Scenic Drives Archives - Happy Vermont

Scenic Drives

  • Art, Nature and Beauty in Montgomery
    Art, Nature and Beauty in Montgomery

    Traveling east on Route 118 along the Trout River is a nostalgic scene with covered bridges, barns and mountain views. After a few bends in the road, a clear view of the Montgomery Center for the Arts unfolds. The Greek Revival building was empty the first...

  • Whimsy, Hiking and History in Wallingford
    Whimsy, Hiking and History in Wallingford

    Stacy Harshman needed a change. While living in New York, she Googled words like "nature, mountains and community." The search brought her to Vermont, where she eventually opened The Sparkle Barn. The Sparkle Barn is a wildly popular gift shop on Route 7 in Wallingford, complete with an...

  • An Outdoor Recreation Renaissance in Poultney
    An Outdoor Recreation Renaissance in Poultney

    Main Street in Poultney features everything you could hope for in a small Vermont town: a book shop, a local pub, a post office, a hardware store and a library. There's also James Johnson's bike shop, Analog Cycles, which sits on the corner of Main and...

  • The Best Vermont Towns to Visit This Fall
    The Best Vermont Towns to Visit This Fall

    Vermont's fall foliage season is all about scenic drives, apple picking, hiking and exploring small towns. You can’t go wrong wherever you are in Vermont this time of year. Here's a list of some of the best Vermont towns to visit this fall foliage season, and where...

  • Butterfly Watching in Vermont
    Butterfly Watching in Vermont

    Butterflies are a big part of Terri Armata's world. The Bennington resident, who moved to Vermont in the 1970s, has always loved exploring the outdoors. Two decades ago—somewhat on a whim—she volunteered for the Vermont Butterfly Atlas project to help document the status of butterflies in...

  • The Wonder of Old Trees at Gifford Woods State Park
    The Wonder of Old Trees at Gifford Woods State Park

    It’s hard to imagine, but most of Vermont’s forests and hillsides were clear-cut in the 19th-century. Still, while 80 percent of the state had been deforested, a handful of Vermont’s old forests miraculously survived. Some of those old trees—more than 300 years old—can be seen...

  • Podcast: Turnpikes, Toll Roads and Historic Routes
    Podcast: Turnpikes, Toll Roads and Historic Routes

    Driving west on Route 17, the road’s pitch starts to noticeably change as it rounds past Mad River Glen and climbs to an elevation of 2,375 feet in Buel’s Gore. The area, known as the “App Gap,” is also referred to as the McCullough Turnpike—a...

  • Forest Service Roads in Vermont to Seek Out in Fall
    Forest Service Roads in Vermont to Seek Out in Fall

    Leaf-peeping on U.S. Forest Service roads in Vermont is a good option for out-of-the-way scenic drives and outdoor exploration. Forest Service roads in Vermont can be found across the Green Mountain National Forest, from Searsburg and Sunderland to Goshen and Granville. The national forest encompasses more...

  • Where are the Most Maple Trees in Vermont?
    Where are the Most Maple Trees in Vermont?

    If you're wondering if there's an epicenter of Vermont maple trees, look no further than rural Orange County. The county, home to the most maple trees in Vermont, is located east of the Green Mountains. The region includes Newbury, West Topsham, Vershire, Strafford, Thetford, Brookfield, Chelsea, Randolph,...

  • Where to Go and Things to Do in the Green Mountain National Forest
    Where to Go and Things to Do in the Green Mountain National Forest

    It’s hard to imagine Vermont without the Green Mountain National Forest. Exploring sections of the forest’s 400,000-acres is a must for anyone who loves the outdoors. If you’re interested in finding things to do in the Green Mountain National Forest, options include hiking, paddling, fishing,...