Brownsville, Vermont

Brownsville, Vermont
Unincorporated community
Brownsville, VT looking west along Route 44
Location in Windsor County and the state of Vermont.
Brownsville, Vermont Location in the United States
Coordinates: 43°28′07″N72°28′15″W / 43.46861°N 72.47083°W / 43.46861; -72.47083
Country	United States
State	Vermont
County	Windsor
Elevation [1]	682 ft (208 m)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	05037
Area code	802
GNIS feature ID	1456613 [1]
Website	www.westwindsorvt.govoffice2.com

Brownsville is an unincorporated community in West Windsor, Vermont, United States. Located on Vermont Route 44, the village houses a number of administrative offices for the town of West Windsor.

History

The village derives its name from two settlers, John and Briant Brown. The West Windsor Historical Society is in Brownsville and has a wealth of information on the sheep farms and industries that sustained the early residents.^{[ citation needed ]}

Just east of Brownsville is the entrance to Ascutney Mountain Resort, which used to be one of the major ski areas in the state, until it closed for good in 2010 and their ski lifts were sold in August 2014. In 2015, Brownsville bought the failed ski area, working with the state of Vermont and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land. ^[2]

Geography

Slightly south and west of Brownsville is the 656-acre (2.65 km²) Little Ascutney Wildlife Management Area, ^[3] a state owned conservation area hosting wildlife such as white-tailed deer, fisher, coyotes, bobcats, beaver and otter.

• 
  View of town and Mt. Ascutney from the cemetery

Covered Bridges

Three of Vermont's covered bridges are nearby – Best's Bridge near Churchill Road and Bowers Bridge, both of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Twigg bridge on Yale Road was moved to its location by a developer and was heavily damaged by wind in 2002. The flooding caused by tropical storm Irene in 2011 damaged several bridges such as the Bowers Bridge. ^[4]

• 
  Best's Covered Bridge
• 
  Bowers Covered Bridge
• 
  Construction detail of Bowers Bridge

Government

• 
  West Windsor Office Building
• 
  US Post Office on Highway 44

Notes

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Brownsville, Vermont. Retrieved on 07-04-2019.
2. Goodman, David (February 1, 2022). "A Town That Saved a Mountain, and a Mountain That Saved a Town". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 2, 2022.
3. Little Ascutney Wildlife Management Area
4. "Irene's silver lining: Vermont rediscovers its bridges". NBC News. October 10, 2011. Archived from the original on November 23, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2024.