History
This town is located upon the eastern border of the county, centrally distant seventeen miles from Salem, one of the half-shire towns. It is bounded on the north by Whitehall and Hampton, east by Vermont, south by Hebron, west by Hartford and Fort Ann. It contains thirty-three thousand one hundred and forty three acres, or nearly fifty-two square miles.

The surface of the town is undulating and hilly. The ridges are elevated from three hundred to five hundred feet above the valleys. A large portion of the township lies on what is sometimes called the Granville river, though it is better known historically as the Pawlet, the name Granville not applying to the stream until after is receives the tributaries near North Granville. It has somewhat romantically been called the Mettawee. In most of the town the slopes of the hills are gradual, and with few or no precipitous heights; the valleys are delightful. There is a quiet pastoral beauty, very attractive and charming, in the natural scenery of the town. The surface is drained almost wholly by the stream already named and its tributaries.

The main river enters the town from Vermont at Granville village. The largest southern branch, formed of two streams flowing from Hebron, unites a little northwest of the village. Another southern branch forms a junction with the Pawlet a little east of North Granville. Almost exactly opposite is the entrance of the principal branch from the north. These streams are beautifully clear and limpid, and are fringed with the alluvial meadows through most of their course. They furnish a large amount of water-power, which is, however, but partially utilized.

A range of slate deposits passes through the center of the town, mostly on the southwestern bank of the Pawlet, which furnishes an inexhaustible supply of roofing material and stock for other purposes. Clay for the manufacture of brick crops out in various places, and is used to some extent at Middle Granville.