Thought I'd add this post in case anyone comes across this thread in the future. I didn't solve my problem as such but I do have more info on it, I just decided I'd go another way with my design as I didn't want to devote any more time to tracking this down.

As I said, the problem started when I ported my project to VS2010 Express. I had done all previous coding with Code::Blocks and the exact code that produced the crash did not do so in Code::Blocks.

Linking the SFML libraries statically also solved the problem. It's more a workaround than a solution, but that could help pinpoint it if one were so inclined.

In searching for a solution, I came across a few mentions of a crash on exit also related to sf::font in the SFML forums. It apparently involved, as Adam and Sym surmised, a problem with the destruction order of certain items. This did not lead to a solution though, and I want to be clear and say that I don't know nearly enough about SFML or C++ in general to say if my error was the same as the one I'm citing. It's still entirely possible I was just messing something up on my end (I'd even say it's likely).

Anyway, like I said, this info is here for whatever use it can be if anyone in the future comes across this post. Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't, but its here.

:)