Orleans County, Vermont

Orleans County, Vermont
Orleans County Superior Court in Newport (city)
Location in the U.S. state of Vermont
Vermont's location in the U.S.
Founded	1799
Named for	Orléans
Shire Town	Newport
Largest city	Newport
Area
• Total	721 sq mi (1,867 km2)
• Land	693 sq mi (1,795 km2)
• Water	28 sq mi (73 km2), 3.9%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	27,100
• Density	39/sq mi (15/km²)
Congressional district	At-large
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4

Orleans County is a county in the northeastern part of the state of Vermont, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 27,231. Its county seat is the city of Newport. The county was created in 1792 and organized in 1799. As in the rest of New England, few governmental powers have been granted to the county. The county is an expedient way of grouping and distributing state-controlled governmental services.

The county shares the same pre-Columbian history with the Northeast Kingdom.

In 1753, the Abenakis brought the ransomed John Stark down Lake Memphremagog and came ashore where Newport is now. They then traveled southeast to his home in New Hampshire.

Rogers' Rangers were forced to retreat through the county following their attack on Saint-Francis, Quebec in 1759. To confound their avenging pursuers, they split up on the east shore of Lake Memphremagog. One group followed the Clyde River. Another followed the Barton River south to the falls at the outlet of Crystal Lake where they were able to catch fish. From there, they continued south over the summit into the Passumpsic River Valley.

The British Crown sent out surveyors to mark the border between its two colonies of Canada and America in accordance with the Quebec Act of 1774. This was supposed to be on the 45th parallel north. The result, however was a crooked line up to .75 miles (1.21 km) north of this intended border. This was resolved in favor of the crooked line by the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842. This affected Orleans County, particularly Derby Line, which would have otherwise reverted to Canada.