Stowe was chartered in 1763 and is rich in history. We invite you to explore this history while in Stowe. The Stowe Historical Society Museum is open from 2-5PM Tuesdays and Thursdays (June to October). The Bloody Brook School is available to be viewed by request on the days the Stowe Historical Society is open. The Stowe Historical Society has put together a "Brief History of Stowe, Vermont" which we offer here.

Stowe lies in a broad, fertile valley between Mt. Mansfield and other peaks of the Green Mountains on the west, and the Worcester Range or "Hogback" Mountains on the east. The Waterbury River (or Little River, as it is presently known) with its main East and West branches and various tributaries, flows southward and, above Waterbury Center, empties into the large Reservoir created by the Flood Control Dam. From thence the "Little River" flows southward and empties into the westward flowing Winooski River west of the Village of Waterbury.

Stowe had become a chartered town on June 8, 1763, when governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire designated 64 men as "Proprietors". None of this original group was settled in the town and no settlement occured until 1793, two years after Vermont, as the fourteenth state joined the original thirteen of the United States of America.

The first settler, Oliver Luce, arrived in Stowe in March of 1793 with his wife and two small daughters. The Luces are recorded as having left most of their belongings at Waterbury Center and coming the balance of the way on foot, pulling a small hand sled loaded with a few household necessities, through almost trackless forest to the one room log cabin Luce had built the previous summer. This sled has been preserved and is on display at the Stowe Historical Society. It was presented to the Stowe Historical Society by Oliver Luce's great-great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Elsie Alger Page, the first President of the Society.

The first settlement was made about two miles north of the present Village of Stowe where Route 100 curves to the right and the Hill, or Old Stage Coach Road, runs straight to Morristown Corners and Cadys Falls. A stone monument, near the location of this first house in Stowe, and bearing a commemorative bronze tablet, stands in the grass triangle where the two roads meet.

The second settler arrived the next day after Luce. He was Captain Clement Moody who settled south of the Lower Village, on what is now Route 100, near the present site of the Spruce Pond Building. Fifth generation members of this Moody family still live on nearby land. Captain Moody was shortly followed by other families including close relatives of Oliver Luce. Luce Hill to the southwest of the Mountain Road (Route 108) was named after Ivory Luce, a member of this family. Over the succeeding years the town grew rapidly. By 1800 most of the land was sold and the population was 816. This steady growth continued for about fifty years - Stowe sending, for example, 40 men to fight in the War of 1812, and 208 in the Civil War.