This time of year always reminds me of the importance of taking chances, pursuing happiness, and loving yourself even when life is hard. Twelve years ago this week, on November 1, 2006, I returned to my home state of Vermont after spending six years in Boston....
Beth Kennett welcomed her first overnight guests to Liberty Hill Farm in 1984. Back then, hosting visitors was a way for Beth and her husband, Bob, to start to diversify their income as farmers. Ever since, families and couples from the Netherlands, Italy, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada,...
When Addie Minot’s family was looking for places to live in the 1940s, they descended upon Guilford, Vermont, a tiny village in southern Vermont complete with a scenic covered bridge, historic church, and small river. Instantly, they knew it was a perfect place to live. At...
For anyone visiting Vermont, a Route 100 road trip is often at the top of their list. Vermont's Route 100 stretches 216 scenic miles along the spine of the Green Mountains through 33 classic villages and towns, from Stamford to Pittsfield to Westfield. Some of the...
**Update: March 14, 2020 - Due to the coronavirus, many ski areas around Vermont are closing early for the season. Pond skimming competitions are a rite-of-spring in ski culture. Between March and May, ski areas across the world celebrate the end of the season with skiers and snowboarders gliding...
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...
Behind a country store on Route 100 is a tiny restaurant that is quickly making a name for itself in Vermont’s local food scene. Kevin Lasko and Katie Stiles opened The Backroom in Pittsfield a little over a year ago behind the Original General Store. The restaurant...
I recently came across a 20-year-old article in the New York Times titled, “In Slow-Paced Vermont, the Dirt Road Reigns.” The reporter wrote, “To a lot of Vermonters, an unpaved road is a better road. People go more slowly on a dirt road. In rural Vermont,...
Route 108 through Smugglers’ Notch is known as one of the most scenic drives in Vermont, at least between May and October. But when the snow flies, a three-mile section of this scenic, winding road is closed to traffic. That’s not to say that Route 108...