Whether you’re a lifelong Vermonter or planning your first getaway to the Green Mountain State, the Editors’ Picks in our 2025 Vermont Travel Guide highlight the best places to eat, stay, and explore across the region. Curated by the Yankee team with insights from local experts, these handpicked spots capture the flavor, charm, and spirit that make Vermont so special. From cozy inns and farm-to-table feasts to artisan shops and scenic outdoor adventures, this guide is your go-to for experiencing the very best of Vermont this year.

Best Places to Visit in Vermont | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Vermont Hotels

Best Affordable Overnight: COHO Inn & Motor Lodge, Weston

While the former Colonial House Inn is still a stopover on the long-standing Vermont Inn-to-Inn Walking Tour, owners Ali and Lane Knaack have been busy forging their own path since taking over in May 2024: rebranding, refreshing, and renovating (the last part being ongoing, with the goal of bringing AC units and other upgrades to the COHO’s midcentury motel annex). The couple’s personal touch can be seen, too, in the wealth of snowboarding books and memorabilia on hand (Lane is a former pro) and the curated offerings of local beer, wine, and charcuterie; outside are Ali’s flower beds, which have been known to yield fresh-cut blooms for the main inn and dining room.

Best Historic Inn: The Tillerman, Bristol

A rambling 1790s structure and seven cheery, gable-ceilinged guest rooms are the historic part, while the food and drink are thoroughly modern. The seasonally changing menu relies on local farms, and mozzarella is made in-house. Best seats? The dining rooms are lovely, but sip a Vermont brew or craft cocktail in the clubby parlor, then amble over to the bar for a distinctively garnished pizza—and taste why The Tillerman earned a 2024 Yankee Food Award for its pies.

Best Inn Cuisine: Derby Line Village Inn, Derby Line

A white mansion located less than a mile from the Canadian border is the domain of Austrian chef-owner Fritz Halbedl, whose menu showcases his native fare—schnitzel in a choice of traditional preparations, sauerbraten, spaetzle, and the sweet soufflé known as Salzburger nockerl—plus a selection of steak, pasta, and seafood dishes, and Austrian wines. Upstairs are five sumptuously furnished guest rooms; the “Majesty” is our favorite.

Best Island Camping: Burton Island State Park, St. Albans

Surrounded by the waters of Lake Champlain but just a 10-minute passenger ferry ride from companion state park Kill Kare, Burton Island offers tent sites, lean-tos, and three cabins. There’s a surprisingly cosmopolitan feel here, as the park is frequented by Quebec boaters who use its marina and enjoy the Burton Island Bistro, with its wine selection and homemade omelets.

Best Rustic Retreat: Quimby Country, Averill

Tucked between Forest and Big Averill lakes—and set deep in an early 1900s North Woods dreamscape—the 19 cozy cottages at Quimby Country have welcomed generations of rusticating families. High-summer accommodations include three hearty meals a day in the lodge; in shoulder seasons, there’s a B&B plan. All cottages have woodstoves, and some have full kitchens, too.

2025 Best Vermont Restaurants

Best Artisan Chocolates: Tavernier Chocolates, Brattleboro

Tavernier combines fine chocolate from Ecuadorian cacao trees with locally sourced and endlessly inventive ingredients—think wild peppermint, spruce needles, morel mushrooms, even slow-cured organic garlic. Along with bars and boxed individual bonbons, specialties include drinking chocolate and “chocolate charcuterie,” a sliceable pâté with flavors ranging from miso to maple, chèvre to lavender.

Best Diner: The Country Girl Diner, Chester

Everything seems to take on a relaxed, mid-20th-century feel when you chow down on a towering Texas burger heaped with onion rings, a stack of plate-size pancakes, or a slab of one of co-owner Jess Holmes’s peanut butter pies. She uses Vermont eggs, Cabot butter, and local maple syrup in the kitchen at this beautifully preserved diner, a 1944 Silk City classic.

Best Drive-In Restaurant: A&W, Middlebury

No, the servers don’t roller-skate to your car. But they do take your order there, and ferry your tray right to the rolled-down window of your—well, probably not a ’59 Chevy. Burgers, fries, hand-breaded chicken tenders, Coney dogs, and, of course, that famous frosty-mug-taste root beer are all featured at this veritable museum of delicious roadside eats.

Best Farm-to-Table Dining: Maple Soul, Rochester

Better to call it “farmer-to-table”: When dinner service gets under way at this comfortably elegant eatery in a former late-1800s home, the patrons tucking into executive chef Jim Huntington’s pitch-perfect cornbread, baby-back ribs, and other down-home fare might include the very folks who provided the ingredients. Not only does Maple Soul partner with 30-plus local farmers and producers, says general manager Jen Huntington, but “we always welcome them here to see what we’re doing with their product, to be part of the conversation.” Similarly, the Huntingtons make a point of visiting their partners’ operations, which include their sole chicken provider, Happy Bird in Isle La Motte, and regular microgreens supplier Uphill Farm, right in Rochester. The result is a New England–meets–North Carolina menu with a lot of maple, a lot of soul, and a lot of integrity … which means a lot of fans, too, so reservations are strongly advised.

Best Italian Grocery: AR Market, Barre

Vermont’s most historically Italian city has the Italian market it deserves. With its initials representing alimentari (groceries) and Roscini (a family surname of Italian-born owner Peter Colman), AR Market offers shelves packed with imported Di Martino and Rustichella pastas, San Marzano tomatoes grown in Campania’s volcanic soil, almond cantucci and amaretti, fine olive oils, and much more. Colman’s other business, Vermont Salumi, smokes and cures on-site, and there’s a wood-fired pizzeria next door.

Best Locavore Butcher Shop: Roma’s Butchery, South Royalton

The village meat market is back, thanks to master butcher Elizabeth Roma and her custom-cut, head-to-tail butcher shop. Drawing on more than a dozen farms within a 25-mile radius, Roma does pork, lamb, poultry, and grass-fed beef in a variety of cuts. She makes her own sausage, too, and offers handcrafted salumi from Waitsfield’s Babette’s Table.

Best Small Plates: Frankie’s, Burlington

Hen of the Wood alums Jordan Ware and Cindi Kozak have brought new energy to the space formerly occupied by the late-lamented Penny Cluse Café, creating an ever-changing menu where small plates—perhaps littleneck clams with charred-scallion butter and house focaccia, or pork croquettes with pickled rhubarb sauce—are the stars. Just don’t call them starters: Double up, and that steak entrée might have to wait for next time.

Best Winery: Whaleback Vineyard, Poultney

A restored 19th-century barn near the waters of Lake Saint Catherine is the home base for this Stone Valley winery. Whaleback’s grapevines number more than 6,000 plants across nine beautiful acres, all helping to produce a range of only-in-the-Green-Mountain-State favorites, from the Vermont Apple Blend fruit wine to Whaleback’s signature white, Moonlight in Vermont. Drink up the setting in the farm’s tasting room, set inside a Colonial farmhouse.

2025 Best Vermont Attractions

Best Family Attraction: Great Vermont Corn Maze, Danville

Polite Vermonters won’t tell you to get lost—unless they’re talking about New England’s largest and most challenging corn maze, 24 acres of frustrating fun that’s taken ears and ears to create. A new design takes shape each season, which begins in late July when the stalks grow tall and runs through mid-October. Afraid you’ll never get out? Try the “Scenic Maze” route, which comes with directions.

Best Moderate Hike: Jerusalem Trail, Starksboro

The 2.4-mile Jerusalem Trail starts off gently, at Jim Dwire Road, and remains deceptively easy until you duck under a sap line and cross a logging road. Watch for blue blazes as you scramble over rocks to meet the Long Trail. Turn left, and it’s a short hike down to the Green Mountain Club’s Glen Ellen Lodge. Take a right, and in another 1.8 miles you’ll be atop 4,083-foot Mount Ellen.

Best Mountain Biking: Millstone Trails, Barre

In a state with serious trail-riding cred, Barre’s former quarry lands are a haven for newbies and experienced pros alike. The rocky playground boasts more than 30 miles of trails across 1,500 acres of ever-changing terrain. Cruise into the season along the large, gentle loops in the Barre Town Forest or take on the steeper climbs of Millstone Hill and its “Gnome Man’s Land,” whose trails live up to names like Roller Coaster, Vortex, and Screaming Demon. Fascinating quarry relics and scenic overlooks are sprinkled throughout (don’t miss the dramatic east-facing Sunrise Lookout, which sits atop the plunging rock walls of an abandoned quarry).

Best Outdoor Footwear: Farm-Way, Bradford

Though muck boots remain a fixture at this haven for everything outdoorsy, the offerings venture way off the farm: from sandals and sneakers to hiking boots and, yes, clogs. Brands include Merrell, Blundstone, Keen, OluKai, and even exquisitely crafted hikers made by Italy’s Zamberlan. Inventory runs deep for men, women, and kids, and there’s plenty of staff around to help with try-ons.

Best Performing Arts Venue: Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph

When Upper Valley Baroque artistic director Filippo Ciabatti first visited the Chandler, he clapped his hands in the middle of the hall to get a sense of the acoustics. He was immediately impressed, as are the audiences at this 1907 gem, a gift of Randolph native Albert Chandler. Along with concerts in varied genres, the Chandler hosts theater and dance (the Grand Kyiv Ballet was a recent visitor), and Randolph’s late-summer New World Festival is a perennial favorite. 

Best Retail Hub: The Essex Experience, Essex

Fast food and fast fashion, begone. At this former outlet mall, a Main Street vibe pulses through 20-plus independent shops and restaurants that include the state’s largest collection of Vermont art and crafts (ArtHound Gallery) and a small-batch distillery and brewery with a James Beard semifinalist in the kitchen (Black Flannel and Christian Kruse, respectively). Also local-leaning are the music and events at the Double E cultural hub, where a rescued 1700s barn serves as an outdoor stage. Even that shopping-mall staple, the cineplex (Essex Cinemas), channels the kind of small-town theater where blockbusters share billing with classic, indie, and international films.

The post 2025 Vermont Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions appeared first on New England.

Searching for the best things to do in Vermont this summer? From rodeo thrills and sailing on Lake Champlain to farm concerts, golden retriever cuddles, and indulgent mac and cheese, these 10 curated experiences showcase the quirky charm, rugged beauty, and artisanal spirit of the Green Mountain State. Whether you’re into jazz, off-roading, cheese-making, or barefoot dancing, Vermont has a little magic waiting around every bend this season.

10 Best Things to Do in Vermont This Summer

1. Round ’Em Up at Pond Hill Ranch – Saturday-night rodeos bring big sky views and authentic cowboy energy.

Don your Western wear and bring the whole family to the largest working ranch east of the Mississippi. Saturday-night pro rodeos are held for 10 weeks each summer at Castleton’s Pond Hill Ranch. The bleacher seats’ sunset views of the Adirondacks are worth the price of admission, and it’s a kick to witness authentic bull riding, steer wrestling, and calf roping—all conducted humanely as dictated by the rodeo circuit’s governing body.

2. Go Off-Road with Land Rover – Book a wild ride through Vermont terrain with Equinox’s Land Rover Experience.

Take the wheel of one of the sturdiest, most capable vehicles ever made, and find a thrilling sense of freedom and confidence. Manchester’s The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa is where you’ll find the Land Rover Experience Driving Center, but you don’t need to be a guest to book an off-road experience that will have you navigating steep hills, dramatic side tilts, water, rocks, and whatever sloppy weather Mother Nature may dream up.

3. Find the Magic at The Sparkle Barn – Whimsy, wonder, and one unforgettable shop in Wallingford.

When life hands you lemons, The Sparkle Barn will help you find the zest. You’ll encounter eight dragons and a magic garden before you even venture inside this quirktastic Wallingford gift shop. Unimaginable finds await, but this is more than a destination for retail therapy. Head upstairs to the Bloom Room and discover artist and owner Stacy Harshman’s free gift to anyone who craves comfort and inspiration—a realm so saturated with whimsy, it startles awake the child within.

4. Get in the Groove at the Stowe Jazz Festival – A free, women-led celebration of music under the Vermont sky.

The Stowe Jazz Festival has gotten big, and that means a new venue, the Stowe Events Field, for this 100-percent-free three days of live performances. Be there July 18–20 as the festival bends notes in another way this year, bringing only women-led bands to the main stage.

5. Spend a Day with the von Trapps – Music, beer, and mountain views at a legendary family resort.

If you’re Stowe-bound, make the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort a part of your travel plans. Whether you stay for a few nights, attend a Music in the Meadow or Oklahoma! in Concert performance, or grab a fresh-brewed lager at the Bierhall, you’ll find more than a few of your favorite things on tap as the resort—founded and still owned by the von Trapp family of The Sound of Music fame—celebrates 75 years.

6. Set Sail with Whistling Man Schooner Co. – Lake Champlain cruises that take you back in time (and into total relaxation).

Untether from land and go where the moody winds of Lake Champlain move you on a Whistling Man Schooner Company sailing cruise out of Burlington. Whether you’re aboard the Friend Ship or the Wild Rose, both replicas of early 20th-century lobstering sloops, this throwback mode of travel keeps you remarkably in the present. BYO beverages and finger foods, and keep your eyes peeled for Champ, the local lake monster.

7. Dance Into Sunset at Earth Sky Time – Pizza, live music, and community vibes on a working farm.

At Manchester’s Earth Sky Time, the spirit of Woodstock meets Vermont rurality in the Concerts on the Farm, held Sunday evenings from Memorial Day through Indigenous People’s Day. Admission is discounted for students and farmers. Healthy salads, wood-fired pizzas, beer, and wine are for sale. Dancing barefoot isn’t mandatory—but why wouldn’t you?

8. Meet the Goldens at Golden Dog Farm – The feel-good photo op of the summer (plus maple, honey, and cider).

You’ll never forget your playdate with at least 10 golden retrievers—the photo ops alone are priceless. There’s more to Jeffersonville’s Golden Dog Farm, though, as we discovered while visiting this family-owned organic producer of maple, honey, cider, and sheer happiness in Weekends with Yankee Season 9 (check your local PBS listings). The Golden Retriever Experience can be booked on select dates year-round, and gifting this heartwarming adventure is as easy as tossing a tennis ball.

9. Find a New Favorite Hobby in Woodstock – The Woodstock Inn’s Passion Pursuits help you reconnect—with fly rods, falcons, and more.

Do you have a favorite pastime you’ve neglected? Or one you’d like to try for the sake of relaxation, exhilaration, or social connection? The Woodstock Inn & Resort has introduced a new Passion Pursuits program, designed to start you on your way during your vacay. The inn’s “Passionistas” offer guidance in everything from fly-fishing and pickleball to gardening and antiquing. You can even learn to fly a hawk with the founder of New England Falconry, Chris Davis.

10. Indulge in Vermont’s Cheesiest Experiences – From famous mac and cheese to hands-on cheesemaking, dairy dreams await.

Vermont is a cheese lover’s dream. In Brattleboro, the Vermont Country Deli sold 81,000 pounds—more than 40 tons!—of its ridiculously delicious cast-iron-baked mac and cheese last year. Ready to do more than snack? Reserve a hands-on cheesemaking class or “Cheesemaker for a Day” experience at Hartland’s Fat Sheep Farm & Cabins, where staying overnight means waking to the bleat of lambs and the glint of sun dancing off mountains. Save the date, too, for this year’s Vermont Cheesemakers Festival at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne: August 10.

What tops your list of the best things to do in Vermont this summer? Let us know!

The post 10 Best Things to Do in Vermont This Summer 2025 appeared first on New England.

By Lisa Gosselin Lynn

As New England ski areas rush to install four-, six-, and even eight-person chairlifts, Mad River Glen remains a believer in the power of one. The Fayston, Vermont, ski area is home to the Single Chair, the last of its kind in the lower 48 states, and to slide onto its cushioned wood-slat seat, pull the safety bar closed, and rumble in solitude over snow-covered glades is to make a pilgrimage to another era.

In 1946, Mad River Glen founder Roland Palmedo commissioned the American Steel & Wire Company to build the original Single Chair. Designed to take skiers 2,000 vertical feet up Stark Mountain in 12 minutes, it’s said to have been the fastest chairlift in the world when Mad River Glen opened on December 11, 1948.

In Mad River Glen, Palmedo was looking to create what he described as “not just a place of business, a mountain amusement park, as it were. Instead, it is a winter community whose members, both skiers and area personnel, are dedicated to the enjoyment of the sport.”

That spirit carried on through decades of expansion. It was only amplified in 1995 when owner Betsy Pratt, a New Yorker who had inherited the resort from her husband two decades earlier, turned Mad River Glen into the country’s first skier-owned co-op.

By the early 2000s, the co-op knew the Single Chair needed to be either fixed or replaced. The cost to refurbish it was $1.8 million; installing a new double chairlift was $300,000 less. But more than 80 percent of the 1,700 shareholders voted to restore the Single Chair, aiming to preserve Mad River Glen’s character while staving off overcrowding on its trails.

Working with the Preservation Trust of Vermont and the Stark Mountain Foundation, shareholders raised the full $1.8 million, and the ribbon was cut on the refurbished Single Chair on December 15, 2007. Five years later, Mad River Glen earned the honor of being the only ski area on the National Historic Register, thanks in part to its iconic ride. 

“I don’t think we ever would have raised that kind of money to preserve any other chairlift,” says Eric Friedman, Mad River’s marketing director at the time. “That chair galvanized our community and made us realize what we had in the ski area.”  

The post Up Close | The Unique Single-Person Chairlift at Mad River Glen appeared first on New England.

Call it the luck of the Irish: On St. Patrick’s Day 2022, the ubiquitous Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s announced that its Dublin Mudslide flavor had returned from the dead. The news not only delighted fans of the long-discontinued Irish-cream-based concoction, but also gave hope to others still pining for pints of flavors gone but not forgotten. 

Founded in Burlington in 1978, Ben & Jerry’s has debuted hundreds of flavors over the decades. And while some become staples — like Cherry Garcia, still going strong after nearly 40 years — the vast majority eventually melt away. Wavy Gravy. Dastardly Mash. Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Their memory lives on, however, at the company’s Flavor Graveyard. An actual fenced-in plot set on a hill overlooking Ben & Jerry’s original Waterbury factory, it offers ice cream fans the chance to pay tribute to more than 30 discontinued flavors. Opened in 1997, this bite-sized Boot Hill is lined with headstones made of real granite (since the original resin ones tended to “disappear”) and featuring epitaphs affectionately crafted by Ben & Jerry’s copywriters (Wild Maine Blueberry / From the land of the puffin, / Now when we crave you / We turn to the muffin).

A digital version of the Flavor Graveyard also lives on the Ben & Jerry’s website, along with articles like “The Five Stages of Flavor Grief” and a tongue-in-cheek video of a funeral — complete with hearse and mourners — for the flavor What a Cluster (2011-2014).

But nothing beats a pilgrimage to Waterbury for true die-hards. And who knows? Thanks to the guided factory tours that come complete with samples, anyone bereaved by the loss of a favorite ice cream might just discover a new flavor to fill that hole in their heart, and of course, their stomach.

The post Delicious Chills Await in This Vermont ‘Flavor Graveyard’ appeared first on New England.

Sponsored by The Vermont Country Store

Weston, Vermont, a pretty village with a river flowing through it, is famous for having the state’s longest-running professional theater—and it’s unlikely that there is more talent seen onstage in a town of this size anywhere in the country. If everyone is home and relatives are visiting, there may be about 650 people residing here. Each day, however, many more make the pilgrimage to The Vermont Country Store, the North Star of Main Street. It’s a cozy nest of nostalgia that’s hard to shake even after leaving, as the entire town center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here, on the first Saturday of December, Weston greets the yuletide season with Christmas in Weston, an event founded more than 30 years ago that distills the holiday spirit to its essence of goodwill, far from the furious pulse of packed malls. Supported by local nonprofits and businesses—like The Vermont Country Store and Weston Theater Company—this free day of family fun has all the essentials. Marshmallows are roasted over an open fire on the village green and at The Weston Village Store. There are horse-drawn wagon rides, a petting farm tucked into a barn, visits to historic museums, kid-centered craft activities, a tree lighting, and a live fireworks show. And, of course, there’s Santa.

Before Santa and Mrs. Claus make their appearance at 11 a.m. at the Weston Village Christmas Shop, a visitor stopping into the town’s tidy post office might encounter Melvin Twitchell. He’s been a postmaster in southern Vermont for more than 40 years, and has all the small-town stories that go along with that—like the tale of a postman whose vehicle had a hole in its muffler, and how the 200 or so families on his rural route didn’t want him to fix it. “They wanted to know when he was on his way,” Twitchell recalls with a laugh. A local resident comes in and hands him a brown paper bag, and he smiles: Inside sits a pear the size of a softball. “She just came back from California,” he explains. “Merry Christmas,” she calls out as she leaves.

Outside on the village green, a lovely pocket of land rimmed by vintage iron fencing, a Christmas tree festooned with unlit lights stands in the bandstand. The tree won’t spring to life until dusk, but long before then, the green and its surroundings are bustling with activity. Families gather around the bonfires, while food trucks stand by with delicious fuel for the day’s merriment. The Vermont Country Store sponsors wagon rides drawn by sturdy draft horses, and the clip-clop of their hooves punctuates the chatter and laughter of the crowd. And for those who want to warm up indoors and enjoy a good meal while they’re at it, the new restaurant at The Vermont Country Store, Leyla’s, has tasty lunch options.

When Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on the scene, they take up their post at a special Santa Claus tent at the Weston Village Christmas Shop. From his cozy chair, Santa will listen to a litany of Christmas requests from children both shy and bold. “Oh, you have the devil in your eyes,” he teases one boisterous youngster, before adding, “You wish real, real hard, and I’ll try and get my elves working.” As each child climbs off Santa’s lap, Mrs. Claus hands down a candy cane.

More holiday cheer awaits across the street at The Vermont Country Store, whose front-door bell rings all day long, just as it has for decades. Whimsical and one-of-a-kind, the business that Vrest Orton and his wife, Mildred, created in 1946 pays tribute to the powerful tug of memory and the appeal of nostalgia to our imagination—and they packaged that shopping experience not only on store shelves but also in catalogs that have found their way around the world.

Here, grown-ups reminisce about favorite childhood flavors as they peruse glass jars full of penny candy, and shoppers stroll the jam-packed aisles in search of that perfect holiday gift. In recent years the retail treasures have grown to include products celebrating Christmas in Weston itself, with proceeds going toward the Weston Volunteer Fire Department and The Little School, a local nonprofit preschool. Special in-store events also add to the festive spirit: For instance, during the 2024 Christmas in Weston celebration, The Vermont Country Store will host R.W. Alley, famed illustrator of the Paddington Bear books, as he creates an artwork on-site to be auctioned off, as well as spends time with kids reading from his new book. And so typical of the hospitality in this town, the new owners of COHO Inn and Motor Lodge—formerly The Colonial House—have welcomed the Alleys to spend the weekend at their inn. 

During the afternoon, visitors may find themselves drawn to The Church on the Hill, an 1838 house of worship that’s just a short stroll from the village green, where the music of holiday carols is ringing out. A woman named Pat Connelly is leading the singing while playing guitar. Her voice is easy to listen to, and songs fill the room. “I can hear your spirits in your voices,” she says. At the other end of town, The Old Parish Church hosts its annual reading of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, in which the voice of the narrator is provided by professional actors who live in Weston and the parts of the characters are read by volunteers in the audience.

Meanwhile, the action on the green is far from over. Santa Claus makes a dramatic entrance aboard the Weston Volunteer Fire Department truck, siren blaring and lights flashing. After greeting all the kids on the green, he makes his way to the bandstand to kick off the tree lighting.

As dusk falls, seemingly everyone in Weston is gathered around the bandstand. When the tree blazes to life, it feels like a shared amen on the day—followed by a fireworks display as exuberant as the Hallelujah Chorus. Many will choose to round out the evening by heading to dinner at either The Left Bank at The Weston or to The Hub at Weston before attending Weston Theater Company’s annual Winter Cabaret; others will bundle into their cars to make their way home.

Everyone who attends Christmas in Weston, though, will be left with memories of timeless moments: songs in a church, chimes from a shopkeeper’s bell, the sight of children nestled in their parents’ arms. Like many Vermont towns, Weston has faced big challenges in recent years, from population swings to flood recovery, that have brought change to this historic village. Yet one thing that hasn’t changed is Weston’s heart, and the gifts it bestows at Christmastime.

This sponsored post is adapted from a 2018 article published in Yankee. For more information about Christmas in Weston, which this year is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7, go to westonvt.net.

The post Santa’s Big Day in Small-Town Vermont appeared first on New England.

Holiday spirit, in all its forms, burned bright. It was just after lunch on an early December day, and families were busy soaking up the sights and goodies in the gift shop at Santa’s Land USA, a 42-acre theme park in Putney, Vermont. The fireplace crackled, illuminated presents glowed, and a selection of Christmas tree ornaments spangled the walls. There were oversize multicolored lollipops to delight the eye, shelves of teddy bears to squeeze, and quite possibly more trimmed trees per square foot than anywhere else on the planet. 

As members of her family perused the shop, an overwhelmed grandmother plopped down in a lounger not far from the fire and opened a paperback. Nearby, a mother took a knee in front of her young daughter, who was attempting to negotiate the purchase of yet another stuffed animal. Did the girl truly need it for her collection? the mother asked gently. A couple of soon-to-be teenagers meandered and pointed, eyes wide with a kind of Christmas Eve wonder, as they strolled through a blue-lit tunnel of Christmas trees that led to—you guessed it—more trees. All this, before any of the visitors had even stepped out into the grounds, where a kid-sized train, whimsical animatronic figures, and holiday dioramas amid a grove of evergreens were primed to ratchet up the yuletide vibe even more.

Presiding over the scene was Santa’s Land owner David Haversat, who looked on with pride. He knows from deep personal experience the power of this place. When he was 8, Haversat had a vision of his future. It was summer, and his family had just arrived at Santa’s Land for their annual vacation visit from Connecticut. Catching sight of a teenager mowing the park’s lawn, he told his mom excitedly: “That’s what I want to do when I’m older!”

He wasn’t the first kid this place had inspired to dream. The brainchild of broadcast radio pioneer Jack Poppele, Santa’s Land opened in 1957 to the delight of families from across Vermont and beyond, who flocked here for an immersive Christmas experience that ran from summer through the holidays.

It may have seemed like an audacious idea—Christmas in July?—but it proved a successful one. Located just four miles from I-91, which would open in this part of the state in 1961, Santa’s Land flourished under Poppele and then his successors, the Brewer family, who owned the park from 1970 to 1998.

After that, however, changing owners and changing times took their toll on Santa’s Land, leading to its closing in 2014. Over the next three years, the decline accelerated: Walkways became overgrown, buildings vandalized. Locals feared the theme park might never reopen.

Enter Haversat. A magician and auction house co-owner by trade, he bought the property in 2017 and immediately got to work: fixing up the original 1950s structures, rebuilding the rides, adding a nine-hole miniature golf course, and even introducing an antique carousel from Coney Island. He reopened Santa’s Land in late 2017, the icon of his childhood restored. “I remember at one point mowing the very same lawn and thinking, I can’t believe this really happened,” he said.

In 2018, Haversat earned an award from the Preservation Trust of Vermont for his work in saving the park. “To many who have loved the place over the decades, the reopening was a thrill only matched by the delight of children seeing it for the first time,” said the trust in its presentation of the award to the park’s new owner.

While he was humbled by the honor, Haversat said, what means the most to him is hearing from visitors who are grateful to have Santa’s Land back in their lives. It’s not a fancy amusement park chock-full of high-thrill rides or Disney characters—but that’s kind of the charm of the place. From the scent of the nearby evergreens to the sound of the train rolling down the track, they find comfort in rediscovering something so familiar, he said.

“It’s a place from another time,” he said. “People who came here when they were kids will tell me it looks just like it did back then. And that means something. Because maybe their parents are gone now, but for a moment, they can go back to when they were all together. That’s pretty special.” santaslandusa.com

Santa Also Keeps a Home in New Hampshire

The story goes like this: One day in the early 1950s, Normand Dubois saw deer crossing the road and got to thinking about reindeer. He and his wife, Cecile, had been looking for a way to bring more attention to New Hampshire’s North Country region, where they lived, on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. Normand’s thoughts of reindeer led him to thoughts of Santa, which prompted the couple to launch a Christmas-themed park in Jefferson called Santa’s Village. More than seven decades later, their family still keeps the holiday light on in the North Country, with 20 jolly amusement rides, yuletide decor, and of course, reindeer. santasvillage.com

The post Rediscover Retro Christmas Charm at Santa’s Land USA in Putney, Vermont appeared first on New England.

Vermont’s 2024 fall foliage promises brilliant colors across its Green Mountains and surrounding valleys, with peak viewing around early October, long-lasting hues, and standout late-season color near Lake Champlain.

2024 Guide to Vermont Foliage

Vermont Overview

Vermont’s Green Mountains are its central focus for fall foliage, with forests filled with sugar maple, beech, and birch trees that turn in brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow each fall. No other state in New England turns so uniformly, making it the perfect state for long, scenic road trips. East and west of the Green Mountains, color spreads towards the two river valleys bordering the state, the Connecticut to the east and the Hudson to the west.  

2024 Vermont Foliage Forecast

The overall forecast for Vermont’s 2024 fall foliage is very good, but some of the state’s summer weather may impact the fall. The headlines of historic flooding in Vermont were a bit of a mischaracterization, as only the northeast corner was affected. There have been much drier areas in the central and southern parts of the state, but no significant drought. With overall healthy forests and an outlook for a seasonable fall pattern, the timeline should be close to normal this year. Color should be long-lasting, and bright. And if sunshine is abundant in the coming weeks leading, there’s a good chance for a lot of red foliage this year!  

The lingering risks are leaf fungus developing in the northern wet areas, which looks increasingly less likely, and a lack of cool air ahead of peak. But all signs are positive! 

See More: New England Fall Foliage | 2024 Forecast

Where to Find Early Vermont Foliage

By late September the first of Vermont’s peak autumn colors arrive in the cool valleys and rolling highlands of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. It’s an iconic area to see the fall foliage, with quaint towns and farms, great restaurants and breweries, and many outdoor recreation opportunities like mountain biking, hiking, and paddling. 

Where to Find Late Vermont Foliage

The last place in Vermont for fall color is surprising, as the peak wave typically moves from north to south, but not in the charming small city of Burlington. Its proximity to Lake Champlain, and all of the heat the water retains, creates a stunning pocket of late color despite bare (and possibly snow-covered) views from much of the surrounding Adirondack and Green Mountains. Look to visit the city in the third week of October, after most leaf peepers have left the region! 

Best 2024 Vermont Foliage Weekend

October 5-6, 2024. If you can travel ahead of the crowds, you’ll be treated to high color along much of the spine of the Green Mountains, as well as the Northeast Kingdom.  The river valleys may not yet be fully bright, though.  

Suggested 2024 Vermont Foliage Drive

Smugglers Notch is a fantastic, narrow winding road through the forests west of Stowe. The change in elevation, the stunning views, and the access to hiking and climbing make this an ideal drive to see the changing leaves. You can also take a side trip and drive up to the summit of Mount Mansfield (toll road), the highest peak in the state, for a memorable bird’s eye view!  

See More:14 Favorite Fall Drives in New England

More New England Foliage

Best Apple Orchards in New England

Apple-picking is just one of those fall activities that never seems to grow old. Yankee senior food editor, Amy Traverso, provides a list of the best apple orchards in New England.

Fall Foliage Train Tours

Looking for a fun, new way to experience the autumn color in New England? Fall foliage train tours are a great alternative to driving.

Best Corn Mazes in New England

If you look forward to making your way through a corn maze each fall, here’s a list of the best corn mazes in New England from Maine to Rhode Island.

The post 2024 Vermont Foliage Planner appeared first on New England.

Sponsored by The Island Hopper

When Yankee‘s travel editor, Kim Knox Beckius, caught up with Tricia Heaton and her daughter, Courteney, they were on the other side of the world, “in a darling hotel in Amsterdam, along one of the canals.” They were adjusting to the time change and scouting the city before continuing on to Italy to greet their next group of “Hoppers.”

In just three years, the retired special education teacher and recent college grad have grown their Vermont-based tour company, The Island Hopper, by… leaps! Their 2024 excursions, as close to home as Vermont’s country roads and as far away as the plains of Kenya, sold out instantly. The Island Hopper (yes, we’ll find out what’s behind that curious name) promises something extraordinary for travelers, predominantly women. These trips are about experiencing places in community with others and sparking creativity that enhances joy and a sense of wellbeing. These are restorative retreats, not exhausting tours, led by women who understand travel’s power to nourish the soul.

Of course, Kim wanted to know how Tricia and Courteney started the business, as well as what the future holds. “Listen in” on their conversation.

Kim: What made you decide to launch a travel company?

Tricia: In 2022, I was staying at a villa I had visited before in Lucca, and I just blurted out: “I have to bring women back here.” I have Italian friends who have a hospitality business, and I asked them, “Will you help me?” They immediately jumped in and were very enthusiastic and found a villa for us. Then, I asked Courteney if she would help me. Courtney has traveled a great deal in her life, and she jumped at the opportunity.

Kim: How did you market the trip?

Tricia: I’m a needlepointer, and I posted on my Instagram account: “If I ran a trip to a villa in Italy, would anyone want to come and needlepoint with me?” And 300 women said yes.

So I went ahead and rented the villa. We took 60 women to Tuscany our first year, 20 at a time, and it was fantastic. We created a whole business about international adventures where women joyfully gather and create art and community.

Kim: You’re offering trips in New England now, too, right?

Tricia: Yes, some of our travelers said, “You write about Vermont all the time. Can we come to Vermont? So we partnered with the Barrows House in Dorset, and we had about 20 women participate in our first Creative Summer Camp for Women, and another 27 this year. We’ll offer the program for the third time in 2025.

Kim: Tell me about your upcoming fall 2024 trip to Kenya.

Tricia: We have partnered with the Kenya Drylands Education Fund, a U.S. nonprofit and a Kenya NGO. It was founded by Sarah Hadden and Ahmed “Kura” Omar. I have traveled to Kenya with them before. They started very small, collecting pencils, and now they build schools. They’ve built a library and a sports center. They have done tremendous work getting water into the drought-stricken drylands. 

When we started this business, I asked Sarah and Kura if they would welcome our Island Hoppers. They gratefully said yes, so we are going in October… 21 of us. The majority of the people traveling with us went to Italy with us last year. A few of them are bringing husbands, so this will be our first co-ed trip. The first of many, we hope.

Kim: Oh, so are you moving away from women-only tours?

Tricia: No, we are not going to give up those all-women trips because we find there are so many women who want to travel but don’t have anyone to travel with. Most of our clients are active women between the ages of 48 and 80. We have widows; we have women who have never married. We have women who are divorced. We have women whose husbands won’t travel.

About 50% of them come solo. Some have said, “I didn’t tell anyone I knew because I didn’t want them to come with me.” And what happens is when you remove women from their communities and people they know, they can speak really freely. They’re able to connect with other women, really tell their story, and be their genuine selves. 

Courteney and I sit at the end of the dinner table, and we watch what happens over the week. The first night, they’re kind of quiet. Next night it gets a little bit more lively. The third night, it’s loud, and the fourth night they’re screaming from one end of the table to the next. There’s just a magic we know how to create.

I did not anticipate what was going to happen with these friendships among our Island Hoppers. One woman sent me a note and said, you introduced me to my best friends. Some of these groups are so tight they are having their own reunions. Our Kenya trip will have women who were on all of our different Italy trips who don’t know each other yet. So our community is mixing now, which is really fabulous.

Kim: What are some of the special touches you bring to your tours?

Tricia: We have little journals for our Hoppers. We always have little projects, special gifts. We do a book club on every trip, so everybody gets a book in the mail before the trip. We work with Northshire Bookstore here in Vermont.

Kim: Tell me about the origins of your business name, The Island Hopper.

Tricia: Courteney has an autoimmune disease we had never heard of before, and she was in college in Colorado while going through the process of being diagnosed. I had a small needlepoint mail order business at the time. I just decided I couldn’t worry about shipping needlepoint anymore. I needed the freedom to go to appointments with her when needed. So I lived between Vermont and one island after another island in Florida, and I started a travel blog called The Island Hopper.

I thought our first Italy trip was going to be a one and done kind of thing. But after we sold three trips to Italy in eight hours, I knew we had to do more. We have a wonderful following of people who want to travel with us. I have had two branding people suggest we change the name. And so we went to our clients and said, “We’re thinking of changing our name. Maybe The Island Hopper doesn’t work.” And all of them said, “No, no, no, we love it. We love being Island Hoppers. We hop continents, and we love the vibe of it.” So we listened to our people.

Kim: It’s such a fun name. You’ve made me want to be a Hopper. What are your plans for growing the business moving into 2025?

Tricia: We’re taking two women with us to Italy who we are going to train to run trips for us. The more trips we run the better. We are also increasing our trips to Vermont. In addition to our summer retreat, we’re adding a fall trip in 2025. What’s better than fall in Vermont? We’re also looking to expand to other countries. Courteney is also going to work on launching some trips for younger people.

Courteney: My mom constantly reminds me to dream bigger. The dreams we started with are not the dreams we have now, and we’ve done things we never thought we would do.

Tricia: Our clients don’t just want to travel. These women want to get out and adventure and see the world, and we love them. We’ll take them anywhere, as many times as they want to go.

Kim: What’s the best way to find out about trips before they sell out?

Tricia: Our email list subscribers find out about new trips first. You can also follow us on Instagram @theislandhoppertrips.

The post Want to See Vermont? Or the World? Jump at the Chance to Travel with The Island Hopper appeared first on New England.

When it was launched in rural Vermont more than a century ago, Bag Balm was made for cows, a remedy for udders chapped by blustery New England winters. These days, apparently, it’s also made for TikTok.

The jelly-like salve concocted with lanolin and petroleum jelly is famously adaptable: Over the years, Bag Balm has been used as everything from diaper-rash cure to rust protectant to a paw conditioner for dogs. But it also was cruising under the radar as something of a beauty secret, with here-and-there mentions from celebrity fans like Shania Twain and Oprah—until a TikTok “skinfluencer” named Alix Earle helped make it a viral sensation in 2022. After Earle touted it to her followers (now 7 million and counting) as a favorite remedy for facial dryness caused by harsh acne medication, other fans chimed in, with some even recommending Bag Balm for “slugging,” a trend involving slathering the face with Vaseline to seal in moisture.

“I was like, this sounds gross,” admits Libby Parent, president of Vermont’s Original Bag Balm, based in Lyndonville. “Are we sure we want to be part of that?”

Turns out: Yes, they did. Online sales tripled within a month of Earle’s post, and it soon became clear that the 125-year-old brand had achieved a marketing coup—getting the attention of the coveted Gen Z shopper—without even trying. “It just sort of happened,” Parent says.

The company now uses its social media channels (including, as of 2022, TikTok) to tell Bag Balm’s origin story to a whole new audience. And to celebrate Bag Balm’s 125th anniversary this fall, there will be gold and other color variations on its iconic green tin, which has remained largely unchanged for generations.

Yet there’s only so much that one can, or would want, to do with a product that’s been living up to its promise since 1899. “There’s a lot of trendy ingredients in skin care, and there’s been consumer burnout,” says Parent. “At the end of the day, we’ve just got a super-versatile product that works.” 

The post From Cows to TikTok: How Vermont’s Bag Balm Became a Viral Beauty Must-Have appeared first on New England.

Of all the possible locations for engagement photos—orchards, covered bridges, ocean beaches—the workplace usually doesn’t rank high on the list. Unless, that is, you can step outside your office into a wonderland of sunflowers.

As director of education and interpretation at Billings Farm & Museum, Christine Scales had exactly that opportunity in the form of the Sunflower House: a display of hundreds of red, orange, and gold blooms that’s said to be the largest of its kind in the nation. Launched in 2019, it’s become a summer sensation at the four-decade-old outdoor history museum in Woodstock, Vermont, attracting media coverage, flocks of visitors, and yes, professional photo sessions.

“It’s so joyful, it’s just impossible to take a bad picture in there,” says Scales, who had her own engagement portraits taken in the Sunflower House in 2020. “We’ve had people book it for maternity photos, family photos … and we even had two wedding proposals in the Sunflower House, both successful.”

Fittingly, this fairy-tale garden has a bit of magic in its origins. A children’s book featured in Billings’s preschool story-hour program, Eve Bunting’s The Sunflower House, had gotten the museum staff thinking about creating their own sunflower house—a simple eight-foot circle of flowers that could be a living play space for kids, maybe, like the one in the book. Then came a fateful meeting with Ben Pauly, director of property operations and design at the Woodstock Inn & Resort.

“We had gotten together with Ben to talk about a new garden shed we were putting in at Billings, and we happened to ask if he’d ever heard of a sunflower house before,” Scales recalls. “And he didn’t say anything at first—he just pulled out a folder full of pictures of sunflower houses and his whole plan for creating one. And on a much larger scale than what we were originally picturing.”

Pauly, it turned out, had already been mulling a showstopping new garden project at Billings Farm & Museum, which like the Woodstock Inn is owned and operated by the nonprofit Woodstock Foundation. “Some may have thought that a corn maze would be the better thing to do—to make a big impact, to bring people to Woodstock. It’s a classic Vermont fall attraction,” says Pauly. “But my feeling was: Nobody else has a sunflower house.”

Besides, he adds, a maze is all about finding your way out. “But a house is something you want to inhabit; you want to be a part of it and feel comfortable and experience everything around you.”

Working with the idea of creating “rooms” and “hallways” in a living structure, Pauly designed and planted the first Sunflower House for summer 2019. Set on a quarter acre and featuring about a dozen kinds of sunflowers, the result made a big impression. “It was this beautiful, amazing, magical thing,” Scales recalls. “When I saw it for the first time, I immediately thought, Yeah, people are going to want to come to see this. They’re going to come from all over to see this.”

As popular as it was the first year, the Sunflower House boomed the next, when the need for outdoor, socially distant activities saw people streaming to places like Billings. And the crowds were back in 2021 to experience an even bigger iteration of the Sunflower House that sprawled over nearly half an acre; that year marked a new record for museum attendance.

The 2024 Sunflower House, which is expected to peak in late August or early September, is laden with more than 50 varieties ranging in height from 12 inches to 14 feet and bearing names like Lemon Cutie, Just Crazy, and Starburst Panache. Rounding out the 20,000-square-foot installation by Pauly and Taylor Hiers, a fellow Woodstock Inn master gardener, are 50 “sunflower buddies”—zinnias, marigolds, etc.—to expand the color palette and extend the bloom time.

Like the sunflowers, the companion plants are all annuals. So after this year’s Sunflower House dies down, a completely new one will rise next year. It’s a structure that’s not meant to last, but it does serve a lasting purpose: to nourish the birds and bees, and to provide visitors with garden memories that will never fade. billingsfarm.org      

The post The Sunflower House at Billings Farm & Museum in Vermont appeared first on New England.

The magic of exploring a place on two wheels instead of four comes into full focus on Vermont’s Island Line Trail, a bike ride that’s a lesson in the art of going slow. Sure, you could cover this relatively flat, relatively easy distance in a couple of hours, but why? This is a journey made for meandering and stopping. And then stopping again. The views, after all, include both Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, not to mention sailboats, lighthouses, and killer sunsets. And the sights are as varied as the terrain. You’re in a city. You’re on a paved path. You’re on an island. You’re on…the water? In a sense, yes.

Stretching from Burlington and along four miles of the city’s waterfront, Vermont’s Island Line Trail is made up in part by the Burlington Bike Path and the Allen Point Access Trail. But the stop-in-your-tracks photo op comes on the Colchester Causeway, a three-mile path flanked by huge marble boulders that extends into Lake Champlain, the largest lake east of the Great Lakes and the sixth-largest freshwater body in the country.

Some riders have described the causeway experience as gliding atop the water. You’re certainly crossing it, and come summer you can catch a lift to the final stretch of the trail, on the island of South Hero, via a seasonal ferry operated by the Burlington bike nonprofit Local Motion. As on the other Champlain islands, biking on South Hero isn’t merely a tolerated activity—it’s part of the culture. Signs for the Lake Champlain Bikeways, a 1,600-mile network that runs through Quebec and New York, are everywhere you look (as are patient drivers, even on busy main roads). If you’ve got the pedal power, you can muscle your way back to Burlington for proper adult refueling and some stunning end-of-day colors over New York’s Adirondacks.

For a map and ferry information, go to localmotion.org.

The post Vermont’s Island Line Trail | The Bike Ride That Has It All appeared first on New England.

To someone who has never visited Shelburne Museum: Forget what you think a museum is. Instead, imagine driving a winding country road. Encountering sights both stunning and unexpected, you want to stop around every curve. You planned to go for an hour or two, but—not wanting to miss anything—you keep driving. And in the end, you’re sorry when it’s time to turn for home. That is what exploring Shelburne Museum’s campus of awe-inspiring art and history feels like.

Founded in the town of Shelburne in 1947, the museum is the singular creation of Electra Havemeyer Webb, who was driven to collect—and display—everything and anything that caught her eye. Raised in an opulent New York home with European masterworks on the walls, she found inexhaustible delight in carvings, decoys, and dolls. She loved whimsy (where else can you see the world’s largest collections of glass canes and trivets?) and exquisite crafts. In creating what she called “a collection of collections,” she pursued art, architecture, and artifacts until her death in 1960. “Some people have the place and find the piece,” she once said. “Not I. I buy the piece and find the place.” Her vision. Your gift. 

7 Best Things to See at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont

Circus Building miniatures.

Behold two magnificent obsessions with making a tiny world. Roy Arnold’s 500-foot-long circus parade showcases his 30-year devotion to hand-carving 4,000 tiny figures in intricate detail (the wagon wheels even have working brakes). Sharing space is Edgar Kirk’s 3,500-piece miniature three-ring circus, crafted with a penknife and a jigsaw over nearly half a century.

Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building.

A “masterpiece” theater unfolds in an intimate setting. In these seven rooms re-created from Webb’s Park Avenue apartment, you can get close to works by the likes of Monet and Rembrandt. (Art lovers will also want to drop into the nearby Webb Gallery of American Art to spy one of Webb’s final acquisitions, Andrew Wyeth’s heart-stopping Soaring.)

Ticonderoga. Yes, that is a real 220-foot-long paddle-wheel steamboat that plied Lake Champlain more than a century ago. In one of Webb’s most improbable pursuits of an eye-catching relic, the “Ti” arrived in 1955 after a months-long journey of being hauled, foot by foot, across two miles of rugged terrain.

The Dana-Spencer Textile Galleries at Hat and Fragrance. If quilters and embroiderers had a hall of fame, it would look a lot like this. In addition to more than 700 quilts, the collection includes fine examples of samplers, hooked rugs, and woven coverlets, revealing how women used uncommon talents to make their way into a male-dominated world of arts and crafts. One highlight among many: Patty Yoder’s contemporary hooked rugs portraying life on her Vermont farm.

Stagecoach Inn folk art. Grandma Moses herself celebrated her 100th birthday at this temple of folk art—Webb’s truest love—set in a 1783 Vermont inn. Beginning with a cigar-store figure she bought at age 19, Webb acquired a lifetime trove of weathervanes, trade signs, and regional artwork long before they were considered collector’s items.

Dorset House decoys. Nature and art become one in these 1,400 wildfowl decoys created by the most accomplished 19th- and 20th-century crafters. Webb’s collection played a major role in such decoys being recognized as unique American art.

Round Barn carriages. Inside the 1901 Shaker-style Round Barn lies Shelburne Museum’s origin story: After her husband’s family gifted her 28 elegant horse-drawn carriages in 1946, Webb wanted to preserve and display them for the public. Gaze at the gold satin-lined interior of an 1890 Million et Guiet Berlin Coach, and imagine riding like royalty. Then stroll among the barn’s nearly 200 horse-drawn wagons, stagecoaches, and sleighs to see how ordinary New Englanders moved around, too. shelburnemuseum.org

The post 7 Best Things to See at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont appeared first on New England.