Ripton is a town in

Addison County, Vermont Addison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,363. Its shire town ( county seat) is the town of Middlebury. History Iroquois settled in the county before Europeans arrived in ...

, United States. The population was 739 at the 2020 census.

Geography

Ripton is located in east-central Addison County, in the

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is i ...

of Vermont. The highest point in the town is the summit of

Bread Loaf Mountain Bread Loaf Mountain is a mountain located in Addison County, Vermont, in the Breadloaf Wilderness in the Green Mountain National Forest. The mountain is part of the central Green Mountains. Bread Loaf Mountain is flanked to the northeast by Mo ...

. The mountain lends its name to the community of Bread Loaf and to the writers' conference that is held there every summer. Although the approach to Middlebury Gap begins in Ripton, the Gap's height-of-land is in neighboring

Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...

. Ripton is bordered by the town of Middlebury to the west,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

to the north, Granville to the east,

to the southeast, Goshen to the south, and

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

to the southwest. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, Ripton has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.34%, is water. Ripton is mountainous and largely populated by

northern hardwood forest The northern hardwood forest is a general type of North American forest ecosystem found over much of southeastern and south-central Canada, Ontario, and Quebec, extending south into the United States in northern New England, New York, and Pennsyl ...

Events

The

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

is held annually in Ripton. Jessica Ravitz of

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

said that the town "is the kind of place where cell service fails more often than it works and the country store is really just that....Tibetan prayer flags wave outside a weather-worn home, and the fog lifts to reveal a white horse grazing in a field".Ravitz, Jessica.
Imprisoned and interrogated, a college student's accidental education
" ''

''. April 28, 2011. Retrieved on April 28, 2011.

Demographics

At the 2000 census, there were 556 people, 210 households and 152 families residing in the town. The population density was 11.2 per square mile (4.3/km²). There were 283 housing units at an average density of 5.7 per square mile (2.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.66%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.18%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.18% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.18% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 1.44% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 0.54% of the population. There were 210 households, of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. Of all households 22.4% were made up of individuals, and 5.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 2.89. Age distribution was 26.1% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 113.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.5 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways o ...

was $39,583, and the median family income was $47,813. Males had a median income of $36,250 versus $30,893 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $19,597. About 10.3% of families and 15.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 25.2% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Robert Durst, multi-millionaire and convicted murderer lived in Ripton in 1971–1972 * Robert Frost, poet * Bill McKibben, environmentalist and climate change author

References

External links

Town of Ripton official website

Bread Loaf Writer's Conference

{{authority control Towns in Addison County, Vermont Towns in Vermont