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Located in central Vermont, Washington County was incorporated in 1810 and organized in 1811, with Montpelier as the shire town (county seat).   It was called Jefferson County until 1814, when the name was changed to Washington.   Washington County was formed from portions of Addison, Orange, Caledonia and Chittenden counties as follows:   Montpelier, Plainfield, Calais and Marshfield were taken from Caledonia County.   Barre, Berlin, and Northfield were taken from Orange County.   Stowe, Duxbury, Fayston, Waitsfield, Waterbury, Moretown, Middlesex, and Worcester were taken from Chittenden. Additional towns were later added to Washington County - including Roxbury (taken from Orange County in 1820), Elmore (taken from Orleans County in 1821), Warren (taken from Addison County in 1829), Woodbury (taken from Caledonia County in 1835) and Cabot (taken from Caledonia County in 1855).

Named after George Washington, its county seat is the city of Montpelier (the least populous state capital in the United States) and the most populous municipality is the city of Barre. ---Wikipedia

<   Portrait by Gilbert Stuart Williamstown ---Wikipedia  

Washington County is one of several Vermont counties created from land ceded by the state of New York on January 15, 1777, when Vermont declared itself to be a distinct state from New York. The land originally was contested by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Netherland, but it remained undelineated until July 20, 1764, when King George III established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the Connecticut River, north of Massachusetts and south of the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude. New York assigned the land gained to Albany County. On March 12, 1772, Albany County was partitioned to create >Charlotte County and this situation remained until Vermont's independence from New York and Britain.