 But in 1777, the Republic of Vermont was established.Ignoring the previous grants, it gave charter on November 7, 1780 for “a tract of vacant land within this state which has not heretofore been granted.”

The charter goes on to say “that the same be and is hereby Incorporated into a Township by the name of Jamaica”—its name from the Natick word for beaver and not the Caribbean island.The grant encompassed forty-two square miles, at an altitude ranging from above sea level along the West River to on The Pinnacle.