Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1811.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Sharon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sharon is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sharon’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 Sharon’s 6.3 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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 points). Two sources give 1761.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Sharon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
One of the New Hampshire grants, the township was created on August 17, 1761, by a royal charter which King George III of the United Kingdom issued to Governor Benning Wentworth. It was granted to John Taylor and 61 others, many from Sharon, Connecticut. The town was first settled about 1765 by Robert Havens and family. In 1780 during the Revolution, the village was attacked in the Royalton Raid, when a combined British-Mohawk force attacked and burnt the town.
Passages that mention Sharon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1891 · page 751Read the page →
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tered as one of the New Hampshire Grants; in 1764 the jurisdiction passed to the province of New York, and the town was erected into a part of Cumberland county of that province; in 1772 the county was divided, and all north of the north line of Sharon was made a part of Gloucester county. But in some manner the people of Sharon obtained the idea that they were in Gloucester county, if the records are evidence of the fact, for at the annual town meeting held March 12, 1776, the minutes read thus : " At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Windsor county, Vermont1891 · page 758Read the page →
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Marsh, Joel Henry, was born in Sharon, October 30, 1826, the eldest of the three children of Timothy and Philena (Burbank) Marsh. His great-grandfather, Isaac, in company with Willard Shepard, Parkhurst, and Havens, first settled in the town of Sharon.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Windsor County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1891 · page 750Read the page →
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The exact date of the organization of the town of Sharon by its inhabitants, independent of the preliminary organization and n>eetings held by the proprietors, cannot be determined from existing records, from the fact that the first leaves of the town book are so mutilated and worn as to be unreliable for the purposes of accurate statement, but enough can be deciphered to learn that the organization meeting was held during 1768. Thompson says the town was organized March 8th of that year, while at least two later authorities say that the first meet-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Windsor county, Vermont1891 · page 747Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Sharon was brought into existence by virtue of a charter granted by Governor Benning Wentworth, of the province of New Hampshire, on the 17th of August, 1761, to John Taylor and his associates, sixty-two in all, with the customary reservations — one right for a glebe for the Church of England, one for the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, one for the first settled minister in
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
Sharon, 1761 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1761, according to Wikidata. Sharon’s post office opened in 1811, and the first U.S. census counted 569 people here in 1790.
How does Sharon rank for history?
Sharon is more historic than 73% 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 Sharon?
One place: the Bridge 15 (listed 2008).
How old are the homes in Sharon?
16% of Sharon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (10), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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