Bethel Map
Bethel is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,968 at the 2000 census. The town includes the locations of Bethel-Gilead, East Bethel, Lilliesville, Olympus (now called Lympus), and West Bethel. Bethel is best known for being the source of Bethel White granite which has been used to build Union Station (Washington, DC) and the National Museum of Natural History. Bethel was the first town created by the independent Republic of Vermont in 1779 and was named after the biblical village of Bethel.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 45.4 square miles (117.7 km2), of which, 45.3 square miles (117.3 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.4 km2) of it (0.31%) is water.
Dudley Chase, a grantee, awoke in town one morning and told of having dreamed of the Biblical story of Jacob sleeping in a field with a stone for a pillow. In the biblical story, Jacob had named the place Beth-el (House of God). Chase's associates were so impressed that they named the town the same.
Nearby cities include Woodstock, Quechee, Norwich, Hanover, Wilder.