Merino sheep, which produce thick, valuable wool, were a key component of the Vermont economy during the early 1800s. Vermont Historical Society William Jarvis knew what he was doing when he finagled a deal to purchase Merino sheep from Spain. He saw them as the perfect business venture and ideally suited for his hilly New England. Spain would have maintained its monopoly on the sheep breed, which produces voluminous amounts of high-quality wool, but the government needed money to fight a war with Napoleon. So in 1809 Jarvis began shipping Merinos to the United States, at great personal profit. He eventually moved with 400 of them to his farm in Weathersfield. Thus began Vermont’s great sheep craze. By 1840, Vermont’s sheep population reached 1.7 million — outnumbering the human population six-to-one. The craze finally abated in the mid-1800s when Vermont sheep farmers found they couldn’t compete with cheaper wool brought in aboard railroad cars from the Midwest and aboard ships when the United States dropped import tariffs. Sheep farming proved to be just one in a long line of industries, and sometimes single businesses, that have left their mark on Vermont. What follows is a look at some of […]
