Brighton, Vermont | |
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Town | |
Village of Island Pond in Brighton
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Location in Essex County and the state of Vermont. |
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Location of Vermont with the U.S.A. |
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Coordinates: 44°48′32″N 71°52′10″W / 44.80889°N 71.86944°WCoordinates: 44°48′32″N 71°52′10″W / 44.80889°N 71.86944°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Vermont |
County | Essex |
Chartered | 1781 |
Settled | 1824 |
Organized | 1832 |
Community | Island Pond |
Government | |
• Type | New England town |
Area | |
• Total | 53.3 sq mi (138.1 km2) |
• Land | 51.9 sq mi (134.3 km2) |
• Water | 1.5 sq mi (3.8 km2) |
Elevation | 1,280 ft (365 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 1,222 |
• Density | 24/sq mi (9.1/km2) |
• Households | 529 |
• Families | 356 |
Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
ZIP code | 05846 |
Area code(s) | 802 |
FIPS code | 50-08725 |
GNIS feature ID | 1462052 |
Website | brightonvt |
Brighton is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,222 at the 2010 census. The town was named "Gilead" in its original grant in 1780. The town was sold to a group consisting primarily of soldiers commanded by Colonel Joseph Nightingale and subsequently named "Random". The town's name was finally changed by the legislature to "Brighton" in 1832. The Brighton village of Island Pond gets its name from the Abenaki word Menanbawk which literally means island pond.
Brighton is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Brighton is in western Essex County, bordered to the north by Warren's Gore and Averys Gore, to the northeast by Lewis, to the southeast by Ferdinand, to the southwest by Newark in Caledonia County and Westmore in Orleans County, and to the northwest by Charleston and Morgan in Orleans County. The unincorporated community of Island Pond, the main community in the town, is at the north end of the lake of the same name in the center of the town.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Brighton has a total area of 53.3 square miles (138.1 km2), of which 51.9 square miles (134.3 km2) is land and 1.5 square miles (3.8 km2), or 2.76%, is water. Island Pond, originally called "Knowles Pond" in the 19th century, is the largest water body in the town. The Clyde River flows out of the north end of Island Pond and proceeds in a northwesterly direction towards Charleston. Spectacle Pond is a kettle lake just east (upstream) of Island Pond. It is only 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m) deep, with a thick bottom of muck. Most of the town, including Island and Spectacle ponds and the Clyde River, is part of the Lake Memphremagog watershed, and thus part of the Saint Lawrence River basin, via the Magog and Saint-François rivers of Quebec. The east side of the town drains to the Connecticut River, mostly to the east via the Nulhegan River, but a small portion to the south via the East Branch of the Passumpsic River. The highest point in Brighton is the 2,789-foot (850 m) southern summit of Bluff Mountain, in the northern part of the town.