Settlers built a gristmill and sawmill. A post office opened in 1784 at the Arms Tavern. Brattleboro became a spa town. The strongest threads in all these braids survived as the nation grew, roads were paved, and visitors arrived. Interstate 91 wove deeply into the town's fabric in the 1960s, making Vermont an easy drive from New York City.
North is Brattleboro.
The mosaic of Brattleboro's fabric deepened, lending it a blend of rural life and cosmopolitan arts. Brattleboro is small enough to see friends and neighbors throughout the day, and yet lucky enough to have a constant stream of visitors from all over the world. The local daily newspaper, Brattleboro Reformer, is here. Nearby is a large village common with its bandstand and war memorials, the library, a movie house, a theater, and four churches. One force of change today is Leo Berman, an architect and preservationist who's been restoring old brick mill buildings and warehouses up and down Main Street, installing windows and opening Main Street views to the river below.