Montpelier’s Barr Hill Gin is one of the latest Vermont companies to take inspiration from the land. Founded in 2011 in Hardwick, in the Northeast Kingdom, Barr Hill takes its name from a nature ...

On June 20, 1793, Eli Whitney, who had graduated from Yale the previous year, wrote to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, requesting a patent for his new invention, the cotton gin. The gin ...

Barr Hill Gin is produced at Montpelier, Vermont’s Caledonia Spirits distillery, and stands out from the many entries in the American gin category in that only two ingredients are used as ...

Whitney believed the gin would eliminate the need for slave labor, but instead the invention revitalized a demand for slave labor as the cotton industry grew exponentially.

U.S. headlines: More news from The Hill, NewsNation and more on FOX4 The original cotton gin of Eli Whitney, on display in the Smithsonian. (Getty Images) ...

The original cotton gin of Eli Whitney, on display in the Smithsonian. (Getty Images) Bischoff-Wurstle said that’s because it fueled the ability to produce more cotton.