The site that would eventually become Ferrisburgh was originally called Varenbrug, or 'Fern Bridge' by Dutch explorers from the colony of
New Amsterdam. The Dutch operated a trading post at the site, doing business with French
voyageurs and
Native American merchants until it was abandoned during the course of the
Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1673. The English burned the old Dutch trading post, and did not settle the area, which eventually became a meeting site for diverse peoples. The
Abenaki and
Iroquois nations maintained friendly relations at the site in the absence of European power. The site would not be contested militarily again until the
American Revolution, where it saw ancillary action leading up to the
Battle of Hubbardton. Ferrisburgh was named for Benjamin Ferris, who applied for a charter in 1762. Although the
Rokeby Museum tells the story of Ferrisburgh's long history in the
abolitionist movement and the
Underground Railroad, Ferrisburgh sent many of its sons off to war during the
American Civil War. Ferrisburghers made up roughly 10% of the "
Old Brigade." Many wives and sisters from Ferrisburgh joined their husbands and brothers on the front lines as
camp followers. Ferrisburgh women found themselves involved in rear guard action during the
Battle of Gettysburg, as Confederate soldiers stormed
Big Round Top. As Confederate
pickets fired upon Union positions, Vermont women from Ferrisburgh were in the line of fire. Laura Fitzgerald, an Irish immigrant to Ferrisburgh, fired a musket towards the Confederate lines, causing the snipers to scatter. The art colony went by several lengthy and increasingly bizarre names, and is colloquially known as the Ferrisburgh Art Colony. Artists and provocateurs from around the greater
New England region came to the colony to express appreciation for the more esoteric arts, as well as to hold more than one rally in support of radical politics. ==Geography==