Bakersfield, Vermont, New England USA

About Bakersfield, Vermont

Franklin County
Chartered: January 25, 1791 (Vermont Charter)
Area: 28,617 Acres = 44.71 Square Miles [ Size Rank: 69* ]
Coordinates (Geographic Center): N 44° 47′ W 72°49′
Altitude: 726 feet ASL
Population (US Census, 2010): 1,322 [ Population Rank: 129* ]
Population Density (persons per square mile): 29.6 [ Density Rank: 151* ]
Full Census Info: Town County State

*Area, Population and Density rankings refer to Bakersfield’s relative position among Vermont’s 255 civic entities (9 cities, 242 towns, 4 gores and grants). Complete rankings are here.

Known for some years even in state records as “Bakersfield alias Knoultons Gore”, the town had originally been granted to Luke Knowlton (Knoulton) of Newfane and sold in 1798 or 1799 to Joseph Baker of Westboro, Massachusetts. Baker had acquired title to the entire 10,000 acre town for £500. Several changes have taken place to bring the town to its current size, including the addition of parts of Fairfield and the former Smithfield in 1792, the entirety of Knights Gore in 1795, and Averys Gore in 1963.

While Baker and his family are remembered in the name of the town, it is Knowlton who was one of the state’s distinguished early settlers. Born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts in 1737, he came to Vermont about 1770. Probably because he held land in Newfane under title from New York, his political sentiments seem to have leaned in that direction: just before the Revolution, he and other York-minded people formed the Committee of Safety for Cumberland County (New York’s designation for much of southern Vermont) and worked steadily to further his hope that Vermont would elect to be part of New York.

Toward the close of the Revolution, Knowlton was active in conducting the Haldimand negotiations with the British in Canada in an effort to keep British troops out of Vermont. For some time after the war, Knowlton acted as a representative of the Yorkist faction in Vermont, and spent considerable time trying to persuade the Continental Congress that Vermont should not be allowed to become an independent state. He also was active in promoting the so-called “Eastern and Western unions,” by which some towns in New Hampshire and New York were for a time joined to Vermont. Eventually Knowlton withdrew his objections to the state’s independent status, and from 1784 to 1801 served in either the Legislature or the Governor and Council. It was probably because of his office that his land was chartered fairly soon after it was granted, and why he was the sole grantee of Bakersfield’s original 10,000 acres, an unusually large amount of land for one man.

Knowlton was also unusually favored in being one of the few resident Vermonters who received part of the $30,000 settlement that was paid to New York for the cancellation of that state’s land claims in Vermont. One of his contemporaries described Knowlton as “a leading character, a man of great ambition and enterprise, of few words, but possessed of the keenest perception . . .” When he tendered his resignation to the Vermont legislature in 1801, it was received with very real regret. He died in Newfane in 1810.

Activities & Points of Interest

Goings-on in and near Bakersfield
Calendar of Events provided by the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing.

H.F.Brigham Free Public Library

Bakersfield Historical Society

Contact Info

Emergency Services (Statewide): 911
Hospital: Northwestern Medical Center (St. Albans) 802-524-5911

Town Clerk: Katherine Westcom PO Box 203 Bakersfield, VT 05441
802-827-4495
M-F 9-12

Churches, Ministries, Charitables

United Church of Christ : United Church of Bakersfield/Fairfield
United Methodist : Bakersfield UMC 802-827-3150

Schools

Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union 802-848-7661
Bakersfield School 802-827-6611

Neighboring Towns

This is a basic geographic reference, intended to show relative location of adjacent towns. Directional accuracy is limited to 16 compass points. There isn’t even the slightest suggestion that one can necessarily travel directly from one town to the next (as in “You can’t get there from here”).

Enosburgh

Bakersfield

Fairfield

Montgomery

Fletcher

Waterville

Belvidere

Businesses & Services

Rocheleau Appraisal
Fast Friendly Service for Northwestern Vermont

Utilities

Notes about utilities:

• One electric or phone company indicates that company serves the entire town. More than one of either indicates each serves different areas of town.
• A listed cable company MIGHT mean the entire town is covered, but not necessarily. More than one listed indicates each serves different areas of town.
• Unless your area is one served by Vermont’s only gas utility, your only option is bottled gas (any dealer).
  Cable Comcast 800-266-2278
  Electric Enosburg Electric Light Department 802-933-4443
  Electric Green Mountain Power 888-835-4672
  Electric Vermont Electric Co-op 800-832-2667
  Telephone Fairpoint 866-984-2001