Things to do in Southern Vermont
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Bistro Henry
This casual, chef-owned bistro serves creative modern cuisine highlighting fresh seafood, aged meats and fresh vegetables. Its acclaimed wine selection features eclectic and hard-to-find labels.
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Carol’s Main Street Café
If you are self-catering, a great place for picnic fixings is Carol’s Main Street Café – those in the know come for turkey specials on Monday and Friday, tacos on Wednesday and hamburgers on Thursday. Or you can explore delectables from an amazing variety of gourmet hot and salad dishes sold by the pound.
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Coffee Country Cafe
This informal place attracts everyone from tongue-studded teenagers to 65-year-old farmers. Drop in for some good java and hot baked goods.
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Everyone’s Books
Sells unusual publications, rabble-rousing political literature and an audacious selection of radical T-shirts and bumper stickers.
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Marlboro Music Fest
At first sight, this village 8 miles west of Brattleboro is pretty but unremarkable: a white church, a white inn, a white village office building and a few white houses. But to chamber-music lovers, Marlboro looms very large as the home of the Marlboro Music Fest held on Saturdays and Sundays from early July to mid-August. The festival was founded in 1951 and directed for many years by the late Rudolf Serkin, and attended by Pablo Casals. The small Marlboro College comes alive with enthusiastic music students and concertgoers, who consistently pack the small, 700-seat auditorium. Many concerts sell out almost immediately, so it’s essential to reserve seats, by phone or ma…
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Vermont Country Store
On the eastern side of the Green Mountains, Weston is another of Vermont’s pristine towns. Its common is graced with towering maples and a bandstand, and is home to an acclaimed summer theater. Weston also draws fans from far and wide to its famed Vermont Country Store, a time warp from a simpler era when goods were made to last, and quirky products with appeal (but not a mass-market appeal) had a home. Here you’ll discover taffeta slips, Tangee lipstick, three kinds of shoe stretchers with customizable bunion and corn knobs, personal care items and clothing. Some of the products have survived from past decades and many have become indispensable – once you’ve been intro…
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Mt Equinox
To reach 3816ft Mt Equinox, follow VT 7A south out of Manchester and look for Skyline Dr. From Manchester to the summit is just 5 miles via this private toll road that winds seemingly up to the top of the world. It’s believed that the mountain’s name is a corrupted Native American phrase meaning ‘place where the very top is.’ Rather than drive, you could undertake the five-plus-hour hike (2918ft elevation gain) on Burr and Burton, and Lookout Rock Trails, which will take you to the summit and back. Hiking information is available at the Equinox hotel and resort, where the trail begins.
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Bromley Mountain
Approximately 5 miles from town, 3284ft Bromley Mountain is a small family-oriented resort featuring 43 downhill ski runs and 10 chairlifts. In summer, you can try the Alpine Slide (the longest run in North America), a climbing wall, trampolines, a water slide, a children’s adventure park and more. Chairlifts whisk hikers and sightseers up to trails. The Long/Appalachian Trail runs right through Bromley. In mid-August, the UX Open – a play-off for the wildest golf game in the country – takes place on these brush-hogged slopes.
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Stratton Mountain
Stratton Mountain is an all-season playground about 16 miles east of Manchester. For downhill skiing and snowboarding (mid-November through April, conditions permitting), it has 90 trails and 100 acres of glade and tree skiing terrain, 13 lifts (including a summit gondola) and a vertical drop of more than 2000ft on a 3875ft mountain. There are also 20 miles of cross-country trails. Summer activities include golf, tennis, squash, swimming, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking and tons more.
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Southern Vermont Natural History Museum
Marlboro is a short distance off the Molly Stark Trail (VT 9), a road named for the wife of General Stark, the hero of the American Revolution's Battle of Bennington. The VT 9 brings you to the top of Hogback Mountain (2410ft), where you’ll find the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum, an interesting little place that features mounted specimens of more than 600 New England birds and mammals as well as a small center devoted to live raptors.
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Robb Family Farm
- Brattleboro, USA
- Sights › Farm
The 400-acre Robb Family Farm has been run by the same family for about a century. Maple-sugaring demonstrations take place from late February to early April. There are fun hay or sleigh rides ($7/5 per adult/child, $30 minimum spend required, reservations essential), which usually end with a marshmallow roast. The farm is located west of I-91 on VT 9; take a left on Greenleaf St (which becomes Ames Hill Rd), head 3 miles and look to the right.
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Skyline Restaurant
At the high point of VT 9, there’s a lookout and the family-owned Skyline Restaurant, where you can dine on homemade soups, a ‘Monte Cristo’ (a grilled triple-decker sandwich made with Swiss cheese, ham and turkey drizzled with maple syrup) and traditional New England comfort foods, all with the backdrop of a marvelous ‘100-mile’ view, which – weather permitting – takes in the Berkshires.
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Southern Vermont Arts Center
- Manchester, USA
- Sights › Art
In addition to excellent outdoor sculpture gardens, the Southern Vermont Arts Center has a full program of concerts from June through August. Its 10 galleries of classic and contemporary art feature touring shows of sculpture, paintings, prints and photography. Lectures and jazz concerts are held in the 430-seat Arkell Pavilion. After enjoying the museum and surrounding trails, consider staying for a light lunch at its Garden Cafe.
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Brattleboro Farmers Market
Offering an excellent crash course in Vermont food, the Brattleboro Farmers Market boasts as many as 70 local vendors selling cheese, free-range beef and lamb, honey, pastries, maple syrup and fruit. Live music and a lively crafts scene round out the experience. The Saturday market is just west of town by the Creamery Bridge, while the Wednesday market is held in the Merchants Bank Building parking lot off Main St.
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Station Restaurant
The village of Pawlet consists of a few little shops and the Station Restaurant, formerly a 1905 railroad station in another town: the structure was converted into a classic diner, moved to Pawlet and situated above this babbling brook. Complete with swivel stools and counter, it’s also atmospheric thanks to hook-hung cups bearing the names of regulars.
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Danby Marble Company
If your interest in marble is piqued, stop in at the Danby Marble Company, on the VT 7 north of Danby. The town is the site of what’s billed as ‘the largest underground marble quarry in the world.’ Perhaps you’re in need of some marble cut to your specifications? They make everything here from bookends to chessboards to vases.
reviewed
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Weston Playhouse
The Weston Playhouse, Vermont’s oldest professional theatre, occupies an old church on the town common and backs onto the West River. It enjoys a good reputation for musicals and drama; if you’re in the area, try to obtain tickets. Arrive early for a show or to dine on light fare ‘Downstairs at the Playhouse.’
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Mach’s General Store
Heading north along VT 30 from Dorset, you’ll pass through the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village of Pawlet. Stop at the fine old-fashioned Mach’s General Store, which generates its electricity from an adjacent stream passing through a gorge. You can see all this from inside the store, thanks to a glass counter.
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Gallery Walk
On the first Friday of each month, join the immensely popular Gallery Walk. Since the early 1990s, galleries and businesses have opened their walls to artists from an ever-increasing geographic reach and renown. A free monthly publication, available throughout town and on the website, maps the locations for this self-guided tour.
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Hildene
Just south of Manchester, Hildene, a 24-room Georgian Revival mansion, was the country estate of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln. You can tour the mansion decorated with original Lincoln family furnishings and stroll its lovely gardens, though don't expect much to be in bloom before June.
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Dorset Playhouse
More than a century ago the village of Dorset became known as a summer playground for well-to-do city folks. Today, in addition to the village’s pristine beauty, the Dorset Playhouse draws a sophisticated audience. In summer the actors are professionals; at other times they’re community players.
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Weathervane Gallery & Performing Arts Café
This great hangout is where you’ll find the kind of cool, witty guy behind the counter that you always see in movies. Slide into one of the giant booths and enjoy light fare (dishes $1 to $10), a full bar and live music. The latter is usually bluesy/folky, but can also be wild and ear-splitting on select nights.
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Peter Havens
This intimate, 10-table local institution features an incredible menu bursting with culinary mastery. Fresh seafood dishes share the roster with venison, duck, tenderloin and pasta dishes (which can be modified for vegetarians). Brimming with intimate and artsy atmosphere, Peter Havens also has a full (eight-seat) bar.
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Dormy Grill
Reserve a table overlooking the links and chow down on American bistro fare, like buffalo wings, crab cakes or the Equinox Steak ‘Cobb’ Salad (guajillo-marinated hanger steak, blue cheese, buttermilk onion rings and romaine lettuce). The mountain view is alluring but watch out for stray golf balls.
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Café Beyond
Head to this cafe in the Collected Works Bookstore for full meals with international flair. The Thai and Colombian chefs here offer an inspired world-ranging menu. Additionally, the fabulous bookstore, meeting space and seating designed for lingering draw a wild cross-pollination of, well, lingerers.
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