Moretown was chartered June 7, 1763 by King George III through Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire. The original grant was 6 square miles with 23,040 acres of land. If any one has ever seen the proprietors map on the wall of the town office, they will notice that the land grants are drawn in neat, straight, orderly lines. Unfortunately the drawer did not take into consideration mountains, valleys, rivers or any other topographical features that might hinder accessibility from one area of town to another.
Although the charter was signed in 1763, the actual settlement of the town did not occur until sometime around 1790. The first settlement was in the North Moretown / Duxbury Corners area. Some of the first settlers were the Munson, Haseltine, Parcher, Heaton, and Bartlett families.
The first Town meeting was held at the home of Joseph Hazeltine in 1792. Evidently, at some point in time, the population center shifted to the common area since town records show that town meetings were held on the common until 1832 when a vote was taken to move the town meetings to the “Hollow”. The Town Hall was started by subscription shortly after and Town meetings have been held in the village ever since.
Credits
| The history of Moretown was pulled from the Moretown Town Plan and was a compilation of Lydia Goss Billing’s history, written in 1963, Mary Reagan’s history written in 1982 and the article in the Waitsfield Telecom phone directory written by members of the Historical Society in 1999. |