The rural town of Danby located in southwestern Vermont was settled in 1761. The Taconic Mountains lay to the west, the Green Mountains to the east, and these ranges provide beautiful valley panoramas. The town's eastern extremity borders the Otter Creek and the Vermont Valley. The valley stretches to Mount Tabor to the east and to the Danby Borough (Danby Village) to the west. The majority of the town's flatland is located in Danby Four Corners at an elevation of 1,400 feet. It is surrounded to the west by Dutch Hill (photo above). Dutch Hill forms a steep ridgeline that is one of the town's most dominant physical features. At its steepest point, the ridge drops 1,000 vertical feet in less than half a mile. Steep slopes follow westward to the town of Pawlet. Danby's southern border is wedged between two peaks: Dorset Mountain at 3,804 feet of elevation and Woodlawn Mountain with an elevation of 3,110 feet.

 

Danby's most famous resource, marble, was first mined in the town in 1827. Danby lays claim to having the largest underground marble mine in the world. Silas L. Griffith, a Danby resident in the early 19th Century, became one of the wealthiest men in the state through the lumber and charcoal industry he owned in neighboring Mount Tabor. He gave funds to local cemeteries and churches and provided gifts to children at Christmas. This Christmas gift giving still exists to the present day. His most substantial legacy, the S.L. Griffith Library, opened in 1904 and continues in operation today. The town was also home to the noted Pulitizer Prize winning author, Pearl Buck for a number of years .

 

The Historic Architecture of Rutland County lists 113 structures in the National Register of Historical Places in Danby and another 61 buildings from the Vermont State Register of Historic Places.

 

Based in the Danby Four Corners, Smokey House Center is renowned locally for its unique, multifaceted approach to promoting education and conservation. It has served as an education resource for local students in hands on, work based learning and environmental field studies since 1974.  The center works to ensure that farming will be an essential component of the landscape by leasing land, housing, and retail space to local farmers.

 

Danby offers hiking, horseback riding, bike riding on beautiful rolling hills, trout fishing, and hunting for residents and tourists alike. Young farmers, established farmers, and artisans provide a variety of products to the local community and beyond.