Our beloved Vermont is hurting right now, and our hearts hurt in turn.

Hubby and I have spent many glorious hours ambling through Vermont, most often with my beau-frère and belle-soeur*, who lived in the village of Newbury for some time. We came close to settling there ourselves, back in 2010, but the universe had other plans. Sadly, we haven’t been back to Vermont since before COVID. We’ve been hoping that sometime later this year, we’ll be able to return**.

The mountains of New England call to me. I wrote a post about that once, which you can read here. I love the cold, craggy coast of Maine, too. How can you not?

But Vermont calls in a different way. It’s that sense of back-in-time village life, roadways without billboards, general stores, town greens, Saturday morning farm markets, a moose in the backyard. I know well how easy it is to idealize a place that you only visit—but so what?. Long, hard winters and mud season aside, Vermont is not like Maine or New Hampshire. Vermont is its own unique brand of heavenly. As an homage to the Green Mountain state and its intrepid Vermonters, here are a few memories from travels past.

(1) Above, the Winooski in Montpelier in calmer times. (2) The Newbury Village Store. I love that each general store has its own distinct character. (3) The Woodstock History Center. (4) Historic Hope Cemetery in Barre. You can read about it here

Above, from left, (1) Farm Way in Bradford, where we were first introduced to Muck Boots and Cabot cheddar in the green box. (2) Farm Way’s selection of maple syrup. The farther north you go, the better the maple syrup is. (3) Wearables from Red Kite Candy’s original location in Bradford. Read about the world’s best caramels here.

Above, from left, (1) The Quirky Pet, a Montpelier institution. I’m hoping for the best for all of the homes and businesses in the hardest hit areas. (2) Beautiful fresh radishes from 4 Corners Farm, Newbury, and (3) the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock—always fun when a book sale is in progress.

Above, (1) A marker to a former time in Newbury. (2) King Arthur’s history and mission, at my happy place, King Arthur Baking Cafe, Bakery, and Store in Norwich, and (3) my very big King Arthur “haul.” Read about my KA obsession here.

You may have noticed that I have no photos of Vermont’s famous ski areas, or Lake Champlain, or Burlington, or Middlebury. We drive through these scenic places and appreciate them, but we are most at home in the villages and more rural areas. Unfortunately, there are photos from long ago trips that I loved but seem to have lost—that afternoon on the patio of the Dorset Inn comes to mind, Mulligan’s in Manchester, or the Vermont Country Store. There are so many reasons to return, not the least of which is the resilience and determination of Vermonters. Today’s feature photo is a covered bridge in Woodstock. Do you remember how those remarkable Vermonters rebuilt the covered bridges after the Hurricane Irene floods?

Note: If you love Vermont and love to cook, or you’d like to be introduced to Vermont cooking, try my fellow writer Dorothy’s blog, The New Vintage Kitchen.

*The French terms for brother-in-law and sister-in-law, which I much prefer over English legal-use.

**I over-worry travel these days… I want to be adventurous again, ready just to pack up and go without a plan, without reservation (literally and figuratively). Do you think hypnosis would help? I’m only half kidding!