The Windham Foundation announced on Monday that it has sold its historic Grafton Village Cheese business for an undisclosed price to Vermont Farmstead Cheese based in South Woodstock. The two award-winning artisan cheese lines will continue to be sold under their existing brand names but be nefit from strengthened joint distribution and other operational efficiencies, said Kent Underwood, 45, Vermont Farmstead Cheese president and co-owner. Underwood said Grafton Village Cheese will continue to make cheese in Grafton and run its packing, shipping, cheese-smoking and retail location in Proctorsville. Its roughly 22 employees, including head cheesemaker Mariano Gonzalez, will join 13 who work for Vermont Farmstead Cheese. Both operations source milk largely from Vermont with a little coming from New Hampshire and New York. Grafton Village Cheese began as a farmer cooperative that made cheese from 1892 until a 1912 fire burned down the facility. It was reinvigorated in 1967 by the Windham Foundation, which had been founded a few years earlier by Dean Mathey, a New York financier who summered in Grafton and aimed to support local economic vitality. Windham Foundation board member Tim Briglin, 58, said that the nonprofit hired Curt Alpeter in 2023 as Grafton Village Cheese CEO to determine the future of the business, which had not recovered from pandemic distribution losses. With Alpeter's input, the board concluded that the foundation was not in a position to make necessary investments for longterm sustainability and began seeking a partner or buyer about six months ago. It continues to own the Grafton Inn. Vermont Farmstead Cheese was established in 2009 on the South Woodstock site of a former water buffalo dairy. Its cheeses and line of Castleton Crackers are sold in about 30 states. The company had collaborated in various ways with Grafton Village Cheese over the past decade, Underwood said. "We weren't actively looking for acquisitions," he said, "but we  certainly valued the brand and wanted to see it go to caretakers with the same values Grafton has." Although both cheesemakers have flagship cheddars, Underwood said he sees the businesses as complementary. He is targeting 15 percent growth for Grafton over the next 18 months. "To get Grafton back to being a national brand, it needs salespeople and distributors and resources " Alpeter, 57, said. "That's what Vermont Farmstead is really positioned very well to do."… ...read more read less