Bellows Falls, Vermont

Windham County

50-04225

Bellows Falls is a town in Windham County, Vermont, in the United States.

The result is a thing of waterfalls in the Connecticut River, the Great Falls, directly across from Walpole, which, lying at the eastern riverbank to New Hampshire, the town developed because of its favorable geographical position as one of the gateways of the settlers in the area now Vermont. The first Covered Bridge Vermont - also the first bridge over a length of 365 feet (about 122 m) spanned the Connecticut River - was built here in 1785 and remained until 1796 the only bridge across the river. They 1840 is replaced by another structure. The river island, which is surrounded on both sides by waterfalls, was first used as fishing place of the original inhabitants and developed with the settlement by the colonists to a mill space. Finally, the river island for a large paper mill was used, which was closed in 1921. Today, the falls are considered natural wonders and promoted as a tourist attraction. The river island is now the location of the Amtrak Station Bellows Falls, a hydroelectric power plant and an industrial area.

The Bellows Falls Canal was one of the first ship channels that were built in the United States. It was built in 1791-1802 as part of the navigability of the Connecticut River and bypasses the falls and rapids in the area of the village. He overcomes a height difference of nearly eight meters in original nine locks. Since the railway lines late 1840s reached the settlement lost the channel despite some extensions and recesses strongly in importance, but still in use today.

As one of two starting points of the railway Bellows Falls Burlington, the town was connected early in the nascent railway network of the United States. Construction began in May 1847, the first train to Burlington was driving on 24 December of the same year, linking the Atlantic coast with Lake Champlain. The line still exists today. The maintenance facilities located here offered space for the steam locomotive museum, founded in 1964 Steamtown, USA, but much lost in the 1970s to feed, as the state of Vermont forbade the operation of steam locomotives for environmental reasons. The museum was closed between 1984 and 1988 and was partly in the Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania on. This stretch of the Green Mountain Railroad since 1849 is crossed by the railway line Brattleboro -Windsor. Between 1900 and 1924 there was also an overland tram to Saxtons River, a place in a tributary of the Connecticut River.

All types of schools through high school are available in Bellows Falls. The religious life takes place in the five churches in the community instead of ( two Catholic churches, one Episcopal and one branch of the Assemblies of God and United Church of Christ ). The nearest hospital is found in the near Rockingham.

Bellows Falls is connected by Interstate 5 and the Vermont State Route 121 to the continental road. On the river island of the Green Mountain Railroad has also established not only a passenger station but also its administrative headquarters. Here daily runs of the Amtrak Vermonter of Bellows Falls, and connects with New York City and Washington, DC

Sons and daughters of the city

Nearby Cities

All information bee-line distances.

  • North: Charles Town, 11.5 km
  • Northeast: Langdon, 6.0 km
  • East: Marlow, 20.5 km
  • Southeast: Surry, 16.5km
  • South: Westminster 7.5 km
  • Southwest: Townshend, 21.0 km
  • West: Saxtons River, 6.0 km
  • North West: Rockingham, 8.0 km
County (United States) Windham County (Vermont) Federal Information Processing Standards Burlington (Vermont) Rockingham (Vermont)
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