Updated on Apr 13, 2021
West Hartford is an unincorporated community village in the town of Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont. It is the most rural of Hartford's five villages, situated on the White River and crossed by the Appalachian Trail. Almost half of the village was wiped out by a flood in 1927. Some areas have been developed for residential use but significant forest, farming and open lands remain. West Hartford features a country store, a post office, many shops, a small library and a town park along the White River, which is also a popular fishing site. The village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the West Hartford Village Historic District .
West Hartford is located in far northern Hartford, seven river miles up the White River from its mouth at the Connecticut River. Its center is at geographical coordinates 43° 42′ 44" North, 72° 25′ 7" West (43.71212, -72.418541). The White River runs through the Village, and along Clifford Park, a great place for fishing and canoeing.
The village of West Hartford was settled in the late 18th century, primarily organized around mills and outlying agricultural areas. The oldest surviving house in the village was built in 1795 by Francis and Abigail (Hazen) Savage. Abigail was the granddaughter of the area's first colonial landowner. A turnpike, now Vermont Route 14, was built along the river in 1800. The focal center of the village was established at Harper Savage Lane by construction of the first bridge to span the White River in the village in 1820, and then by the construction of a railroad station nearby. By 1830 the village had a church and post office, and the village continued to thrive during the 19th century, mainly due to its proximity to White River Junction, an important railroad hub in the region. Much of the village was destroyed by a major flood in 1867. This eliminated much of the local industry, but retail presence, driven by the presence of the railroad, continued.
In the spring of 1927 the Vermont rivers flooded, taking out several bridges including the West Hartford bridge, then a covered bridge. Shortly after the flood, the bridges were all replaced with "cookie cutter" bridges that were tall, green, steel truss bridges. In 2006 the West Hartford Bridge was replaced with a new single-span bridge named Veterans Bridge. The old bridge had a pool off the downstream side that local teens, children, and adults would jump off the bridge into the water. The new bridge is in a location where it is dangerous to jump because the deep pool is no longer accessible. Although teens, children, and adults still jump off the bridge. At the foot of the new bridge is a small area in remembrance of Hartford Veterans.
Clifford Park is a town maintained park that includes nature trails, a softball field, horseshoe pits, and a picnic area on the river. Every summer, it is turned into a major landing area for the hot air balloons that have taken off at the Quechee Balloon Festival, and every Halloween it is the Haunted Area for local youths sponsored by the Hartford Parks and Recreation Department. The park is named Clifford, after the former owner of the land that now holds the park, and the land that is the Westfield Drive community.
On August 28, 2011 West Hartford was hit by Tropical Storm Irene. Several houses, the country store, the library, and the post office were affected. The post office was torn down, the store repaired, and the library has been rebuilt.
The bridge and road also suffered damage from this event. The bridge was out of commission for several weeks forcing people to find alternative routes to get to work and into more populated areas. As for the road, Route 14, it was usable to a certain point. It was repaired slowly and in the village itself there were several large holes where the river gouged away the pavement, dirt, and gravel.
The day after, August 29, people were out and about using their tractors and snowplows to clear Rt. 14 of mud and debris. While there were plenty of volunteers and they were very helpful and appreciated greatly, the people of West Hartford did not wait to be rescued they rescued themselves.
The little white church became a place for workers, local, out of town, and even out of state, to
More about WEST HARTFORD under "Town Info"
This page uses material from the Wikipedia article West Hartford, Vermont , which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.