Cavendish is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

, the central village of the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Cavendish, Windsor County,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, United States. Until the midnineteenth century it was known as Duttonsville. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 179, compared to 1,367 for the entire town of Cavendish. Cavendish is the site of the 1848 accident where Phineas Gage got an iron rod shot through his skull while preparing a railroad bed. He survived, and after treatment became a case study for brain researchers. The town has erected a memorial to Gage. The town is also the birthplace of Nettie Stevens, the scientist who discovered the

Y chromosome The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the ...

. Today, the village is home to Cavendish Labs, an AI alignment and

pandemic prevention Pandemic prevention is the organization and management of preventive measures against pandemics. Those include measures to reduce causes of new infectious diseases and measures to prevent outbreaks and epidemics from becoming pandemics. It is not ...

research institute, as well as a branch of Mack Molding.

Geography

Cavendish is located along Vermont Route 131 in the Black River valley. Route 131 heads west to Proctorsville, a larger village within the town of Cavendish, then connects with Vermont Route 103 to

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

. To the east, Route 131 leads to the village of Ascutney on the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

References

Census-designated places in Vermont Census-designated places in Windsor County, Vermont {{Vermont-geo-stub