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I have selected many 'essay' topics that would cover this story (pigs, slaughtering, Vermont, Green Mountain Boys, Ethan Allen, Shakers, etc.) I am allowing students to use Power Point presentations in lieu of written paper however, I need to have some requirements in place in order to decide on a rubric to grade. Unlike a paper, I know what I would expect, but Power Point is new to me and I have no idea how to judge from an excellent, good, fair, or poor presentation.

It depends on what your objectives are for this assignment. Are the students presenting these or simply making a PowerPoint for you to look at? Is the content more important to you or the fancy bells and whistles (like slide color, transition, fonts, pictures, etc)?

When I assign a PowerPoint presentation, I make the kids present it to the class. Here are a few things I look for:
1. Answering the question(s) or topic thoroughly.
2. Ease of readability (can I read it without get distracted? Is the font big enough, clear enough, etc?)
3. Presentation skills (rate, pitch, volume, etc).
4. I can't stand kids who just read from the PowerPoint, so I take off points if they don't use it as a source of speaking points.
5. You can make it a requirement that they include one picture or video or something.
6. If you're focusing on the use of PowerPoint and their skills with the program, you may want to evaluate their use of transitions, different types of slides, background, etc.

What did you set for your objectives?  You may want to give them questions from the book to answer, or researched details, or their personal perspectives.  You may want to give a range of slides expected--maybe 10-15 slides?  I always expect my students to write in complete sentences with correct spelling and grammar, so you may want to put that in your rubric.  Will you allow them to just read from the presentation, or will you expect them to use the presentation as a reminder of the actual speech?  In this case, you will want them to also turn in a written copy of the presentation part that was given but not a part of the powerpoint slides themselves.

Sounds like fun!  Good Luck!