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Brattleboro Memorial Day Tribute
Southern Vermont - May 25 (Memorial Day): Left the hotel this morning and drove into Brattleboro. Found a Brueggers Bagel for breakfast. Had breakfast and got in the car to begin my day exploring Southern Vermont. As I was waiting for the light, I got had quite a shock when right next to me on the sidewalk a group of veterans began a 21 gun salute. I nearly jumped out of my skin!
Once I got my composure back, I headed for Putney. The brochures said it had a lot of art studios. Well, if it did, I didn't find it, but I did find Basketville, which was a neat, large shop of all things baskets, wicker, cooking related, and wine, plus more.
As I pulled out of the parking lot, I saw a sign for a Harlow's Sugar House so rather than turning South right away, I headed North. This was also a neat shop and I learned a little about maple syrup and various grades of syrup.
I then went back South and went to Dummerston to see the longest covered wooden bridge in Vermont. It was such a beautiful Memorial Day that the bridge was drawing quite a crowd. The bridge is still in use. I didn't stop in the town (home of Rudyard Kipling), but I had heard later in the day that Dummerston, like a lot of Vermont towns lately, has had a real problem with bears wandering into the town proper. One had gotten so bold in Dummerston that they had to kill it.
I decided to do a loop of Southern Vermont and end up on the West side of the State by the end of the day. From Dummerston, I found myself going through one of the prettiest little historic villages I'd ever seen. It was Newfane. Every building was painted white with black shutters. I had a quick BLT and a homemade lemonade at Rick's Tavern just on the outskirts of town. Took a picture of the County Courthouse, again, the prettiest courthouse I had ever seen.
There was a lot of beautiful, winding roads and lush forest scenery. I went through Townshend and stopped at a couple of galleries in Jamaica (for a tourist area, the people in Jamaica were unfriendly). Mostly, I just enjoyed the drive. I was looking forward to getting to Manchester. There were a lot of galleries, but I got there a little too late. Did go into a woodworking gallery that was quite nice. Walked around a little, but then as time was rushing by, I decided to head into Bennington.
Now, here was a place I wish I had had more time! Bennington was a great town in the shadow of an obelisk (which I never did find)! With other towns in Vermont having bear problems, Bennington had a "moose" invasion. Full-sized fiber-glass moose lined Main Street as part of an art project/fundraiser called Moosefest. I stopped very briefly in the best pottery shop I had ever been in called the Potter's Yard. I wish I had more time, but they were closing. I took a quick sweep around in 5 minutes. I really want to spend some time on their webpage.
As daylight was running out, and I still needed to get to Schenectady, I stopped for the worst spaghetti I had ever had in a downtown Bennington Pizza & Pasta restaurant and then drove on to Schenectady, NY. This was just a stop over so that I can begin my trip home tomorrow (with another overnight in Erie).
I'll wrap up my trip, after I get home on Wednesday, but all-in-all, I had a great, relaxing time and saw a lot of New England to boot!
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