Archive for the 'Addison County' Category

Happy Chinese New Year! While this may seem an unusual holiday to celebrate in much of Addison County, we at Vermont Lodging Properties feel the occasion presents plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Like the Hebrew calendar, the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, a complex system that uses both lunar and solar cycles to mark time. By most estimates, the year is 4709. “Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 4709!”

It’s the year of the dragon – most auspicious as the dragon is the only mythological creature in the Chinese Zodiac. People born during a particular year are said to share attributes with the animal for whom that year is named. Those born during the year of the dragon are said to be innovative, self-assured, brave, passionate, and quick-tempered. Though I could not find any scientific proof to back this up, I imagine that dragons do have these characteristics.

I love the traditions surrounding this festive holiday: families gather together from afar, people reconcile their differences and forget all grudges, sincere wishes of peace and happiness prevail, and homes are lavishly decorated.

Houses are traditionally adorned with blooming plants – symbolizing growth and prosperity. I encourage Vermonters suffering from seasonal sadness to fully embrace this aspect of the celebration. There are few better cures for seasonal affective disorder than fragrant blooming plants – except perhaps citrus. Citrus essential oils are a popular aromatherapy prescription for the winter blues. Part of the Chinese New Year tradition includes decorating the home with oranges and tangerines. They are considered to be a sign of abundant happiness.

Another great tradition during Chinese New Year is thoroughly cleaning the house: sweep away any bad fortune and make room for good luck in the new year. It is commonly known that cleanliness is next to godliness. Perhaps it is also a cherished characteristic of mythological dragons and their Vermont counterparts?

For the new year, I want to recommend two Addison County properties – one for its simplicity and utter newness (pictured left) and the other for its many rooms in which to capture good luck (pictured below). Click on each image for full MLS listing details.

This sunny Energy Star home in Monkton features radiant heat throughout with a 91% efficient propane heat. Maple and bamboo hardwood and ceramic tile throughout. This energy efficient country home is clean and elegant, perfect for welcoming the luck this most auspicious year promises.

This Lake Street home in Addison features seven rooms (nice lucky number) in 5361 square feet of living space on 142 acres. A contemporary-style home custom-designed and built in 2007, this Addison home features wood floors, cathedral ceilings, an open kitchen with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and mahogany cabinetry…And glorious views of the Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountain high peaks to the west.

Contact me for more information about these Addison County properties and for more good news about the new year.

Take a walk in the Vermont woods, especially in Addison County, and you’re likely to stumble upon a stone wall. Robert Frost’s favorite fences make good neighbors and are prevalent in this part of Vermont where agriculture once defined us. The stone wall is iconic Vermont:
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

According to William Hubbell, author of Good Fences: A Pictorial History of New England’s Stone Walls, the miles of stone walls built in central New England between 1810 and 1840 had more mass to them than the great pyramids of Egypt. In her review of Good Fences, Rebecca Rule describes our primal connection to rock and stone: “We describe a rocky coast, a rocky landscape, rocks in a field that make it unplowable. But when the farmer gathers those rocks and turns them into a wall, they are transformed into stone — a stone wall. A rock becomes a stone when a human being makes use of it.”

Stone Houses make great use of this magically transformed rock, but are considerably less prevalent in Addison County than stone walls. While stone houses of Vermont lack some of the grandeur and history of the stone houses of France and Italy, the do have the  potential to inspire a personal connection to the region’s history.

Take a look at these two stone homes currently available in Addison County (click on the image for full MLS listing details). Both are built right around the turn of the century (1790 and 1811 respectively) and both are built of Panton Stone, quarried from the hills of the Champlain Valley.

This stone house in Panton has spectacular views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. The original stone house built in 1790 and updated in 1993 features gleaming, wide-pine floors. The 3-acre property has a little bit of everything: old barns, out-buildings, a pond, a meadow and a large level yard with mature fruit trees.

A classic stone house in Addison, this 1811 home (pictured right) features large rooms with wide plank floors and a beautiful Panton Stone fireplace in living room.

Read more about the magic of stone houses in Velvet and Linen. The prospect of living in a beautiful stone house just makes me want to drink a toast and toss my glass into the fireplace. But I suppose that people who live in stone houses should not throw glass, either.

Stone wall image credit: http://www.field-notebook.com

December in Vermont is the season of cozy fireplaces. It is mild enough that not too much heat will be lost up the flue, and cold enough that snuggling in front of a blazing fire is the most appropriate way to spend an evening. I’ve collected a few Addison County fireplaces in some spectacular living rooms pictured below. Click each image for the full Vermont MLS listing:

Here’s a little more information about these great fireplaces (Clockwise from the top left):

• This fireplace is the centerpiece of a beautiful colonial two-story home that is being sold along with the Fox Creek Inn in Chittenden, Vermont.
• A fireplace in Middlebury on Morse Road. This 4810 square foot custom home is on 51 acres on Otter Creek.
• The fireplace and wood stove are oriented “side-by-each” in the guest house of this spectacular Lake Champlain waterfront home in Panton.
• Another great lakefront fireplace – this one is also in Panton and has 259 feet of waterfront.

The perfect compliment to the cozy fire of course is ice – ice wine, that is. Vermont ice wines (and ice cider) are award winners. Ice wine is a delicious dessert wine produced from grapes that have frozen on the vine. The sugars in these lucky grapes do not freeze, but the water does, creating a more concentrated nectar.

Here are a few regional favorites:
Night Fires – Lincoln Peak Winery in New Haven
Vermont Ice – Boyden Valley Winery in Camrbidge
Vidal Ice – East Shore Vineyard in Grande Isle
Estate Vidal Blanc – Snow Farm Vineyard, South Hero
and Eden Ice Cider Company sells five varieties of ice cider (called “apple ice wine” by some)

Contact me to view these incredible Vermont properties. I’ll bring some kindling and wine glasses. Until then, I’ll leave you with Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice”:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Vermont is no different than any other New England state when it comes to Thanksgiving: turkey is on the menu; dinner is in the formal dining room. To honor this terrific holiday we thought we’d take a look at the great bird itself and the lovely room in which it is consumed.

The Eastern Wild Turkey, the one we see so often in Vermont, is the most abundant of all species of wild turkey. In the 1800s, extensive forest clearing and the spread of agriculture pushed Vermont’s wild turkeys to extinction. They were first reintroduced in 1969 and fortunately have made a prodigious come back. They are now widespread in our state’s deciduous forests.

According to Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, the best turkey habitat in Vermont is in the Champlain Valley and in the southeastern and southwestern parts of the state. A turkey needs several types of habitat within its range:

• Forests which include trees that produce nuts for food, large trees for roosting, and evergreens for winter cover. Southern slopes are preferred because they are warmer in the winter and have less snow accumulation.
• Open fields provide nesting sites and insects during the summer
• Croplands provide forage for food
• Tall grass and shrubs provide both feeding habitat as well as areas for hiding nests

According to American history, Benjamin Franklin preferred the turkey over the eagle as our nation’s emblem. In a 1784 letter to his daughter he wrote:

For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country…(source: wikipedia.org)

According to the Vermont MLS, Addison County has some wonderful homes with formal dining rooms. Among Vermont real estate currently on the market, my favorite dining room is this one in this home on Mountain Road in Addison, Vermont. The kitchen here is spectacular, sunny and spacious. The kitchen island is perfect for cooking and entertaining (all the action at a celebration takes place in the kitchen anyway). I’d love to cook a Thanksgiving meal here with friends and family. Click either image below for full listing details.

The exposed beams over the table lend a wonderful sense of history to this wonderful formal dining room.	Sunny and beautiful, this Addison County gourmet kitchen is fully equipped and perfectly appointed.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

turkey image credit: www.nwtf.org

Small towns in Vermont and even smaller towns in Addison County are not usually governed by mayors, we keep that kind of governance for the big cities. But in the case of Starksboro, one man stands alone as the undisputed mayor, Stoney Mason. He adjudicates from a bench in the shade near his garden where this afternoon he’d just dug 6 five-gallons buckets of Kennebec potatoes.

From his bench, he is visible to passersby on Route 116 (a prominent north-south thoroughfare in Addison County) who wave enthusiastically and honk their horns. Stoney Mason knows them all by name. He is not a lawyer or a clergyman, he is a stone mason. He is a legendary stone mason. His hands are as big as frying pans.

I asked him how he got started and he pointed to the stone wall next to his seat: “I needed to get to the garage.” The garage was once a horse barn; he needed a sloping drive better suited to cars than quadrupeds. The stone wall created a foundation upon which he could build the driveway. This is the first stone wall he ever made. It is wonderful – and perfectly intact several decades later. The stone wall on the far side of the drive, built a year after the first, is even better. “I got better,” Stoney brags.

When asked how many stone walls he’s built, he curses “Jeeger Crigger,” and lists locations and names rather than numbers: “Montkton, Ferrisburgh, Long Point [in Charlotte], Colchester, Huntington, Camel’s Hump, Art Clifford’s Pond, Jack and Jane Handy, Paul Casey’s Elk Farm, the library, the elementary school…”

Stoney does dry stone wall construction, and usually uses rocks found on the property. “I don’t like mortar,” he says, “I’m not good with it. It looks pretty, but I just like it natural.” He often worked with others “I liked to pick on someone who is doin’ walls and get him goin’.'” His son ‘Ricky’ is a stone mason, there are some stone mason nephews as well. He rambles off a list of names of young stone masons he admires “David Newton, the Place Boys, Mike and Glen, the Russell boy near Lantman’s, …I like to see other walls…that kid can do it. He can pick a rock, boy.”

The walls Stoney makes are perfectly balanced and last for generations. I asked him how he picks his rocks. He shrugs: “You just see it and just do it. Sometimes split stone along the vein…that’s fun.” He did not mention a family heritage of stone masonry (the name Mason must come from somewhere), he did not mention an eye for balance and symmetry, he did not even mention his work at the White House, but he did talk about his great love of Vermont.

And then he started telling stories about his grandmother, born in Williston, daughter to a Civil War veteran. One story involved 21 grandchildren and their chamber pots. Ask him sometime, it is quite a cute story, really.

image credit: www.vmls.org

Vermont Bridges are falling down, falling down, falling down…Between the ravages of Hurricane Irene and the insult of Tropical Storm Lee, Vermont roadways have taken a beating.There were 166 road and bridge closures due to flooding; 450 miles of state highway were closed. Several covered bridges were damaged, one was almost washed away.

But there is some good news on the transportation horizon: the new Champlain Bridge is up! An historic and critical link between New York and Vermont at Crown Point, the bridge was initially opened in August of 1929. The opening ceremony was attended by the governors of New York and Vermont, 40,000 people, and a huge parade.

The Grand Reopening Celebration is slated for Saturday and Sunday, May 19-20, 2012. Event specifics will be announced in the spring by the Lake Champlain Bridge Community.

Construction of the new bridge is nearing completion. The aesthetic and structural focal point of the bridge, the arch span, was built off-site and towed by tugboats to the bridge location where it was lifted into place, 82 years to the day after the bridge’s original grand opening. The 900-ton, 402 foot long arch span was hoisted into place 75 feet over the water using stand jacks, a cable lifting system that uses hydraulic rams (cyclic water pumps) to slowly lift heavy loads. The lift took several hours and was attended by enthusiastic history buffs and picnickers from both sides of the Lake.

image credit: www.nysdot.gov

Today Julia Child is honored on her birthday. In gourmet kitchen across Vermont, the US and the world, we have learned to julienne, brunoise, flambé, gratiné, braise, carmalize, sauté and make Mirepoix thanks to her.

Celebrated across continents, satirized across television channels, immortalized in movies, Julia Child inspired us all to love life and take chances (especially in the kitchen). She has influenced the way we eat and the way we think about food.

According to Julia, “Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music.”

Many of us in Vermont take her words to heart. Here are a couple terrific quotes in particular that inspire in the kitchen and in life:

“I think every woman should have a blowtorch.”

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a ‘What the hell?’ attitude.”

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook — try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

“Cooking is like love; it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”

“The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken. Bon appétit.”

From My Life in France, regarding her first French meal (sole meunière) shared with her husband Paul Child:

“It arrived whole:a large, flat Dover sole that was perfectly browned in a sputtering butter sauce with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top. The waiter carefully placed the platter in front of us,stepped back,and said:“Bon appètit!” I closed my eyes and inhaled the rising perfume. Then I lifted a forkful of fish to my mouth, took a bite, and chewed slowly. The flesh of the sole was delicate, with a light but distinct taste of the ocean that blended marvelously with the browned butter. I chewed slowly and swallowed. It was a morsel of perfection.”

This is the way we recommend savoring the summer in Addison County. Thank you, Julia.

At a recent event at Greensboro‘s Lake View Inn, my friends Bronwyn Dunne (In the Kitchen with Bronwyn) and her step-mother Judith Jones (Julia Child’s editor at Knopf) organized a Bastille Day weekend called Julia Child and the Art of Mastering French Cooking. It was a huge success (80 plus paying people). Their next event will be at the same wonderful place, in October.

credits: alextrenoweth.com, goodreads.com, journalnow.net, thephoenix.com

Stop thinking about beautiful hills! Think about early childhood literacy and free books for Addison County’s preschool-aged kids.

Addison County Readers, in association with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, is bringing books and kids together. The free program mails new books each month to kids all over Addison County.

Age-appropriate books are selected each year by a national committee  of representatives from the Parents as Teachers National Center, the International Reading Association, the University of Tennessee, Rutgers University, and the teaching profession.

The first book in the series is “The Little Engine that Could.” After that, participating children receive a new book each month. New titles are introduced each year so younger kids will not receive the same books as their older siblings.

The most important rule parents must follow to participate in the program is that they must read to their child.

Many children’s literacy advocates claim that Reading children’s stories aloud in the home is THE single most important activity for future success. Some of the greatest benefits of reading to young children are:

• Strong relationships
• Academic Excellence
• Basic Speech Skills
• Better Communication Skills

Started in her home county in Tennessee, the Imagination Library has been fostering a love of reading in preschoolers since 1996. In 2000, in front of the National Press Club, in Washington D.C., Dolly Parton announced the launch of her program nationwide. Soon after that, the program was made available in the UK.

Learn more about the organization or become a contributor. Click here to enroll a child or bring the Imagination Library to your community.

For local information contact:

Addison County Readers, Inc.
75 Main Street , Middlebury VT 05753
802-388-4097

Country music fans take note: Dolly Parton is really a rock star!

When it’s 85 degrees in Vermont, the beautiful rolling hills of Addison County can feel like the Sahara Dessert. But our sweaty little county is dotted with oases: secret, and not-so-secret swimming holes. To find these bastions of bathing bliss, you’ve got to think like a local, a local quadruped that is.

The guide books will tell you all about the more popular swimming holes like Bolton’s Pot Holes and  Bristol Falls (pictured above), but you’ll have to follow your instincts to find the secluded spots where you can enjoy Vermont’s time-honored tradition of skinny dipping. Please note: Patrick Leahy is a known advocate of skinny dipping; John Quincy Adams and Calvin Coolidge are rumored to have also bathed unclad.

Here’s how to find a good swimming hole: use your sense of adventure and the topography of the land. Many of the  highways and roads in Vermont, especially the East/West routes, follow the river valleys. For example, River Road in Lincoln follows the New Haven River, State’s Prison Hollow Road in Starksboro follows Lewis Creek. Use a map and follow these river roads up hill. As you drive along, you’ll see unmarked pull-offs and paths. Jack pot! In my experience, the best, coldest and most private swimming holes are near the head waters.

As far as swimming goes, use your best swim safety skills:

• NEVER dive into unknown waters.  Don’t even jump unless you have checked the depth in the immediate place you are jumping.
• DON’T ever swim alone.
• DON’T drink and swim.
• NEVER try to fight swiftly moving water that is above your knees. Go with the flow; relax and float on your back, point your feet downstream and float them on the surface (your butt may take some bumps, but your feet won’t get caught). When the current slackens, make your way to shore.

Here is the skinny on nude bathing from the 1971 Attorney General (Patrick Leahy). As far as we know, these guidelines are still valid:

1. In public areas (e.g. North Beach in Burlington) and semi-public areas: Nude bathing is not acceptable. In such instances, the officer receiving the complaint should order the person to dress. Failure to stay clothed should result in a summons to Court.

2. On private land out of view of the public: The State has no legitimate interest and swimmers should be left alone.

3. In secluded areas sometimes publicly used (e.g. rivers, swimming holes, etc.): If no member of the public present is offended, no disorderly conduct has taken place. If members of the public (e.g. families wishing to use the swimming area) complain, then proceed as in No.1 above.

Here are some riverfront properties in Bristol.

This Starksboro property, The Mill House on State’s Prison Hollow Road, has waterfalls and three swimming holes on the property! Wear whatever you like!

Here is a great book on New England waterfalls (this site also has a great list of waterfalls by state):

image credit: www.greenopia.com

Vermont summer is all about the birds and the bees. Now that the sun is out, the kids have graduated, fathers have been feted and the state is rich with vibrant color, it is appropriate that we stop to take a look at the little ones that make it all possible. Not those little ones…

Of course I’m referring to the pollinators of the luscious gardens of Addison County, the messengers from the stamen to the pistil: bees, butterflies, flies, moths, humming birds, even bats.

When animals pollinate plants, it’s pure chance. Pollination is not their goal, they are looking for treats like pollen and nectar. As they dine, they often bump against the stamen and get pollen all over themselves. As they move from meal to meal, they bring that pollen with them – et voila, pollination occurs! To attract more visitors, flowers that rely on animals for pollination are beautiful and smell wonderful.

TED recently featured an amazing video capturing pollinators on the job: Pollination: it’s vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film “Wings of Life,” inspired by the vanishing of one of nature’s primary pollinators, the honeybee. (www.ted.com)

Here are some examples of Addison County’s beautiful gardens.The images below don’t do too much for the senses, you’ll have to visit these gardens in person. But do click on each image for complete property details.

This secret garden in Vergennes is one of my favorites. It is right in the middle of town and yet it’s worlds away…	This Panton home on Lake Road, features breathtaking gardens and views. 10+ acres and 217 ft of lakefront.	Rolling hills, pond, gardens and pastures on 115 acres in Lincoln. Guthrie Road

Recommended Reading:
The Vermont Garden Journal
The Vermont Gardener

image credit: riffle.blogspot.com