On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Duxbury is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Duxbury’s overall grade.
Vermont towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Vermont town has 147 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Duxbury’s 6.5 sits below most of its state (15% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points).
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Duxbury’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1880, Emeline Meaker of Duxbury was hanged for poisoning her niece, Alice. The trial received much coverage throughout the country. She was the first woman hanged in Vermont.
Duxbury claimed to be the only municipality in the United States that had an elected position of dogcatcher. However, in 2018, it was determined that holding an election to determine a town's dogcatcher violates Vermont state law, as dogcatcher is expressly an appointed position.
Passages that mention Duxbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 184Read the page →
Read the text
must have perished already, either from hunger and fatigue, or from the bears infesting the woods. He was soon found in the town of Duxbury, several miles from home, having been nearly 3 days and nights in the woods. He had carried his dinner-pail when he started from school
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Duxbury, 1856 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Duxbury is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Duxbury?
One place: the Bridge 31 (listed 2006).
How old are the homes in Duxbury?
15% of Duxbury’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1988.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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