Autumn in Vermont

(2022 Newfoundland Ep 19)

From Canada we crossed the border into Vermont. It felt like home.

• Road signs were in feet/miles, not meters/kilometers.
• We didn’t have to do mental math to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit when seeing a roadside thermometer. 
• Gasoline was less expensive – $3.40 (US) gallon, versus $1.60 (CDN) liter (about $4.46 (US) gallon).  On Newfoundland gas was as much as $5.50 (US) gallon.
• We no longer needed loonies, toonies or multicolored paper currency displaying the Queen.  We could use paper currency adorned with George, Abe, Alexander and Andrew. 
• We got pennies in our change.  Canada doesn’t use pennies – all transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents.
• And, if you think US sales taxes are high, be thankful they are not as high as those in Canada. 15% HST (harmonized sales tax) is charged on most transactions in Canada.  Those taxes quickly add up!

It was early October and we experienced the lowest nighttime temperatures thus far in our trip, dropping to near freezing as we camped on the grounds of the Old Stone House Museum in Brownington, VT.  We stayed warm with several blankets and a thick comforter, and ran the RV furnace the next morning.

The museum is part of Brownington Historic Village and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The large stone building was built in 1836 by Alexander Twilight, the nation’s first African-American college graduate.  He was minister of the Brownington Congregational Church and principal of  Orleans County Grammar School, both in the village.  The building was originally a dormitory for students attending the school.

Today, the museum houses four floors of fascinating artifacts.  During a guided tour of the museum, we learned about Twilight and various museum displays, and were told many interesting stories about the building through the years.

The village and museum are worth a visit when in the area.

We continued south to central Vermont, where the fall colors were on full display.  Around every turn we enjoyed the yellow, red and orange leaves and deep blue autumn sky.

One day we drove back roads in Green Mountain National Forest across several covered bridges.  After coffee and a toasted bagel at a coffee shop in an old house in Warrenton, we hiked to several waterfalls. The next day we sampled donuts and hot apple cider at Cold Hollow Cider Mill near Waterbury and later toured Ben and Jerry’s ice cream production plant nearby.

In just about every town there are quaint markets that sell jams, fresh baked goods, maple syrup, pumpkins and lots more.  Outside Woodstock, we crossed a narrow covered bridge and drove nearly 10 miles down a dusty dirt road to Sugarbush Farm.   We toured the farm’s sugar house to see where watery maple tree sap is boiled to become sweet syrup – it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.   We then hiked to a nearby hillside where thousands of maple trees are impaled with small plastic taps and interconnected with miles of plastic tubing used to collect sap from late February to mid-March.

As we drove through the town nearest our campground, we noticed a sign for Vermont Castings Stove Company.  During the 1970s Ed’s parents subscribed to Yankee Magazine where there were enticing advertisements for wood burning stoves made by the company. 

Pat and I added a family room to our home in 1991 and installed a small Vermont Castings Intrepid stove for heat.  More than 30 years later we toured the factory where the Intrepid and other stove models are cast. 

Shown above: the process where recycled auto brake drums are melted and poured into casts, and then cleaned and packed for shipment to an assembly plant in Pennsylvania. We are admiring one of the colorful finished models.

Next week:  we continue south through the Adirondacks to the finger lakes region in New York, where we hike an amazing trail in Watkins Glen State Park and visit the Museum of Glass in Corning NY.