| The town was
created on August 12, 1761 by way of a
royal charter which
King George III of
England issued to Governor
Benning Wentworth of
New Hampshire. Wentworth named it for
Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, 4th
Earl of Arlington and 4th
Viscount Thetford, who in 1768 became
prime minister. It was first settled in 1764 by
John Chamberlin, who lived at East Thetford beside
the
Connecticut River. He was an agent for one of 62
proprietors (51 from
Hebron, Connecticut).
In 1910, the
Camp Fire Girls were founded locally. This
became a national organization within two years.
Gove Hill
Retreat, a nonprofit Christian Retreat center, was
founded in 1966 in Thetford Center. The center
supplied hospitality to religious, educational and
other non-profit organizations. The retreat was
sited on property originally owned by John Gove, the
first farmer and name sake of Gove Hill. It was
closed December 31, 2013 after the American Baptist
Churches of Vermont and New Hampshire (ABCVNH)
decided the yearly upkeep was not worth it. The
retreat center had run a deficit for a number of
years. The Pastor's larger salary were both believed
to be factors in the closing of the doors |