On May 19, 1772, residents of Guilford gathered to discuss their status. Numerous requests to Lieutenant Governor Colden of New York for a re-grant went unanswered.

They took action themselves, voting that Guilford was in the county of Cumberland and the province of New York. Not everyone agreed. So began the Guilford War, which would last for almost 20 years.

Guilford had two sets of town offices, two town meetings, with occasional skirmishes between the Yorkers and the Vermonters. Vermont statehood in 1791 ended the division in Guilford, which was Vermont’s most populous town.

Image courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.