Catamount Outdoor Family Center

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The Catamount Outdoor Family Center is a privately owned recreation area on Governor Chittenden Road in Williston, Vermont. The more than 400acre property includes trails for a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. The property includes Williston's oldest house, built about 1796 by Governor Thomas Chittenden for his son Giles, which now serves as a bed and breakfast in. The property also continues to see agricultural use in the raising of sheep. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Giles Chittenden Farmstead in 1993.LocationThe Catamount Outdoor Family Center is located in a rural area of northeastern Williston, on either side of Governor Chittenden Road east of North Williston Road. The property is a combination of open fields and woodlands, with the open fields generally closer to the road. A small cluster of buildings is located on the south side of the road, from which a network of trails radiate across the landscape.HistoryThe prominent feature of the building complex is the Giles Chittenden House, a Federal style two-story brick house. It was built about 1796 by Thomas Chittenden the first Governor of Vermont and the first settler of Williston. Chittenden built a house for himself (no longer standing) about 1787, and later built houses for each of his four sons. His son Giles was mainly a farmer, but was entangled in family financial issues that forced him to sell off portions of his land, and left his estate insolvent upon his death in 1819. In addition to the house, the property also includes a 19th-century barn, probably build in mid-century by Charles Miller.