Somerset has six residents and no businesses. Here is why this page exists
Somerset is an unincorporated town of forest and water in western Windham County. If you run a business in a nearby town that serves its visitors, a clear website on your own domain helps them find you before they head in.
$499 a year, everything included
A town that is mostly national forest, and better for it
Somerset gave up its town government in 1937 and never looked back. Today it is one of Vermont's five unincorporated towns: about 28 square miles of Green Mountain National Forest, gravel roads, and moose tracks, with six residents counted in the 2020 census. Its centerpiece is Somerset Reservoir, a remote, undeveloped lake at the headwaters of the Deerfield River, reached by a long gravel road and worth every mile of it. In 2007, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was cut here.
There are no businesses in Somerset, no stores and no services. People still search for it when planning fishing, paddling, hiking and hunting trips through most of the year, and the national forest around the reservoir is threaded with trails and old logging roads. There are no services once you leave the pavement, so visitors bring everything with them.
The businesses that actually serve Somerset's visitors are in the working towns around the forest: Wilmington and Dover to the southeast, Stratton to the north, and the Route 9 corridor. Every angler and paddler headed for the reservoir buys gas, coffee, sandwiches, and sometimes a night's lodging in one of them.
Somerset at a glance
Quick facts
- Population
- just six people at the 2020 census
- County
- Windham County
- Status
- unincorporated; the town government dissolved in 1937
- Land
- about 28 square miles, mostly Green Mountain National Forest
- Landmark
- Somerset Reservoir, at the headwaters of the Deerfield River
- Claim to fame
- the 2007 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was cut here
Landmarks & identity
Somerset Reservoir, the headwaters of the Deerfield River, and the trails and forest roads of the Green Mountain National Forest
What a business near Somerset needs from a website
If you run an inn, a store, an outfitter or a trade in Wilmington, Dover or Stratton, Somerset's visitors are your customers. They are planning a trip into country with no services, often on a phone, and they want to know what you sell, when you open and how to reach you before they lose signal. Your site gives you six pages written for you, including an areas page that can mention Somerset Reservoir among the places you serve. From a login you can change hours, prices or your phone number yourself before your next Somerset Reservoir season. Your Somerset-area site loads quickly on a phone with your number one tap away, on your own domain with a hello@ address.
Start your website or read the full details on postcardadvantage.com.
Running a business in Somerset
Nobody runs a storefront in Somerset, yet the town still generates customers. They pass through the gateway towns twice, once heading in and once heading home. Usually the car is full of gear, and the plan depends on getting a few things right before the pavement ends. For a business in those gateway towns, that trip is the opportunity.
Most visitors reach the reservoir from Route 9, turning north onto a long gravel road through the forest. The last real chance to buy ice, bait, fuel or a sandwich is somewhere along Route 9 or Route 100 before that turn. A store in Wilmington that lists what it stocks for anglers and paddlers, and the hour it opens, answers the exact question a reservoir trip raises at six in the morning.
Timing is everything for these customers. Ice-out in spring brings the first anglers. Summer weekends bring paddlers and campers. Fall brings leaf-peepers on the forest roads and then hunters, who often start before dawn. Each group searches at a different time of year for slightly different things. A business that updates its posted hours and stock notes as the seasons turn will look current to all of them.
Plenty of visitors also want somewhere to sleep before or after a long day on the water. Inns and rentals in West Dover and the rest of Dover pick up some of that trade, especially outside ski season. The post on web strategy for West Dover lodging and dining covers how a clear site helps a traveler choose a room or a meal from a phone.
Northern routes matter too. Some visitors approach the national forest from the Stratton side. A business there can reasonably mention the forest roads its customers use. Naming Somerset Reservoir on an areas page is honest when your customers really are heading there, and it helps a planner connect your shop with their destination.
Signal fades quickly once you leave the highway. A site that loads fast and puts the phone number and hours at the top gives a visitor what they need while they still have bars. Six pages on your own domain cost $499 a year, and gateway-town owners can start a website from a short form.
What you get for $499 a year
Tell us about your business and we write, build and host a complete website for it. You will never have to choose a template or install an update.
Six pages, written for you
A home page, an about page, your services, the areas you cover, answers to the questions customers ask, and a contact page. Written from what you tell us about your business, not filled with placeholder text.
A logo and images
Use your own logo and photos, or we make a clean logo and an image for every page. Either way the site looks finished the day it goes live.
Your own web address
The site runs on your own domain, with an email address to match: hello@ your domain, forwarded to the email you already use. If you need a domain, we can buy it for you: its price is shown on the order form and added to the yearly bill.
Hosting, security and backups
Fast hosting, a security certificate so browsers show the padlock, and backups, kept current all year without you having to think about it.
A login to change anything
Change a price, a phone number, a sentence or a photo yourself, whenever you like, from a simple login.
The legal pages
Terms, a privacy policy and an accessibility statement, so the site covers the basics a business website is expected to have.
Need more than six pages?
If your business needs more than our six-page website, we can quote custom work. We build custom websites from $2,500 to $100,000, depending on what the site has to do. Anything is possible. For a quote, call (888) 348-1992 or email hello@brattleborolocal.com.
Three steps, and most of the work is ours.
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Tell us about your business
One form: what you do, where, what makes you different, your services and prices if you want them shown, and any photos or logo you have. Anything you leave out, we simply do not claim.
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We build it
We write every page, design it, and set it up on your web address, 24 to 48 hours from payment.
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It goes live, and we look after it
There is nothing for you to approve. Your site goes live as soon as it is built, and we email you the link. If you see anything you want changed, tell us and we change it. Then it runs all year and renews on its own, with reminders before every renewal.
Questions from Somerset business owners
Not that we know of. The town counted six residents at the 2020 census and is almost entirely national forest. If you are looking for food, lodging, gear or fuel near Somerset Reservoir, the real options are in Wilmington, Dover and Stratton, so stock up there on the way in.
Yes. Your areas page lists the places you serve, and it can name Somerset Reservoir alongside Wilmington and the surrounding towns. It is one page listing them all rather than a separate page per place, and you can edit it yourself from your login. We only write what you tell us is true about your business.
Yes. You get a login to change any text, price, photo or phone number on your site, so you can switch seasonal hours, add a note about what you have in stock or mark yourself closed for a week. The change shows as soon as you save it, without waiting on anyone.
One flat price: $499 a year, with the writing, design, hosting, security certificate, backups and your login all included. There is no setup fee and no monthly bill. It renews automatically each year, and you can turn automatic renewal off at any time.
24 to 48 hours from payment. It goes live as soon as it is built, and we email you the link.
We do, from what you tell us on the order form. If you see anything you want changed once your site is live, tell us and we change it.
Yes. Tell us which domain on the form. We send you two settings to change, and your site goes live once they are changed. We also check that any email you already have on that domain keeps working.
Brattleboro Local is a division of Postcard Advantage LLC. Your order, billing, website and support are all handled by Postcard Advantage, and you can reach us at (888) 348-1992.
Ask us for a quote. Beyond the six-page website, we take on custom builds priced from $2,500 up to $100,000, set by the size of the job. Anything is possible. Call (888) 348-1992 or email hello@brattleborolocal.com and tell us what you have in mind.
Yes, as optional extras paid separately from the website. Call tracking is $49 a year and puts a local tracking number on your site that rings straight through to you. The AI receptionist is $99 a year on top of call tracking and takes a message when you cannot answer. Add either on the order form or later from your account.