16 facts about Vermont

1. The State of Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America.
2. The state capital is Montpelier, and the largest city and metropolitan area is Burlington.
3. Montpelier, with 8247 residents, has the smallest population of any state capital.
4. In 1690, a group of Dutch-British settlers from Albany established a settlement and trading post at Chimney Point 8 miles (13 km) west of present-day Addison.
5. The state ranks 43rd by land area, 9,250 square miles (24,000 km2), and 45th by total area
6. The first permanent British settlement was established in 1724, with the construction of Fort Dummer protecting the nearby settlements of Dummerston and Brattleboro.
7. In 1775 Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys won one of the first important American victories of the Revolutionary War by capturing Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
   
8. Originally inhabited by Native American tribes (Abenaki and Iroquois), much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France but became a British possession after France's defeat in the French and Indian War.
9. Vermont was the first state after the original 13 colonies to join the United States.
10. In 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the fourteenth state, and the first outside the original Thirteen Colonies.
11. Woodstock in central Vermont became the site of the nation's first ski tow in 1933.
12. No other state has a largest city as small as Burlington, or a capital city as small as Montpelier.
13. Vermont makes more maple syrup, marble and monument granite than any other state.
14. United States Presidents born in Vermont, Chester A. Arthur (1881, 23rd President) and Calvin Coolidge (1923, 30th President).
15. Vermont's largest employer is IBM.
16. The area which is today Vermont was first explored by Frenchman Samuel de Champlain in 1609, when he claimed it for his home country.