Barnard is a town in Windsor County, in the "Woodstock-Quechee" region. The town was originally spelled Bernard and named after the second-listed grantee of the town (as well as five others) Sir Francis Bernard, governor of the New Jersey Colony and later of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Some notable people from the area include: Sinclair Lewis, a Nobel prize winning novelist, short-story writer, & playwright; and Carl Zuckmayer, a German writer & playwright.