Landgrove: Gore-land

Concerts no. 37 and 38 were both in towns with connections to two of Vermont’s remaining gores, in an interesting reciprocal way, as I discussed here.

Extending the coincidence, concert no. 39 was in an ex-gore. Almost all Vermont gores were eventually annexed to a nearby town; Landgrove is one of the few exceptions, a gore that became its own town. (I think the only other one is Stannard.) 

Apparently the first settler family, the Utleys, thought they were in the town of Peru (then called Bromley). After living there a few years, it became clear they were actually in a gore between Bromley, Weston, and Londonderry. Rather than joining up with Bromley, Capt. William Utley and a few others who had settled in the area petitioned the Vermont legislature in 1780 to form their own miniature town. 

I assume this had something to do with not wanting to pay Bromley taxes, or maybe some more specific beef with Bromley; in any event the precise town line was contested for some time, with the ensuing lawsuits not settled until 1835 by the Legislature.

Interestingly, there is no record of the origin of the town name. It is generally assumed to be a “made” name: a land of groves. But given the long boundary dispute, I like to think the name is an anagram of “Land” [i.e. self-governing area] “v. Gore”.