Hardcore, steadfast, resolute, tough. Vermonters by any name are fiercely independent and self-reliant from living at the edges of society. There’s a necessary premium on the homemade, homespun, and homegrown.

At a meeting on Thursday, July 11, the Prudential Committee that oversees Brandon Fire District No. 1 (which encompasses the Brandon Water Department and the Brandon Fire Department) unanimously voted to raise usage rates on Brandon’s water from the current $5.05 per 1,000 gallons to $5.50 per 1,000 gallons.

During the month of July, The Brandon Museum, in conjunction with the Vermont Covered Bridge Society, is showcasing a Covered Bridge exhibit.

Thirty-five years ago, when Barry Gearwar appeared on my student rolls at Otter Valley Union High School, I encountered a surname I had never seen before. With good reason: the index for the 1900 census shows only one family group, for the entire country, with the Gearwar name living in Lamoille County.