“If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.” That’s pretty much the slogan for Vermont general stores, where you can find long underwear, fishing bait, penny candy, coffee, sandwiches, honey, and good conversation all under one roof. Vermont general stores have been an integral part of...
You know you’re in New England when you visit Norwich. Main Street is lined with historic Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival brick and frame buildings, and the local village green is busy with bandstand concerts, community picnics, and soccer games. Settled in 1761 across the Connecticut...
Since launching HappyVermont.com in August 2009, I've traveled through many of Vermont's 251 cities and towns. Here are 8 beautiful places in Vermont to photograph, including some of my favorite historic churches, meeting houses, barns, and bridges. Waits River Church The tiny village of Waits River in...
Vermont is home to more than 8,000 miles of unpaved roads. One of the most historic is the Bayley-Hazen Military Road, the Northeast Kingdom's oldest thoroughfare. Traces of the road, most of it unpaved, extends diagonally 48 miles from Wells River to Montgomery Center. Much of...
Vermont was once home to dozens of fire towers across the state. According to the Green Mountain Club’s 360 Degrees: A Guide to Vermont’s Fire and Observation Towers, 38 fire towers once stood in Vermont. Today, there are far fewer. The History of Vermont Fire Towers Many...
The famous Vermont floating bridge is making a buoyant comeback in Brookfield. Since reopening to vehicular traffic in May 2015—after being closed since 2008—the Floating Bridge is attracting visitors from near and far. The bridge, first built in 1820, spans 321-feet across scenic Sunset Lake. The newest...
Recycling, composting, buying local, and a genuine love for the land are values and practices that are a way of life in Vermont. Vermont consistently ranks as one of the greenest states in the country. Of course, we’re not exactly perfect. The state needs to...
-A one-room schoolhouse on River Road in Manchester. It’s amazing to think there was a time when almost every American child learned in a one-room school. In fact, as late as 1913, half of the country's schoolchildren were enrolled in the country's 200,000 one-room schools. In Vermont,...
For such a small state, Vermont seems to have an endless supply of fun facts. When I worked for the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, travel writers would often contact me for lists of interesting trivia, facts, and figures. Favorites would include Montpelier being the...
The Grist Mill Covered Bridge in Jeffersonville is a stone’s throw from Route 108 near Smugglers’ Notch. Extending 85 feet across the Brewster River, the bridge seems to have an elusive past. No one seems to know exactly when the bridge was built, or even...
