Brattleboro Map
Brattleboro, originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States, located in the southeast corner of the state, along the state line with New Hampshire. The population was 12,046 at the 2010 census. It is situated along the Connecticut River, at the mouth of the West River.
Brattleboro is the oldest town in the state, and noted for its vibrant arts community, as well as the renowned Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric hospital and convalescent center.
Once known as Wantastiquet, the area now known as Brattleboro lies at the confluence of the West River and the Connecticut River. The West River was called Wantastiquet in the Abenaki language, a word meaning 'river which leads to the west', and is marked by Mount Wantastiquet at its mouth and the Wantastiquet Ponds at its source. The Abenaki would transit this area annually between Missisquoi, their summer hunting grounds in northwestern Vermont, and Squakheag, their winter settlements near what is now Northfield, Massachusetts. The band of Abenaki who frequented this area were called Sokoki, which means 'people who go their own way' or 'people of the lonely way'. The Abenaki vigorously defended their land 'Ndakinna' against European settlement in the 17th and 18th centuries, including during Gray Lock's War, also known as Dummer's War. When most Abenaki sided with the French in the mid-1700s, many or most of them were driven north into Quebec, opening the way for untrammeled English, and later United States, settlements northward into what is now Vermont.
Nearby cities include Winchester, Newfane, Northfield, West Swanzey, Jacksonville.