The last five years of Ethan's life were his most tranquil. He and his second wife, Fanny, moved to a home on their property in the Burlington Intervale. Ethan concentrated on farming and writing, and died in 1789. As so often in his life, Ethan presents yet another unanswered question as to the manner of his death. He either suffered a stroke returning across the frozen lake, or, as popular legend tells it, fell from the loaded sleigh in a drunken stupor. Whatever the cause of the trauma, he did not regain consciousness, and died the next day at home.

Without doubt, Ethan Allen's life had great impact upon and significance for the early history of Vermont, and it can be safely said that his frontier spirit and independent way of thought still linger here.