Woodstock Map
Woodstock is the shire town, and capital, (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,232. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock and Taftsville.
Chartered by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth on July 10, 1761, the town was a New Hampshire grant to David Page and 61 others. It was named after Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England, as an homage to both Blenheim Palace and its owner, George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough. The town was first settled in 1768 by James Sanderson and his family. In 1776, Major Joab Hoisington built a gristmill, followed by a sawmill, on the south branch of the Ottauquechee River.
Although the Revolution slowed settlement, Woodstock developed rapidly once the war ended in 1783. The Vermont General Assembly met here in 1807 before moving the next year to the new capital at Montpelier. Falls in the Ottauquechee River provided water power to operate mills. Factories made scythes and axes, carding machines, woolens and flour. There was a machine shop and gunsmith shop. Manufacturers also produced furniture, wooden ware, sashes and blinds, carriages, harness, saddles, trunks and leather. By 1859, the population was 3,041. The Woodstock Railroad opened to White River Junction on September 29, 1875, carrying freight and tourists. The Woodstock Inn opened in 1892.
Nearby cities include Plainfield, Wilder, Windsor, Norwich, Hanover.