The Native American inhabitants of the area now known as Vermont were the Abenaki, a tribe of the Algonquin nation. They largely relied on farming when it came to their diet, but hunting, fishing, and wild plant gathering was an important part of their food supply as well. Before European contact, the Abenaki tribe numbered as many as 40,000, but disease and war quickly took its toll. The Abenaki tribe was allied with the French during the days of colonization, and were slowly forced to retreat into Canada, where most surviving tribe members live today.
About Killington | Killington History
It was in the year 1763 when Reverend Samuel Peters christened the State of Vermont from the top of Killington Peak, naming the state "Verde-Mont," French for Green Mountain, as he smashed a bottle of booze on the rocks. Following the Declaration of Independence, on January 17, 1777, Vermont declared itself an independent republic in a meeting held at Westminster, with the little republic minting its own coins and providing postal service until 1791 when Vermont was admitted to the union, the first state to join the original thirteen.
Originally chartered in 1761, the town of Killington has had several names since it was founded. The name it started with was Medway, which was changed to Parkerstown, then Mendon in 1827, and later renamed Sherburne. In 1999, the residents petitioned the legislature to change the town name to Killington. Early settlers raised sheep and cows, and built grain and lumber mills. The town reached a peak population in the mid 1800's at just under 600, and slowly started to decline until in 1960 the population reached a low of 266. The success of the Killington Ski resort has reversed this decline and the current population has climbed to about 1100.
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