Washington County, Vermont

Washington County, Vermont
Washington County Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Vermont
Vermont's location in the U.S.
Founded	1811
Shire Town	Montpelier
Largest city	Barre
Area
• Total	695 sq mi (1,800 km2)
• Land	687 sq mi (1,779 km2)
• Water	8.2 sq mi (21 km2), 1.2%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	58,612
• Density	85.8/sq mi (33/km²)
Congressional district	At-large
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4

Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. Named after George Washington, its county seat is the municipality of Montpelier, the state capital. As of the 2010 census, the population was 59,534, making it the third-most populous county in Vermont, but the third-least populous capital county in the nation, after Hughes County, South Dakota and Franklin County, Kentucky. If Carson City, Nevada and Juneau Borough, Alaska are treated as counties, Washington County is the fifth-least populous capital county.

Washington County comprises the Barre, VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.

In 2010, the center of population of Vermont was located in Washington County, in the town of Warren.

Washington County is one of several Vermont counties created from land ceded by the state of New York on January 15, 1777 when Vermont declared itself to be a distinct state from New York. The land originally was contested by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Netherland, but it remained undelineated until July 20, 1764 when King George III established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the Connecticut River, north of Massachusetts and south of the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude. New York assigned the land gained to Albany County. On March 12, 1772 Albany County was partitioned to create Charlotte County, and this situation remained until Vermont's independence from New York and Britain.