As you may be able to tell by this blog’s very existence, I am enjoying exploring all there is to see, eat, and do in the state of Vermont after moving here about a year and a half ago. I love photographing and documenting adventures, because it’s a way to relive great memories and it is a way to cheer oneself up during less positive times, as well. I am also an organized person who derives perhaps too much satisfaction from checking items off lists. So, as soon as I heard about the 251 Club, I knew I had to join.

The point of this club is to celebrate the beauty and charm of the state of Vermont by visiting all 251 towns within it. When you join, you receive your own page on the site to keep track of your adventures, a hard copy checklist, a newsletter, and invitations to related gatherings. You can also order extra merchandise – I personally chose to order the Vermont travel journal, which contains spaces to write about each town, as well as the date each town was founded. It also has some sweet artwork on the cover.

Since I am now an official member of this club, I’ve decided I’d use this blog to share my progress in my quest to experience all Vermont towns have to offer on this blog, in addition to more specific reviews. As of today, I have visited 20 out of 251 Vermont towns, which are:

Arlington

Arlington is close to our hometown so I’ve visited multiple times, sometimes with my husband, sometimes with my husband and Fiddle. The first time we visited, we drove around looking at the local homes and visited the Chocolatorium, which was quite impressive in the amount as well of the quality of the chocolates throughout the store. We’ve returned and visited the Arlington Rec Park several times. It’s a beautiful little park, with walking trails that coincide with the Battenkill River and a shallow pond that welcomes swimming for kids or dogs (Fiddle, relatively new to swimming, decided he’d hop right in when we visited). Another stop of interest in our visits was the local dairy bar – it didn’t have as much variety as our dairy bar in Bennington, but it was still a cheerful and delicious time.

Bennington

Before we moved to this town in July 2018, we had visited three times. The first time involved heading to a coffee shop and Gamers Grotto in the midst of a camping trip, and the second time involved freaking out over how absolutely stellar the cheddar ale soup is at Madison Brewing Company. When we arrived for a third time, we knew we’d be moving here so we checked out many trails and restaurants during a long weekend stay at the delightfully artsy Harwood Hill Motel.

Of course we enjoyed all of our visits, or we would never have moved here. This is a small town, but it has enough for one to ease the transition from the big city to VT life – there’s a movie theater, restaurants, several grocery stores, a farmer’s market, a museum, the famed Battle Monument, and lots of fun festivals throughout the year. Despite its commercial side, it’s also abundant with areas of natural beauty, such as the White Rocks Trail and Headwaters Park.

Unfortunately, since we moved we’ve seen some devastating blows to this town, including the closing of Southern Vermont College and the impending closing of the Energizer factory. I am hopeful that things can turn around for this little historical community, but I’m concerned, as well.

Brattleboro

I’ve visited this charming town a few times, and each has been decidedly delicious. The first visit was during our 2014 camping trip, where we walked along the beautiful trails and visited friendly animals at the Retreat Farm. I still have fond memories of ambling along as leaves peacefully glided in the wind, wondering if this state would ever really be my home. The next time I returned to this town was on our way back from our wedding, where stopped and ate at the Whetstone Station Restaurant and Brewery. Every time I think of that place, I start craving the greasy grilled cheese with maple bacon that was simply the perfect lunch for the “wind-down” day after a busy wedding weekend. I’ve returned to this town a few times since then, often related to the fact that it is the central station for Southern Vermont’s Girls on the Run program, a program which I contribute to as a coach and generally admire for its mission. This past year I definitely went overboard with love for the food at The Marina and The Top of the Hill Grill. I think, based on these experiences, I’ve really got to head back there and try out the rest of this town’s restaurants.

Burlington

We went to visit Burlington when our friends, the ones with the baby, visited. They had planned a trip there for their fifth wedding anniversary and they wanted us to come too, which I took as a compliment. We drove up with then four month-old Fiddle on a Saturday morning and stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton, was very dog-friendly and reasonably priced. Though it was a brief weekend we managed to get in a lot: walking on a frozen Lake Champlain, making our way through crowds of corgi admirers in the Church Street marketplace, attending a pancake and cider breakfast to celebrate the launch of a new cider by Citizens Cider, eating amazing crepes at the Skinny Pancake, and eating snow with maple syrup as part of “maple weekend”. We also, of course, appreciated exploring with our friends and getting to know their baby, as well as letting Fiddle bask in the endless attention he received in the city environment. It was a great time during what I consider to be a rather bleak month of the year, and I’d definitely like to visit again.

Dorset and Dover

I’m writing about these together, as each as already received some serious attention in previous blog posts (see: Dorset and Dover). Based on my one visit, Dorset seems like a gorgeous town full of stately homes, and I am impressed by the fact that it has a community theatre, something I’d love to become involved with in the future. As for Dover, I only experienced the section known as West Dover, but it was quite memorable in how sleepy it was, with the one noted exception being the bustling Valley View Saloon. Many parts of the lovely Valley Trail are also located in West Dover, and they were wonderful to experience in the prime of autumn.

Hartford and Jamaica

I didn’t even realize I had visited the town of Hartford until I joined this club and started looking into the map. I was looking for Quechee, as I had visited Quechee Village and its majestic gorge in the spring of 2018. It was on no map, so a quick Google search revealed to me that Quechee is not its own town, but rather part of Hartford. So I’ve been to one section of Hartford, one where I took in a mesmerizing sight and pet some cute alpacas.

Jamaica has the honor of being the first town I ever visited in the state of Vermont. You can read more about my camping adventures in this town here.

Killington

Killington will always have a special place in my heart, as this is the town where I had the privilege of getting married at a cozy mountain lodge in the spring of 2017. Our first visit to Killington was in the spring of 2016, with the purpose of getting down to business with wedding planning. It was not the best experience, as I went on this trip with the worst illness I have ever gotten from working as a teacher (knocking on wood that this will still be the case). This illness involved four days of a high fever, constant coughing, and extreme fatigue. However, even with the sickness clouding my mind, I could see that Killington and this particular lodge were places of fantastic serenity and beauty and fit the ideals I had in mind for my upcoming nuptials.

We returned again in during my spring break in April 2017 to finalize all plans, and toward the end of May 2017 to get married. The wedding was small but full of fun, and, even though it may be cliche to say so, one of the best days of my life. My husband and I sang songs, there were goats and a pony to pet, and a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cake – what more can a girl ask for?

During all of our visits, we experienced the beauty of the Thundering Falls Trail and many great local dining establishments, with The Foundry being a big favorite of mine. I also had a friend recently tell me she was still thinking about the sandwiches we had gotten from the local market while we were getting our hair done. This was a great place to get married for its peaceful vibe and idyllic environment, but it also awesome in terms of efficiency – the marriage license process was extremely simple and straightforward, as well as the process of working with many talented vendors in this area. I would love to visit again for one of our anniversaries and relive the great memories.

Manchester

After moving to Bennington, I’ve come to appreciate Manchester as a sort of older sibling of our town. Something about it just feels more sophisticated. I’ve had several notable experiences in town, including browsing the outlets at Manchester Center, hiking toward watery views on the Lye Brook Falls trail, eating the best french fries ever with my visiting parents at the Raven’s Den, and bringing Fiddle to the sparsely populated dog park, where the first time he was the only dog there and the second time he managed to mingle with a single other canine. The dog park is located within Dana Thompson Memorial Park, which is home to swings and walking trails and general large green spaces to enjoy the outdoors. My husband and I also ate our Thanksgiving dinner in Manchester a mere few days ago, at Ye Olde Tavern, which was a dining experience indeed worthy of a holiday.

Aside from its fine dining and large areas for dogs to play within, Manchester is also home to one of the most impressive book shops I’ve ever had the privilege of entering: The Northshire Bookstore. One could spend an entire exploring this shop, due to its size as well its highly impressive variety of reading material.

Peru, Pownal, and Rupert

These three towns were each visited briefly but memorable: my husband and I accidentally came upon a bus heading to the Peru Fair during our very first visit to Vermont, which was followed up with a super fun visit to Bromly Mountain Adventure Park – I could go down those alpine slides all day!

I’ve yet to experience the “town” part of Pownal, but I have walked throughout most of, if not all of, Mountain Meadow Preserve, which goes through Pownal as well as Williamstown, MA. Despite visiting on a gray fall day, there was significant natural charm to appreciate.

As for Rupert, Fiddle, my husband, and I had one excellent weekend day exploring the trails and admiring the farm animals at the Merck Forest & Farmland Center. Despite our length visit, there are still plenty of trails we will need to go back to experience – there are over 30 miles of trails at this center, which is completely free to visit.

Rutland, Shaftsbury, and Springfield

Rutland is one town where I was not sure whether to count, but the fact of the matter is that the wonderful wedding cake pictured way above came from the Ben & Jerry’s in this town and multiple visits were made to ensure this cake’s existence. I haven’t done much here that wasn’t ice cream-related but perhaps there will be a time to check it out further in the future.

In Shaftsbury, I’ve visited Lake Shaftsbury and the park that surrounds it, which was an excellent place to experience in early spring this past year. I’ve also walked the full length of the Robert Frost Trail, which goes between Shaftsbury and North Bennington, several times, though after seeing A. wasp nests and B. Fiddle get covered with 25+ ticks on this trail, I’m not sure that I’ll be traversing this path again anytime soon.

Springfield was interesting. When I was looking for teaching jobs in Vermont, I had an interview in this town. For some reason, they were not able to do a Skype interview, so my husband and I drove all the way here from NYC. Aside from the interview (which did not pan out), we explored the town which seemed to be struggling and sparsely populated, though to be fair this was the “mud season” part of early spring. The most memorable part of this trip was that we stayed at The Hartness House Inn for a night and we were the only people there. No staff was present whatsoever – though they did leave out some muffins for breakfast. The lack of other people, plus an abundance of spooky artwork and statues, made this place feel haunted like no other.

Stowe

My husband I decided to visit Stowe during one of our wedding planning trips – we drove out of Killington and walked along the full length of the Stowe Recreation Path (5 miles or so) and back again on an Easter Sunday, following this up with eating endless truffle fries at a small restaurant I can’t find a website for, appreciating beverages at Stowe Cider, and paying homage to the ice cream kings by doing the little tour at the Ben & Jerry’s headquarters. This is a super cute and entertaining town and it is my hope that one day I’ll be able to work out the timing to return in order to experience the famed Easter brunch at the Von Trapp Family Lodge within the next few years. Here’s hoping!

Wilmington and Woodford

Wilmington is a town we’ve driven through endless times, though the visiting has been far less frequent – I’ve had the opportunity to wander the streets of the town once and have twice walked along the Valley Trail, which I’ve written about here. I would love to explore this town in more depth.

Woodford is a nearby town that I’ve visited during the warmer months and once during the colder months. This area is located on a mountain plateau and I tried out snowshoeing for the first time at Prospect Mountain, which was glorious to look at in the early March snow. I’ve also visited the state park, with its beautiful lake, and the Little Pond Trail, which was a sweet but simple hike.

Woodstock

We visited the town of Woodstock in spring 2018, with our main goal being to experience The Billings Farm & Museum.

The farm was everything we could ask for – since it was spring, baby animals abounded and we got to see a cool demonstration of border collies herding sheep (perhaps influencing us subconsciously to eventually own a herding dog ourselves). I also distinctly remember eating ice cream made from the milk of the animals of the farm and loving it. The museum was cool, too – it was neat to see the way Vermonters lived off the land throughout this state’s history. When we left the museum, we walked through the town with all its independent shops and restaurants, and all I kept thinking was “very Vermont” in response to everything we saw.

So that’s where I am in my journey. 20 towns visited, all worthy of a trip, and 231 to go…