Coventry, Vermont, New England USA
About Coventry, Vermont
Orleans County
Chartered: November 4, 1780 (Vermont Charter)
Area: 17,883 Acres = 27.94 Square Miles [ Size Rank: 207* ]
Coordinates (Geographic Center): N 44° 52′ W 72°16′
Altitude: 718 feet ASL
Population (US Census, 2010): 1,086 [ Population Rank: 157* ]
Population Density (persons per square mile): 38.9 [ Density Rank: 117* ]
Full Census Info: Town County State
*Area, Population and Density rankings refer to Coventry’s relative position among Vermont’s 255 civic entities (9 cities, 242 towns, 4 gores and grants). Complete rankings are here.
The story of the town is one of confusion and disappointment for its grantees.
The first named and chief grantee was Major Elias Buel (sometimes Buell) of Coventry, Connecticut, from whom Buels Gore in Chittenden County gets its name. Also listed among the grantees were five other Buels, including the Major’s son and Ira Allen. The grant stated that the town was to lie between Shoreham, Orwell, Hubbardton, Sudbury and Whiting in the southwestern part of the state. With Allen, the Surveyor General, involved in the grant, it seems hard to believe that the grantees really thought that the area had space enough for another town; but that was what they said, and the legislature wrote the grant.
Four years later the Major was back at the legislature, asking that his grant be considered a “flying grant” so he could go looking for ungranted lands against which his nearly worthless Coventry grant could be applied. He got permission, but by then it was not easy to find a 23,000-acre piece of good land anywhere in the state. Buel finally had to be content with getting three separate pieces in 1788. The largest was the present town of Coventry, the second was Buels Gore, located half the state away, and the third was Coventry Leg (or Gore), which was annexed to the town of Newport in 1816.
Buel had been one of the leading citizens in his home town of Coventry, Connecticut, where his father had been among the first settlers and from which the name of the Vermont town is taken. The Major was an officer with one of Connecticut’s militia companies that responded to the Lexington alarm in 1775. Sometime during the closing years of the Revolution he moved to Rutland, Vermont, and later to Buels Gore. He was elected to the legislature, served on the Council of Censors, and was a judge of the Chittenden County court. Eventually he lost all his Vermont lands for unpaid taxes and moved to New York state, where he died in 1824. It now seems that there may have been some flimflam worked against the Major: Ira Allen later bought all of his land at a sheriff’s auction for its tax value. It is rather sad that Major Buel’s dream of making a new home at another Coventry should have come to nothing.
Activities & Points of Interest
Goings-on in and near Coventry
Calendar of Events provided by the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing.
Orleans County Historical Society
Contact Info
Emergency Services (Statewide): 911
Hospital: North Country Hospital & Health Care (Newport) 802-334-7331
Town Clerk: Cynthia Diaz PO Box 104 Coventry, VT 05825
802-754-2288
M T Th F 8-12; W 4-7pm; 3rd Sat 9-2
Churches, Ministries, Charitables
United Church of Christ : United Church of Christ
Schools
North Country Supervisory Union 802-334-5847
Coventry Village School 802-754-6464
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”).
Coventry
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 Orleans Utility Department 802-754-8584
Electric Vermont Electric Co-op 800-832-2667
Telephone Fairpoint 866-984-2001