Vermont Ancient Roads Showcase History and Offer Access to the Outdoors
June 07, 2025

Spencer Crispe spends as much time as he can walking or cross-country skiing on Vermont ancient roads.

Ancient roads—typically 48-feet wide and often lined with stone walls—can be found across the state. You might also come across tiny cemeteries, old stone chimneys and cellar holes near these dirt pathways.

“They’re almost like a time capsule,” says Crispe, an attorney from West Brattleboro. The ninth-generation Vermonter grew up in Windham County and became curious about ancient roads 20 years ago while living in Starksboro.“These roads are ubiquitous.”

Listen to the podcast episode 

-Spencer Crispe walks an ancient road connecting Dummerston and Putney.

In 2015, ancient roads were getting a lot of attention in Vermont. Ten years ago, towns like Wilmington and Granville were wrapping up years of work researching old roads from the 1700s and 1800s.

As part of Vermont’s Act 178 legislation, passed in 2006, towns were identifying unidentified corridors and figuring out which roads should be discontinued and which should remain legal rights of way—in other words, accessible as town class 4 roads or legal trails. Many of these roads and trails remain on town maps and accessible to the public.

“I think ancient roads are as important as stone walls and cellar holes,” says Norm Arseneault of Granville, who led a local committee to find unidentified corridors in his Addison County community.

He also wrote A History of Granville’s Town Roads (1790 to 2015) and was interviewed about ancient roads by The New Yorker in 2015.

Listen to the podcast episode 

-Norm Arseneault on an ancient road in Granville just off Route 100.

Arsenault spent years researching town records, pouring over old maps and surveys, and scouting old roads. “I love to search for property lines and property corners. I like using the compass,” he says.

Ancient roads play a role in outdoor recreation, preserving local history and even emergency access.

After Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 destroyed major roads in Granville, the neglected Buttles Road was reactivated as an emergency exit, proving the long-term value of these forgotten paths, Arsenault says.

One of the most remarkable things he has learned about ancient roads is imagining what life was like 200 years ago.

“You get up in elevation into the mountains, up 2,000 or 2,400 feet, and you realize people were living up there in the early 1800s,” he says. “It’s one of the stark revelations of what life was like here a couple of hundred years ago.”

-A gravestone from 1797 near an ancient road in Putney.

Happy Vermont Podcast

Spencer Crispe of West Brattleboro and Norm Arseneault of Granville talk about why Vermont ancient roads still matter.

Listen to the podcast episode 

Where in Vermont? Test Your Knowledge of Vermont Geography

The answer to last week’s quiz is Readsboro (Heartwellville, to be exact). This was a tough one!

Winners
Janice Bradley
Darcey Brown

Can you name the town in the photo below? Share your answer by commenting below (be sure to give your name) or email me at [email protected].

Winners will be mentioned in next Sunday’s email. Thanks for playing!

Want to play twice a week? Follow me on Instagram to play every Wednesday and Sunday.

Subscribe to Happy Vermont