Moretown Stories and Legends

Moretown is unique – the only one listed in atlases of the world. Perhaps we could claim a modern-day cousin not listed in the usual atlases – Motown, the nickname of Detroit derived from “Motor Town” as well as the name of a trend-setting pop record company founded there in 1960.

Close cousins that do appear in the atlases are two places named Moreton, one in England and one in Australia. And in the United States, there’s a Morehouse in Missouri and a Moreland in four states – Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky. North Dakota has a Mooreton, and both Michigan and New Jersey have a Moorestown.

Bradford, Vermont, was once Mooretown, named for Royal Governor Moore of New York. So Vermont had a Moretown and a Mooretown until 1788, when the residents of the latter town petitioned the Vermont Legislature for the new name in honor of the Governor of Massachusetts – Bradford.

No one knows for certain how Moretown got its name. There is the old story that when Washington County was being formed and maps drawn, a large parcel of land was left over, prompting the response, "My God, more town." But this theory has a flaw. The town was named Moretown in the original grant back in 1763, when the quill pen of Royal Governor Benning Wentworth drew straight lines on a map and designated townships. This was before Vermont existed as a state and long before the state was surveyed. And in 1791 when Vermont did join the Union, our town was known as "Moretown in the County of Chittenden."

A plausible explanation lies in the fact that two of the original proprietors were named Morehouse – Daniel and James. Other members of the Morehouse family were issued grants in neighboring towns about the same time: David Morehouse, land in Middlesex and Randolph; Sturgess Morehouse, land in Shelburne. Since Wentworth unabashedly bestowed favors upon his friends and family, it is likely that he chose the name Moretown to honor the Morehouse family – and Morehousetown was considered too unwieldy. Later, early settlers in the west founded Morehouse, Missouri.