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About Jamaica, Vermont (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Jamaica is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 946 at the 2000 census. Its ZIP code is 05343.

Jamaica was chartered on November 7, 1780. Its name is from the Natick word for "beaver" and is not connected to the Caribbean island nation of the same name. Jamaica contains Jamaica State Park, which is noted for its scenic camping spots and various swimming holes. Jamaica also contains the villages of East Jamaica and Rawsonville. The nearest large town is Brattleboro.

In the colonial period, what is now Vermont was disputed territory, with land claims rising from both New York and New Hampshire. The original grants for this area were issued by the Royal Governor of New York in 1767 and 1772 and were for two towns. In 1777 the Independent Republic of Vermont was established and in 1780, ignoring the previous grants, gave charter for “a tract of vacant land within this state which has not heretofore been granted “. The Charter goes on to say “that the same be and is hereby Incorporated into a Township by the name of Jamaica”. The grant encompassed forty-two square miles. The land lies at an altitude ranging from 688 above sea level along the West River to 2,542 feet on The Pinnacle. There were sixty-seven grantees listed on the Charter, and many of those names can be found among Jamaica’s residents today.

The earliest settlement of the town was along the West River near the Wardsboro Bridge, now called East Jamaica. It was here that the first school was established in 1791. The step-by-step building of roads and bridges pointing towards Manchester to the northwest moved settlement westward so that by 1800 it appeared that the town center was moving. Within the forty-two square-mile township of Jamaica there developed as many as ten separate hamlets surrounded by outlying farms, all linked to Jamaica Village by a network of roads. Eventually there were as many as 14 one-room schools which served the families in the outlying areas.

In the first quarter of the 19th century Jamaica Village assumed increasing importance as a center, largely for topographical reasons. Located near the confluence of the West River and Ball Mountain Brook, the area offered a strategic location for bridges, dams and mills. Along Ball Mountain Brook alone there were numerous dams, each providing power for at least one mill. The first store “Noon House” was built in 1803. The popularity of “Noon House” led to the building in 1814 of Jamaica House, which provided a convenient overnight spot for travelers at the mid-point between Manchester and Jamaica.[2]

The economy of Jamaica, like that of so many Vermont communities, prospered with the introduction of Merino sheep in the early 19th century. The Spanish sheep flourished on the rocky hillsides, and as their numbers increased, open land and bare hillsides replaced the forests which had characterized the earlier landscape.

But prosperity did not last. The depression that followed the Civil War and the decline in the wool market took their toll on the local economy. Population decreased. The rivers that had propelled the economy also ravaged its infrastructure. In 1869 a great flood carried away “a mile of bridges” and damaged every dam on Ball Mountain Brook. During this period Jamaica and other towns in the West River Valley bonded together in a venture that was seen as the salvation of the area’s economic woes, the West River Railroad. Originally chartered in 1867, the proposed railroad was to run from Jamaica to Whitehall, NY. In 1877, financing provided by the valley towns moved the languishing project forward with the first segment from Jamaica to Londonderry. Although it was never extended farther, the railroad provided valuable public transportation for the lower West River Valley until the 1930’s, by which time automobile ownership had become almost universal

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