Every Day Is Special: March 4 – Vermont Celebrates Statehood

March 4 – Vermont Celebrates Statehood

Posted on March 4, 2016

Vermont is pretty small, as U.S. states go. It's 45^th in land area, out of 50, and it's 49^th in population – only Wyoming has fewer people. Even its cities are pretty small. Its capital city, Montpelier, is small by state-capital standards – it's 50^th in population. In other words, it's the smallest of the 50 state capitals. And Vermont's largest city, Burlington, is the smallest city to be the largest city of any state.

But Vermont isn't in last place in all things:

It was the 14^th state to join the union – Number 1 after all the 13 colonies had joined. (Actually, the land that makes up Vermont was in dispute between two of the colonies, New Hampshire and New York.)

It is one of just four states that were at one time independent countries. (Can you name the other three? Answer below.) Vermont became an independent republic with a written constitution in 1777. It may surprise you to realize that Vermont was an independent nation for 14 years!

Vermont was the first state to partially abolish slavery.

Vermont is the top producer of maple syrup in the U.S.

Some say that the nation's best corn maze (maybe the world's best?!) is the Great Vermont Corn Maze in Danville. The corn-plant “walls” of the maze are 10 feet tall, the maze itself sprawls over 10 acres, there are 4 bridges within the maze, and most people take 2 to 5 hours to find their way through!

Vermont is #1 in libraries “per capita” (in other words, there are more libraries per thousand people) than any other state. And that is true even though the libraries receive no state funds – just local funds or private monies.

Check out this video on making maple syrup.

And here are just a few of the lovely landscapes to be seen in Vermont: