A GLANCE BACK AT OUR JOURNALS CONFIRMED IT—it’s been twenty-one years to the day since last we were in Southern Vermont. A lot has changed since then and much of what hasn’t isn’t quite like I remember it!
Check your fly, AMFF Manchester VT
The Art of Fly Fishing
Painting by "Ding" Darling
Connie was introduced to a new class of obsession at the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester. When not spending fortunes matching wits with the pea-sized brain of a trout, fly fishermen and women spend countless hours tying colorful “flies” that represent all manner of insects, fish, worms and crustaceans, many of which qualify as works of art. And there is an entire section of paintings dealing with fishing, one of which was painted by cartoonist and conservationist “Ding” Darling for whom the birding hotspot on Sanibel Island is named.
Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester VT
A Horse of a Different Color, Southern Vermont Art Center
Scultpure, Southern Vermont Art Center
The Southern Vermont Art Center was more to her liking. Although the admission price kept us from entering the inside galleries, we spent an hour exploring the exhibits around the grounds much like we saw at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.
Traditional Saltbox house
Church in Chester VT
Counyty Inn, Chester VT
Cornish-Windsor Bridge, 160 feet long, from Vermont side
Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
Our quest for the most colorful leaves in New England took us through the charming town of Chester where we stopped for some photos. By and by we crossed the Connecticut River into New Hampshire on the Cornish-Windsor Bridge, the longest wooden covered bridge in the US. We stopped in Hanover, home to Dartmouth College, for a comparison to equally pricey Vassar. Not only were the students smiling, a grad student at the library suggested we drive a bit farther to visit the Lower Shaker Village in Enfield.
Lower Shaker Village, Enfield NH
Shaker Village, Enfield NH
Table for Twenty, Enfield Shaker Village
Shaker chairs in meeting hall, Enfield Shaker Village
In case you are a little fuzzy on who the Shakers were—“were” being the operative word since there are only 2 living members left— they, like Quakers, were pacifists who took their beliefs to a new level. They didn’t believe in private property and shared everything. OK so far. They were also celibate and didn’t believe in procreation. They had to adopt or recruit new members, hence the dwindling membership. Utopian they may have been but it isn’t a live I would choose. Even their famous Shaker chairs are straight backed and uncomfortable.
Battle Monument, Bennington VT
Self-portrait and Photo, Grandma Moses—Bennington Museum
"Halloween" by Grandma Moses—Bennington Museum
Old First Church, Bennington
"In a Disused Graveyard" Bennington VT
The Battle Monument may be the most visible point in Bennington but it’s far from the most interesting. That would be the Bennington Museum, especially the gallery devoted to Anna Mary Robertson, better known as Grandma Moses. Her art isn’t up to our usual standards but it’s not half bad when you consider she didn’t start painting until she was 78 years old! Not one to be outdone, after many miles Poet Robert Frost lies sleeping eternally in the disused cemetery of the Old First Church.
Henry Bridge, Bennington VT
Papermill Bridge, Bennington VT
Silk Road Bridge, Bennington VT
Park-McCullough Estate, Bennington VT
Bennington is also home to three of Vermont’s 104 covered bridges loopty-looing across the Walloomsac River. Perhaps not as famous as Meryl and Clint’s bridges in Madison County, they are definitely more scenic. Our final stop was the fantastic Park-McCullough Estate. Built in 1865 it has 35 rooms and sits on 200 acres and was once the governor’s mansion.
