Barbara Rogers - Vermont Off the Beaten Path®: Discover Your Fun

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

All the information in this guidebook is subject to change. We recommend that you call ahead to obtain current information before traveling.

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ISBN 978-1-4930-4288-3 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4930-4289-0 (e-book)

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This book is dedicated to the residents of Vermont, past and present.
Thank you for sharing your state with me.

VERMONT

I wish to acknowledge the original authors of this book, Barbara Radcliffe Rogers and Stillman Rogers. Without them there would be no Off the Beaten Path Vermont. They spent hours and hours accumulating the details on all the places to stay at, eat at and see. Lots of road time went into collecting that information for the first edition. Thank you for laying the foundation for the rest of us.

And a hearty Thank You to all the subsequent revisionists who added their many hours of changes and updates to keep Vermont Off the Beaten Path a handy guide to the attractions of the Green Mountain State.

Bernard W. Noble , a resident of New Haven, Vermont, is now a freelance writer after a thirty- four-year career as a middle school educator teaching English and history. Noble received a Bachelors of Education degree from the University of Vermont and a Masters of Arts degree from Middlebury College. He has authored numerous monographs on the people, places and events of the Revolutionary War in the Champlain Valley area of Vermont. He frequently speaks to museums, schools, and historical societies on these subjects, and he has published two books in a series called Someones Darling Slumbers Here: Stories of Vermonts Civil War Soldiers.

Vermont is as much a state of mind as it is a place. To the rest of the country, the Green Mountain State signifies a back-to-basics attitude that is becoming an all-too-rare commodity today. The people who live in Vermont hold on fiercely to this attitude because they are well aware that it is one of the last bastions of peaceful rural life, of our roots. Thats why tourism is a leading industry in the state.

This attitude is at the bottom of one of the hottest debates to embroil the state in years: to zone or not to zone. Those Vermonters who are in favor of limiting development and establishing specific criteria about what residents can and cant do with their land want the pastoral Vermont landscape to stay the same for future generations. Those Vermonters who oppose zoning tend to have great pride in their ancestors, those who were able to create this state from nothing more than rocks, thin soil, and sweat. They say, My family fought for it. I own it. Its mine to do with as I wish. And I want it to stay just the way it is. Those who support development of the State strongly suggest that Vermont can not survive by tourism alone. They declare that there need to be major changes in the way that Vermont does its business if it wishes to keep its young people and their future families living and working here in the Green Mountains. What these seemingly opposing positions have in common is a desire to hold on to the best of the old way of life, but nurture the States future economic vitality with less stringent control over development.

Many people have wanted a part of the state. Before it became a republic in 1777 and was granted statehood 15 years later, hundreds from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York fought over the Green Mountains and its valleys that even then possessed a special, but hard-to-define, aura.

Because Vermont relies so heavily on tourism these days, even in some isolated pockets of the state its difficult to find attractions that are specifically geared toward locals, unless you count feed and grain stores.

It used to be true that you werent considered a native until your family had lived here for eight generations. Given the great exodus from the state during several periods in its history, those eighth-generation residents are not easy to find. Many of Vermonts hill towns lost half their populations during the great westward expansion. Even though some Vermont towns continue to have smaller populations than they did in 1840, the state is making a comeback. In 1850, 154 towns in the state had more than 1,000 people. By 1960 that figure had fallen to 94. Today, 158 out of Vermonts more than 250 towns are above that number.

Visitors come to Vermont throughout the year. However, some months and seasons are more beautifuland thus more crowdedthan others. Foliage season is usually the last two weeks of September and the first two weeks of October. This is Vermont at its best and most crowded. Rooms at B&Bs, inns and hotels, despite sharply increased foliage rates, typically fill up six months in advance. So its best to make reservations early.

The last two weeks of October in Vermont are generally just as gorgeous. And while many places and shops will have closed for the season, there are still lots of attractions to explore. Youll find less traffic; unhurried, friendly service; and some of the maples and oak trees still radiant with their color. Best of all, the weather is perfect: sunny, warm, Indian summer days interspersed with cool, crisp nights accompanied by the smell of wood smoke.

In summer, Vermont is lush, green and fragrant. During the winter, the Presidents Day holiday usually finds the ski areas throughout the state at their busiest. Try visiting a week or two later instead. Some of the roads that are closed in winter and spring are marked on good road maps. Others are closed temporarily if theyre simply impassable. In spring, many tourist-oriented busi-nesses shut down from March through mid-April during the notorious mud season and before the first buds appear on the trees. During the spring thaw, high water can close many of the smaller bridges.

Reservations at State Parks

Reservations for camping can be made up to 11 months in advance. (A camping site for the entire month of July, for example, can be reserved in August of the previous year.) To make a reservation 14 days or less in advance, call the individual park directly (see listings at vtstateparks.com). For reservations 15 days or more in advance, reserve online or call (888) 409-7579.

Some Vermont parks are open year round. Some open in late April while others wait until late May. Closing dates for those state parks vary from mid-September until mid-October, depending on area climates. All parks have minimum reservation periods. Prior to March 1, youll have to stay four nights at most parks. After March 1, however, that stay can be reduced to two nights. If you bike or paddle to a campground and wish to stay for one night, call the park or reservation center to see if they can accommodate you.