Post by Ella. Maple trivia: In Vermont, sugaring season begins sometime in February to mid-March. When temps dip below freezing (ideally 20°-30°), sap is pushed up from the roots, coursing through the veins of the tree. As the temperature rises during the day, the sap flows back down and conveniently some flows into the metal…
Southward: Our route today
Heading into the last days of our trip. Today, from Burlington, Vt. To Sunderland, Vt. Although we’ve mostly been staying off the Interstates in favor of the less traveled roads, today we wanted to make a detour to Sugarbush (Maple syrup and cheese farm) and Woodstock (historical buildings, traffic jam rivaling Stowe and maple creemees)…
Backwoods revolutionary
Post by Grubb. Dateline: Burlington, Vermont, late 18th century. Ethan Allen was a hometown hero before there was even a town. People settling in the area from New Hampshire claimed it was New Hampshire, people settling from New York claimed it was New York. Ethan joined with a bunch of investors and bought a whole…
The dark side of Albert
Post by Grubb. Collecting weathervanes is one thing, but amassing whirligigs as well, who else but Electra Havemeyer Webb would have the resources, much less know the difference? But before I could immerse myself in objets d’weather, I had to check out the Bierstadt that I heard was on exhibit in another building at the…
About that old printing press
Grubb wrote about the printing demo we saw at the Shelburne Museum where a cast iron platen was cranked down on a frame pressing paper onto a carved and inked wood block. Chinle, who lives in Silver City, NM sent a photo from the Southwest Print Fiesta held just last week. Here’s how they do…
Electra leaves an Impressionist
Post by Grubb. Electra Havemeyer Webb inherited a sugar fortune. Then she married a polo player whose mother was a Vanderbilt. With her wealth, Electra preserved thirty- eight 19th century buildings and then had them installed as a village on her 1,000 acre estate just off of Route 7 in Shelburne, Vermont. Electra had a…
The superhighway of swamp trails
Post by Ella. Yesterday, one of our stops was the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. When we saw that the Discovery Nature Trail was mowed grass leading to a raised bridge of planks leading to crushed gravel…who could resist such a cushy hike. More like a stroll on the superhighway of swamp trails. After the Discovery…
For my two favorite Vermonters
Post by Ella. Holly from Stowe and Mary from Burlington, now both residing in Albuquerque, both spent time at University of Vermont in Burlington. Today, we went to the Fleming Museum of Art on campus and then walked around getting the feel of the place. First the museum. It took us a minute to find…
A country drive
Post by Ella. Yesterday we took an old fashioned country drive through the islands of Lake Champlain. We pulled into Knight Point State Park for a gander at the shoreline. We gave consideration to taking a ferry over to Plattsburgh, NY but opted to continue through Lake Champlain. We stopped at a modern version of…
Transpo kings
Post by Grubb. The side-paddle-wheel passenger steamer moored on the grounds of the Shelburne Museum is one of two remaining in this country. For a boat that only ferried people across Lake Champlain it is quite impressive in an excessive Gilded Age sort of way. An ornate dining room and cushioned observation chairs for a…