Brighton is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,157 at the 2020 census. The town was named "Gilead" in its original grant in 1780. The town was sold to a group consisting primarily of soldiers commanded by Colonel Joseph Nightingale and subsequently named "Random". The town's name was finally changed by the legislature to "Brighton" in 1832. The Brighton village of Island Pond gets its name from the Abenaki word Menanbawk, which literally means island pond.