European settlement of the Green Mountains technically started before the Revolution but, for the most part, the upper elevation areas were neither settled nor exploited extensively until after the War. Therefore, the great majority of the sites, features and landscapes visible today are a product of the 19th and early 20th centuries

The Forest has more than 2000 such sites, including the archaeological remains of farmsteads, mills, schools, meeting houses, charcoal and lime kilns, roads, stone walls, and more. For the most part, these sites exist today in a forested environment, far different from the landscape(s) at the time they were bustling, productive homes and workplaces.

Many of these sites have been located and mapped, but far fewer have been well-investigated or evaluated.

We also own and manage several significant historic structures, including:

 

Perkins Barns

The historic mid-19th century post-and-beam Perkins Barns have been incorporated into our Rochester Ranger District office facility. Two of the original four barns were stabilized, moved back from their original road-side locations and reconfigured to be a parking facility for Forest Service vehicles.

The Barns are both characteristic and unique examples of post-and-beam farm architecture. The taller barn is a classic Yankee or New England style barn, built before 1850, with neat, symmetrical interior craftsmanship and bays on both sides of an impressive entrance and drive-through. The extended milking parlor is unique in that the builder used "natural" beams and knee braces along the front of the building, rather than squaring them off; this technique is virtually unique among other surviving 19th century structures in Vermont

In Vermont's evolving economy, hundreds of these once-common agricultural buildings are lost to neglect, development, and changing priorities each year. By putting these old structures to good use, the Forest Service is helping to preserve a rapidly disappearing piece of Vermont's agricultural and architectural heritage, and maintain the visual character that makes Vermont Route 100 and it's landscape popular among tourists, visitors and residents alike.

Somerset Schoolhouse

Another early structure is the Somerset Schoolhouse. Originally constructed in the 1850's as a classic one-room school, it has seen a couple of other subsequent uses, including a time when it was the town office. Today it sits alongside a well-used dirt road, emblematic of a time gone by.

Fire Lookout Towers

During the early part of this century, logging practices were unregulated and the poor practices led to some significant fires. As a result, Fire Lookouts were erected in strategic locations so that they could be linked in a observation network. Only a few of the original towers remain in Vermont, and two of them are on the National Forest, on Glastenbury and Stratton Mountains. Erected in the 1920's and 30's, respectively, the towers sit atop the Long and Appalachian Trail Corridor and are thus in high demand as vista points for hikers and campers.  In 2005 the Forest Service, the Green Mountain Club and volunteers from the Forest Fire Lookout Association rehabilitated the Glastenbury Mountain Lookout, replacing the steps/risers, stabilizing the structure, and fabricating a new roof.

Civilian Conservation Corps Camps

The Depression-era legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps (established in 1933 as part of Roosevelt’s “New Deal”) is reflected on the Forest. At one time during the 1930's there were 5 active CCC camps on the Forest (Mt Tabor, Weston, Peru, West River and Rochester).  The men at these camps built roads, trails and campgrounds, fought fires, planted trees and generally established much of the infrastructure of the early National Forest. Today a few of the buildings and many of the features, travel ways and landscapes created by the Corps remain.  The most visible and frequently visited CCC legacy for most Forest visitors is the Hapgood Pond Recreation area, in the town of Peru.  Virtually all of the landscaping, including the configuration of the pond, and well-used features like the picnic shelters are the work of the CCC.

Weston CCC Camp

Hapgood Bathhouse in Situ ca

CCC's Silver Bridge