Barton, VT

Barton is an Orleans County town organized around two incorporated villages, Barton and Orleans, with roughly half its residents living outside the village centers. The 2020 census counted 2,872 people. Water shapes the town’s map: Crystal Lake lies beside Barton village, the Barton River runs through the area, and the town rises to Barton Mountain. The result is a rural North Country landscape where village streets meet farms, woods, and lake roads.

Barton Village began as Barton Mills and incorporated in 1874; its academy, village systems, Memorial Hall, and Pageant Park give the center a civic history that predates the lake tourism economy. Pageant Park on Crystal Lake includes a public beach, campground, and seasonal campsites, while Crystal Lake State Park sits nearby. Tourism and seasonal residents remain important, but the town’s two-village structure matters just as much: Barton handles one center of daily life, Orleans another, and the countryside connects them. The town also participates in Orleans Central Supervisory Union, tying the two villages to a shared school system.