Burke, Vermont

Episode 42 / 1 November 2017 / 118 min / full

Kitchen Table Murder

"James says they are going to Burke (transcribed 'Birk'), Vermont, in the Northeast Kingdom, Caledonia County, zip code 05871, area code 802" about 0:06:37

The case: Murder of Vicky Campbell-Beer (16 February 2000). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2017

Population

1,722

Median age

43.5

Median household income

about $49,000

Median home value

$149,000

Two-bedroom rent

$847 a month

Cost of living

97

Religious

33.42%

Property crime

exactly at the national average

Violent crime

▲ almost 20% higher

History, in brief

• Burke lies in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom (NEK), the northeast corner made up of Essex, Orleans and Caledonia counties. about 0:08:57
• The first settlers arrived in 1792; a man named Lemuel Walker cleared land and built a cabin, and the town was organised in his home in 1796. about 0:09:33
• Surveyors divided the town into lots of about 160 acres, and many went to Revolutionary War soldiers who were paid in land. about 0:11:09
• The original charter granted land to sixty-five people, most of them from Connecticut. about 0:12:13
• The town is named after Sir Edmund Burke, the member of parliament who tried to promote peace with the American colonies. about 0:12:29
• Forest and water brought lumber and sawmills as the first industry, then farming; by the late 1800s the sawmills and lumber were over and it was mainly farming, with dairy farms big by the 1940s. about 0:13:31
• Population was 108 in 1800 and 1,184 in 1900. about 0:13:45
• In 1953, thirteen men formed a corporation that started the development of the Burke Mountain ski area; vacation homes followed and changed the town. about 0:14:03
• The town has no motto, on its website or anywhere else. about 0:23:57

Open the episode file