Farmlands wrap around historic downtowns in Addison County, nestled in central Vermont on the New York state border. The third largest Vermont county, Addison’s landscape is characterized by Otter Creek, Lake Dunmore, and the Green Mountain National Forest, its skyline scored by Mount Abraham and Lincoln Peak. Historic downtowns Middlebury, Bristol, and Vergennes, Vermont’s smallest city, are the county’s hubs.
Just over 37,000 people call Addison County home, enjoying rural, small-town charm with easy access to shopping, dining with a focus on locally grown food, and recreation opportunities on Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains. Agriculture anchors the region, with maple sugarmakers and both livestock and produce farmers on more than 700 farms accounting for 22% of Vermont’s total agriculture sales. People in Addison County find work in sectors like aerospace, education, hospitality and tourism, health care, and manufacturing, with employers like Vermont Cider Company, Middlebury College, Collins Aerospace, and UVM Health Network as magnets. Remote workers can benefit from shared office space for rent at The Stone Mill @ Work in Middlebury.
Addison County is under eight hours away from New York City by train, with new stops in both Vergennes and Middlebury on Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express line, which also stops daily in Burlington. Tri-Valley Transit offers routes that connect Middlebury, Vergennes, and Bristol with the larger state, including a link to Burlington. Routes 7 and 22A connect Addison County with the rest of the state. Much of Addison County is within an hour from Burlington, an hour and a half from Montpelier, and 45 minutes from Rutland.
Opportunities to experience Vermont’s outdoors are right outside your door in Addison County. In Middlebury, the 18-mile Trail Around Middlebury provides safe, year-round walking, biking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing terrain near the village, and in Vergennes, McDonough Park and Vergennes Falls Park make for bike-, pedestrian-, and dog-friendly outdoor recreation. Bristol’s network of maintained trails includes both in-town and outside-of-town walking paths. Moosalamoo National Recreation Area offers 70 miles of trails featuring cliffs, waterfalls, and Vermont’s second-longest trail for those with accessibility needs on 16,000 acres of conserved forest. Branbury State Park features camping, swimming, and boat rentals on Lake Dunmore. Family resort Basin Harbor offers a myriad of ways to get outside, from golf and tennis to boating and hiking. Bristol’s skate park turns into an ice skating rink in the winter, and the Middlebury College Snow Bowl offers up to 1,000 vertical feet of skiing and riding with short lift lines and family-friendly terrain. Rikert Nordic Center’s full-service rental shop and miles of groomed cross-country trails make winter recreation accessible to all.
Historic villages give Addison County residents access to safe walkable downtowns and are home to the area’s cultural offerings. The Vergennes Opera House presents live music of all genres, musicals and theatre performances, and more, serving as a cultural touchstone for Addison County and giving local performers a stage. Middlebury College Museum of Art holds a collection of antiquities and contemporary art and holds space to spotlight changing featured exhibits. Nearby, the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail allows people to explore the life and work of the former U.S. Poet Laureate, and in Shoreham, Lemon Fair Sculpture Park offers space for local artists to share their work. Farmers markets and local CSAs supplement grocery lists and give families access to healthy, local food, and events like summer’s Ciderstock, Addison County Fair and Field Days, the Midd Summer Market, featuring local food and art, the Middlebury Car Show and Fall Festival, the Bristol Harvest Festival, and Vergennes Day round out the area’s social calendar.
Families benefit from the close-knit communities in Addison County. Karen Duguay, executive director of Experience Middlebury, and Julie Nelson Basol, coordinator of marketing and development at Vergennes Partnership, recommend those considering a move spend time in the area, ask local residents what they like about life in Addison County, and explore Addison County Chamber of Commerce’s itineraries for 48 hours in the region. They said both Bristol and Middlebury’s local governments are working to add more affordable housing to the region, and developments in downtown Vergennes are bringing office space for lease and a revitalized city block. In 2022, Middlebury College purchased 35 acres of land with plans to construct affordable and subsidized workforce housing. Duguay and Nelson Basol suggest getting in touch with a local real estate agent to see what’s available and keeping up with the local newspaper, the Addison County Independent.
Thinking about relocating to Addison County? Programs both statewide and region-specific can help potential new Vermonters find information, answers to their questions, and planning resources for a move. Kick off a job search by browsing positions currently open in Vermont. Economic development tools, incentives, and special programs can also help those looking to expand or relocate their businesses to Vermont.
