in the north part of the town, is very striking and beautiful.
The town is connected with Haverhill, N.H., by two bridges. It lies 27 miles S.E. from Montpelier, and 20 N.E. from Chelsea. Population, 1830, 2,252. First settled 1764. The first settlers endured many hardships. For some years they had to go to Charlestown to mill, 60 miles distant, carrying their grain in canoes down the river, or drawing it on the ice.
General Bailey, a patriot of the revolution, distinguished himself in the settlement of the town.
The state legislature held their sessions in Newbury in the years 1787, and 1801.
