Calais, Vermont

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Calais, Vermont |settlement_type = Town |nickname = |motto = |image_skyline = calais_town_hall_vermont.jpg |imagesize = 250px |image_caption = Calais Town Hall |image_flag = |image_seal = |image_map = Washington County Vermont Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Calais highlighted.svg |map_caption = Location in Washington County and the state of Vermont  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = Vermont |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = Washington |parts_type = Communities |parts = {{ubl|Adamant|East Calais|Kents Corner|Maple Corner (Calais P.O.)|North Calais|Pekin}}  |established_title = |established_date = |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name =  |unit_pref = Imperial |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = 99.9 |area_land_km2 = 98.5 |area_water_km2 = 1.5 |area_total_sq_mi = 38.6 |area_land_sq_mi = 38.0 |area_water_sq_mi = 0.6  |population_as_of = 2020 |population_total = 1661 |population_footnotes = |population_density_km2 = auto |population_density_sq_mi =  |timezone = Eastern (EST) |utc_offset = -5 |timezone_DST = EDT |utc_offset_DST = -4 |elevation_footnotes = <ref name=gnis/> |elevation_ft = 1158 |coordinates = {{coord|44|22|15|N|72|29|35|W|region:US-VT|display=it}}  |postal_code_type = ZIP Codes |postal_code = 05648 (Calais) 05650 (East Calais) 05640 (Adamant) 05658 (Marshfield) 05666 (North Montpelier) 05667 (Plainfield) 05682 (Worcester) |area_code = 802 |blank_name = FIPS code |blank_info = 50-11350<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> |blank1_name = GNIS feature ID |blank1_info = 1462062<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|1462062}}</ref> |website = {{URL|www.calaisvermont.gov}} |footnotes = }}

'''Calais''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|l|ɪ|s}} is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,661 at the 2020 census.<ref name="Census 2020">{{Cite web |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/profile?g=0600000US5002311350|title=Census - Geography Profile: Calais town, Washington County, Vermont |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=December 29, 2021}}</ref> Calais contains the unincorporated communities of Adamant, East Calais, North Calais, Kents Corner, Maple Corner and Pekin.

==History== thumb|upright|left|Old West Church on Christmas Eve Colonel Jacob Davis named Calais after the French port city of the same name, during a time of general enthusiasm for things French as a result of France's aid during the American Revolution.<ref>{{cite book |author=Swift, Esther Munroe |title=Vermont Place Names: Footprints of History |year=1977 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |pages=451–454 |isbn=0-8289-0291-7}}</ref>

The Wheelocks and Parkers were the first families to settle the town, in the latter part of the 18th century. In the early and mid 19th century, the Vermont wool industry spawned sheep pastures in the town. Photographs of the time show a heavily de-forested Calais. Like many small Vermont towns, Calais was devastated by the Civil War. Volunteers from Calais flocked to the Union cause, most serving in the Army's volunteer regiments. In the post-Civil War era, agriculture turned from sheep to dairy, and new families came to fill farms that were sold by the families and widows of Civil War veterans.<ref name=Cate>{{cite book |last= Cate|first= Weston|date=1999 |title=Calais Forever |url= |location= Calais, VT|publisher= Calais Historical Society |isbn=0967666503 }}</ref>

===Historical landmarks===  * Kents Corner<ref name="Central Vermont -- Map">{{cite web|url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/NR/travel/centralvermont/map.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990826054815/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/centralvermont/map.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 26, 1999|title=Central Vermont -- Map|website=www.cr.nps.gov}}</ref> * Old West Church<ref name="Central Vermont -- Map"/> * Maple Corner<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maplecorner.net|title=Maple corner|website=maplecorner.net|access-date=November 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010306082237/http://www.maplecorner.net/|archive-date=March 6, 2001|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Robinson Saw Mill * Adamant Co-op<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vaics.org/vaics-adamant.html|title=Vaics.com|website=vaics.org|access-date=January 31, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209142816/http://www.vaics.org/vaics-adamant.html|archive-date=February 9, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Village histories===

Calais once had a village called Sodom.<ref name=Cate /> Some historians suggested that this name was given because the village had no church, though it did have a few active quarries.<ref name=Cate /> However, the name Sodom was in use well before the quarries opened.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vermonthistory.org/journal/77/VHS770105_37-56.pdf |title=Between This Time and That Sweet Time of Grace: The Diary of Mandana White Goodenough |accessdate=April 22, 2015}}</ref> The reason for the name change from Sodom to Adamant is also a subject of modern conjecture, with some noting that the residents petitioned the state legislature to change the name to Adamant in 1905, chosen to suggest the hardness of granite.<ref name=Cate /> Another account says that the name was changed on the request of the postmaster general.<ref name=Cate /> This could be true since there is another locality in Vermont named [https://www.wisdomlib.org/cities/sodom-80191 Sodom] in North Bennington, so the postmaster general may have wanted to eliminate the ambiguity in Vermont place names.

The name of the village of Pekin is also unclear in Calais history. Some accounts suggest that the village was named after Peking (now Beijing), China, the result of a local farmer who had a friend who was a missionary to China.<ref name=Cate /> According to this story, the missionary sent some Chinese wheat back to Vermont, the farmer planted it, and it flourished. It became the style to give directions using the wheat field as a landmark ("up by the Pekin wheat", or "just past the Pekin wheat"). Eventually, the location of the field came to be known simply as Pekin. Another version suggests that the missionary sent back rice, and that the farmer planted the rice in a low-lying plain, which flooded each spring. The river came to be known as Peking Brook, later and presently Pekin Brook.<ref name=Cate /> Although this story of a Chinese missionary connection is intriguing, no specific historical records exist to support it.<ref name=Cate /> An alternative source for the name could be from the Abenaki word ''pekan'' for fisher. This would give Pekin Brook, which runs through the village of Pekin, a similar name source as the Winooski River (''winooski'' is Abenaki for onion), to which it joins.

==Geography== According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 38.6 square miles (99.9 km2), of which 38.0 square miles (98.5 km2) is land and 0.6 square mile (1.5 km2) (1.45%) is water.

The following bodies of water are within the town: Curtis Pond;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.songseek.com/picturenet/photos/vermont_outdoors_fall/image15.htm|title=Curtis Pond swimming area|website=www.songseek.com}}</ref> Nelson Pond;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://picasaweb.google.com/jonflan/NelsonPond2007/photo#5106136469633294354|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519124706/http://picasaweb.google.com/jonflan/NelsonPond2007/photo#5106136469633294354|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 19, 2011|title=Google.com|website=google.com}}</ref> Bliss Pond; Number 10 Pond, also known as Mirror Lake; and a portion of Woodbury Lake, also known as Sabin Pond.

==Demographics== {{US Census population |1800= 443 |1810= 841 |1820= 1111 |1830= 1539 |1840= 1709 |1850= 1410 |1860= 1409 |1870= 1309 |1880= 1253 |1890= 1062 |1900= 1101 |1910= 1042 |1920= 860 |1930= 812 |1940= 818 |1950= 778 |1960= 684 |1970= 749 |1980= 1207 |1990= 1521 |2000= 1529 |2010= 1607 |2020= 1661 |footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html |title=Census of Population and Housing |publisher=Census.gov |accessdate=June 4, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="VTHistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.vermonthistory.org/explorer|title=Vermont History Explorer|accessdate=August 7, 2015|archive-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905070653/http://vermonthistory.org/explorer|url-status=dead}}</ref> }} As of the census<ref name="GR2" /> of 2000, there were 1,529 people, 616 households, and 418 families residing in the town. The population density was 40.2 people per square mile (15.5/km2). There were 773 housing units at an average density of 20.3 per square mile (7.8/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 96.08% White, 0.33% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.39% from other races, and 2.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.39% of the population.

There were 616 households, out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.8% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 32.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $46,083, and the median income for a family was $49,107. Males had a median income of $33,000 versus $27,917 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,722. About 4.9% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

==Notable people==

{{div col}} * J. Ward Carver, Vermont Attorney General, 1925–1931<ref>{{cite book |date=1937 |title=The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3lYlAQAAMAAJ&q=%22j.+ward+carver%22+%22calais%22 |location=New Providence, NJ |publisher=Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Incorporated |page=1495}}</ref> * Ela Chapin, state legislator * Kenward Elmslie (1929–2022), poet, lyricist, publisher, performer * John M. Gilman, Minnesota and Ohio state legislator, lawyer<ref>'Aged Lawyer Dies,' '''Minneapolis Journal,''' September 27, 1906, pg. 7</ref> * Marcus D. Gilman, Vermont legislator, businessman, and historian<ref>'The Bibliography Of Vermont Or A List Of Books And Pamphlets Related To Any Way To The State,' M. D. Gilman-editor, Free Press Association, Burlington, Vermont: 1897, Introduction-H. A. Huse-Vermont State Librarian, Biographical Sketch of Marcus D. Gilman, pg. II-VII</ref> * David Hinton, author and translator of Chinese poetry<ref>{{cite book |last1=T'ao |first1=Ch'ien (Author) |last2=Hinton |first2=David (Translator) |date=1993 |title=The Selected Poems of T'ao Ch'ien |url=https://archive.org/details/selectedpoemsoft00taoc |url-access=registration |quote=david hinton calais. |location=Port Townsend, WA |publisher=Copper Canyon Press |page=Back cover}}</ref> * Louise Andrews Kent, author<ref>{{cite book |date=1994 |title=Vermont Life, Volumes 49-50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dGsjAQAAMAAJ&q=%22louise+andrews+kent%22+%22calais%22 |location=Montpelier, VT |publisher=Agency of Development and Community Affairs |page=35}}</ref> * Asahel Pierce, merchant, pioneer and politician who was an early settler of Chicago<ref name="ObitRecord">{{cite web |title=The Obituary Record; Death of Asabel Pierce, a Pioneer of Chicago |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-asahel-pierce-obit-tri/30979557 |via=Chicago Tribune |url-access=limited |access-date=20 August 2025 |pages=6 |date=14 December 1887}}</ref> * John La Touche, musician and writer * Dora V. Wheelock (1847–1923), temperance activist and writer {{div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External material==

===Further reading=== * Cate, Weston. ''Forever Calais.'' Calais Historical Society: 1999.{{ISBN|0967666503}}. * Miller, Peter. ''Vermont People.'' Vermont People Project: 1991. {{ISBN|0-9628064-0-4}}. * Rodgers, Steve. ''Country Towns of Vermont.'' McGraw-Hill: 1998. {{ISBN|1-56626-195-3}}. * Strickland, Ron. ''Vermonters: Oral Histories from Down Country to the Northeast Kingdom.'' University Press of New England: 1986. {{ISBN|0-87451-867-9}}. * Swift, Esther Monroe. ''Vermont Place Names: Footprints of History.'' The Stephen Greene Press: 1996 {{ISBN|0-8289-0291-7}}. * Van Susteren, Dirk, ''A Vermont Century: Photography and Essays from the Green Mountain State.'' Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus: 1999. {{ISBN|0-932754-99-6}}.

==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.calaisvermont.gov|Town of Calais official website}} * [http://www.calaisschool.org Calais Elementary School] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120226142056/http://www.resources.calais.us/ Calais Resource Guide]

Category:Calais, Vermont Category:Towns in Vermont Category:Towns in Washington County, Vermont