Southwest Vermont
Historic villages, slate valleys, pastoral farmland, and mountain towns along Vermont’s southwestern edge.
Southwest Vermont is a region of village greens, stone churches, working farms, mountain valleys, and some of Vermont’s most important historical landscapes. Here, the Green Mountains give way to the Taconic foothills, old industrial villages sit beside active farmland, and stories of revolution, industry, and rural life remain visible in the landscape.
This is the Vermont of marble sidewalks, slate quarries, covered bridges, mountain inns, and roads that wind through broad valleys framed by distant ridgelines.
For travelers, photographers, and history enthusiasts, Southwest Vermont offers some of the state’s richest opportunities to explore both the natural and human stories that shaped Vermont.
The Character of Southwest Vermont
Southwest Vermont is defined by contrast.
One moment you are standing in a bustling village center surrounded by historic architecture. A few miles later, you find yourself driving through open farmland with mountain views stretching to the horizon.
The region includes:
- Historic village centers
- Agricultural valleys
- Slate and marble communities
- Revolutionary War sites
- Mountain towns and scenic byways
- Covered bridges and rural backroads
While northern Vermont is often associated with Lake Champlain and the Northeast Kingdom with remote forests, Southwest Vermont is a region where history and landscape are closely intertwined.
Communities of Southwest Vermont
Some of the region’s most notable communities include:
- Manchester
- Bennington
- Poultney
- Fair Haven
- Castleton
- Arlington
- Dorset
- Shaftsbury
- Pownal
Each community tells a different part of the region’s story.