Archive for the 'Living in Vermont' Category

Lake Champlain played a major role in quenching the thirsts of millions of Americans. Not as a water source, but as a passageway. Lake Champlain has always been a thoroughfare for commerce. The opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823 gave Vermont access to New York City and launched us into the participation in the national economy. Timber, stone, iron, and agricultural surplus made their way up and down the Lake. During Prohibition, Canadian whiskey was the cargo of choice for many a boatman.

The ratification of the 18th Amendment took the wind out of many sails, but the more daring entrepreneurs of the era found some excitement on Lake Champlain. Its geography, number of inlets, islands and bays made Lake Champlain the perfect highway for smuggling booze. The lake became such a popular passageway for liquor, the law also learned to use its geography to their advantage. Because many Vermont smugglers could not afford the speed boats that could outrun the law, they had to be more stealthy – traveling by night or during inclement weather. Canoes, skiffs and iceboats were popular vehicles for bootleggers on Lake Champlain.

Though the Northern part of the Lake and the Inland Sea saw most of the action, North Hero in particular,

Filling small boats with Canadian whiskey, the bootleggers would motor down from Quebec through the Inland Sea, or Northeast Arm, section of the lake, past the Champlain Islands. Larger, faster U.S. patrol boats would often lie in wait. The bootleggers would counter by speeding west toward North Hero Island, lightening their boats by tossing the evidence—the liquor—overboard, and escaping to the Carry, a North Hero portage just a few feet wide that divides the Northeast Arm from the Broad, or main lake, to the west. The bootleggers could lift their smaller boats over the Carry and escape from the feds into the Broad Lake. (from Discover Magazine)

the Southern part of the lake provided some great vantage points for keeping tabs on the whereabouts of the boat patrols. The Lake Champlain Bridge at Crown Point was perfectly situated for a good view of the on-water traffic below.

Imagine what residents saw from this lakefront property on Arnold Bay. The views of the lake from this Panton Vermont home built in 1926 inspire all kinds of images. The multiple chimneys, guest house and Mother-in-law apartment would have made great places for hiding a few cases.

image credit: xpda.com

Vermont is famous for excellent food, crafts and craft brewed beer. This is part reaction against mass production part love of gourmet, local food, handmade products, and Beer. Vermont has a higher number of craft breweries per capita than any other state. More than 12 percent of beer sold in Vermont is brewed in-state. This is because people in Vermont have a huge loyalty to Vermont products and Vermont beer is just better.

MSNBC listed Burlington as the fourth best beer city in the world behind Amsterdam, Berlin, and Brugge in 2006. This would make it the best in The United States. Burlington is the best in some ways, but I love the alliteration of “Middlebury the Mecca” of  Vermont craft beers. And Otter Creek does make a great beer.

There are two types of breweries in Vermont regional and micro. The American Brewers Association defines a “craft brewery” or microbrewery as “small, independent and traditional”. These brewers brew less than 6,000,000 barrels per year. A regional brewery is one that supplies beer to a fixed geographic location (makes sense).

As a Halloween treat, I thought I’d compile a list of breweries and link to great local properties for sale nearby, as one should never drink and drive.

The Alchemist Cannery – Waterbury, Vermont
Fiddlehead Brewing – Shelburne, Vermont
Harpoon Brewery – Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, largest plant in Windsor, Vermont
Hill Farmstead Brewery – Greensboro Bend, Vermont
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Warren, Vermont
Long Trail Brewing Company – Bridgewater, Vermont
Magic Hat Brewing Company – South Burlington, Vermont – Owned by North American Breweries – Rochester, New York
Otter Creek Brewing – Middlebury, Vermont (also produces Wolaver’s Certified Organic Ales brand) – Owned by Long Trail Brewing – Bridgewater, Vermont
Rock Art Brewery – Morrisville, Vermont
Switchback Brewery – Burlington, Vermont
Brewery at Trapp Family Lodge – Stowe, Vermont
Trout River Brewing – Lyndonville, Vermont
Northshire Brewery – Bennington, Vermont

According to Vermont Business People Magazine: Catamount Brewing Co. in Windsor became Vermont’s first microbrewery when it opened in 1986, followed by The Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington in 1988, and Long Trail Brewing Co. in Bridgewater Corners and Otter Creek Brewing Inc. in Middlebury, both started in 1989. Magic Hat Brewing Co. of Burlington joined the fray in 1994.

There is something about this beer video that reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live skit about Julia Child, but you get the picture.

Back in the day, Vermont was perfectly suited to Prohibition-era smuggling and adventure. Our proximity to Canada, where alcohol was enjoyed legally, and our rugged rural terrain made our little state prime bootlegging territory. In 1920 when Prohibition went into effect, Vermont’s population was 350,000. There were only 2,500 federal agents enforcing the law nationally, their eyes were focused on bigger prizes like Chicago and Detroit.

Suffice it to say that Vermont was not quite as dry as other states at the time. With some ingenuity and two fabulous waterways bordering Canada, Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, plenty of glasses clinked in Vermont during the 1920′s, though not many fortunes were made. Like the characters is Howard Frank Mosher’s Disappearances, a novel about Prohibition-era Vermont, many Vermonters who became involved in rum-running were struggling farmers fighting to keep life and limb together. They were essentially good people who needed a little extra money.

One ironic legacy from this era is the powder room, or ladies toilet. Before Prohibition, drinking was a gender segregated activity. During Prohibition, caution was tossed to the winds and men and women imbibed together publicly. But of course they could not answer nature’s call together, that would be unseemly.

The sudden (and welcomed) influx of women into the Speakeasy necessitated the speedy construction of bathrooms just for the ladies. These facilities were usually built under stairs or in unoccupied corners of the establishment. These half baths were called powder rooms…for the girls. The irony is that the Anti-Saloon League, the greatest proponent of Prohibition, was organized to protect women and children from their drunken husbands and fathers. Instead it earned them a little privacy and respect in the saloon.

We can vicariously enjoy this dynamic history through the great Vermont historic homes built before 1920. If only the walls could talk…

Cheers!

image credit: http://www.diffordsguide.com

Hurricane Irene has had a powerful effect on Vermont. While it may not have spawned a new musical genre as Katrina did in New Orleans, it did rock us. While rivers changed course and roads disappeared, volunteer organizations and relief efforts banded Vermonters together. Organizations sprang up online (Vermont Strong, VT Irene Flood Relief Fund, VT Response) and Vermonters rallied.

While some Vermonters are moving back into their homes, others are still in limbo. Phish, Vermont’s Burlington-born band made a huge impact on flood recovery efforts. All the proceeds from their concert last night (their first in Vermont in seven years) will benefit Vermont flood relief efforts. This total approaches one million dollars.

The publicity surrounding the Champlain Valley Exposition Phish event made me wonder about the welfare of a significantly less visible aspect of Vermont culture: fish. Specifically, trout.

How did these fish fare after Irene? As it turns out, Vermont trout are as resilient as Vermont people. Trout have adapted very well over the millennia; spring flooding is part of their normal, natural cycle.

Trout hide. The ferocity of the surface waters of streams and rivers during such flooding belies the calm deep beneath. Fish find refuge close to the river bottom where the slow flow of water allows them to stay safe during high water events.The biggest threat to fish is often the recovery work that takes place after these storms. According to Drew Price at Orvis News:

There is an erroneous opinion that many folks share that dredging a river, removing obstacles, and straightening it will help to make flooding less dangerous in the future. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dredging and straightening rivers simply moves the water faster downstream, causing more intense flooding. Removal of in-stream materials, such as boulders and logs, also intensifies downstream flooding and removes critical habitat….This kind of human activity will have much greater long-term effects on fish populations than the flooding will. In many cases, this flooding has improved some degraded habitats. Some previously silted areas are now cleaned, pools have been scoured deeper, and much needed woody debris has been deposited into rivers.

He notes that while some favorite fishing spots have changed dramatically, the trout are rising again and the rivers are slowly clearing. When left to their natural cycles, it looks like Vermont rivers, like fish, Phish and Vermonters themselves, will rally, too.

image credits: ticketsinventory.com, pond.dnr.cornell.edu

This is the Bartonsville Bridge before the storm.

Covered bridges are iconic Vermont, hurricanes are not. If your power is back on and you’ve looked at YouTube since the unprecedented passage of Hurricane Irene through our Green Mountain State , you’ll know that we are a few covered bridges short this week.

According to  Governor Shumlin (quoted on DisaterSafety.org), “We prepared for the worst and we got the worst in central and southern Vermont…We have extraordinary infrastructure damage,” including power outages, communities cut off, hundreds of road closures, and the loss of at least three historic covered bridges (Bartonsville, Quechee, and Rockingham).

The is the Bartonsville Bridge after the storm.

There have been only eight hurricanes in the past century that created notable damage in Vermont, none as catastrophic as Irene. The New York Times is calling Irene the 10th costliest storm ever recorded. The Federal Government has declared a state of Emergency in Vermont and FEMA Director Craig Fugate is expected to survey damage in the state today. 30 state-owned bridges of all types were closed because of damage and access to more than a dozen towns was cut off.

The Governor promises to rebuild roads and bridges – including covered bridges. I’m not sure if history can be rebuilt, but it can be preserved. As unbelievable as it seems today, Vermont covered bridges have fared worse. The 1927 flood demolished about half of the state’s then-200 covered bridges. This demolition lead, in part, to historic preservation plans, bridge organizations, and committees.

Today there are covered bridge restoration best practices, charters for the preservation of covered bridges, a National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, a local covered bridge society, and a covered bridge museum.

And then there is You Tube, preserving our most recent history. The following video might inspire you to contribute to Vermont’s historic preservation:

According to the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Plan, “Towns provide the best opportunities for continued stewardship of covered bridges. Partnerships between towns and the State of Vermont should be established to assure consistent application of appropriate preservation practices.”

Here are two properties within walking distance of historic covered bridges. It’s high time to get involved in the continued stewardship of Vermont’s covered bridges.

image credits: cleveland.com, flikr

Yes, Middlebury College is magnificent. It charges the entire state with a deep sense of culture, art, language and history. Yes the location is magnificent: minutes to Burlington, slightly more minutes to Montreal, hours to New York and Boston. Yes, Vermont is the most beautiful state in the union; the Champlain Valley in particular is exquisite. But the very best reason to live in Middlebury is Saturday mornings in summer: The Middlebury Farmers Market!

Vermont’s best produce and baked goods are all here and they are gorgeous. About two-thirds of the vendors are local farmers selling perfect local produce – the colors will blow you away! The rest of the vendors sell art and Vermont crafts.

One artist in particular stood out: Kerry O. Furlani. She was at work carving stone under her 10×10 canopy. She is just back from studying stone carving in England and Wales. Her work has the mystical quality of dreams of Wales. Even her simple lettering on slate and marble is all Merlin and Dylan Thomas and sea cliffs. She carves terrific phrases like “Everything is Waiting for You,” and “Bless the Sheep.” All those phrases and ideas that are ‘not carved in stone’ really should be.

While I admired her work, there was a stir at the other end of the green. A Subaru station wagon was backing up into a crowd. It was Amos Baer of Good Companion Bakery, just outside of Vergennes. His bread is so spectacular, it sells out by 10:00 am. The line formed at the back of his car was like a cocktail party – happy people mingling.

His almond croissants are unbeatable. They are small and buttery and richly flavored without being too sweet. The Bakery and its companion farm, Boundbrook, grow their own wheat, harvest it with a team of horses, and bake it in a wood-fired oven. Their pain au levain and baguettes can not be beat.

The Middlebury Farmers Market operates May through October on Wednesdays and Saturdays with about 60 registered vendors in the historic Marble Works section of Middlebury village. It also operates as a winter market November through April inside the American Flatbread Restaurant at the Marble Works.

Every Vermont kid has dreamed of having a tree house. Some adults still do. It’s never too late to get started on that dream. Lincoln’s Zeno Mountain Farm, an organization that runs camps for ‘people with and without disabilities’, has brought tree houses and dreaming building to an art form.

Zeno Mountain Farm is a series of camps, including sports camps in Florida and California, an adventure camp in Guatemala, a film camp in Los Angeles, and summer and winter camps in Lincoln, Vermont. These camps are where dreams come true.

People of all ages and abilities are part of Zeno Mountain Farm including people with Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, law degrees, Autism, a love of art, teaching certificates, Cognitive Delay, carpentry skills, Williams Syndrome, a willingness to dance in public and Spina Bifida.

The wheel-chair accessible Vermont tree house shown above is the center piece of Zeno in Lincoln, where a month-long camp session brings 65 people together for pottery, dancing, music, acting, poetry, art, sports and adventures in the community. One of Zeno’s recent community adventures included the construction and exhibition of a winning float in the Bristol Fourth of July Parade.

Learn more about Zeno Mountain Farm and get inspired by the beautiful people in Chris Bohjalian’s recent article in the Burlington Free Press.

Then it’s time to start building. Here are a few Lincoln Vermont Properties with lots of acreage and trees – they might make it possible for you to fulfill your childhood dream of tree houses, or start an awesome foundation…

If you’re looking for traditional Vermont this July 4th, Addison County may be the very best place to celebrate, although Rutland County is a close second. Two Vermont towns in particular have terrific Independence Day events: Brandon and Bristol.

The Brandon 4th of July celebration is a no-holds-barred, town-wide party that lasts for days. As the town of Brandon website says it, “Let’s Party!” Brandon is 250 years old this year and the towns people are going to get down and boogie (literally, the July celebrations start with a street dance). Here’s the program:

July 1
6 PM-10 PM – Street Dance at Central Park

July 2
9 AM – Food and Crafts at Central Park, Karaoke in the Band Stand
10AM – Silent Auction
10AM-11 AM – High Peaks Juggling show in Green Park
1PM Parade starts at the top of Park Street
2:15 PM – 3:15 PM – Wildwood Bluegrass Band at Central Park
3PM The Great Brandon Ball Race at Green Park (there are prizes are $300, $200 and $100!)
6PM-  DJ, inflatables, food and crafts at Park Village
Dusk – Fireworks

The Brandon Fourth of July Parade claims to be the biggest in the state. It usually features floats, marching bands, antique cars, and of course a politician or two.

The Fourth of July celebrations in Bristol have a different tradition: outhouse races! The Great Outhouse Race (pictured above and below) is in its 33rd year. Kids racing today are the grandchildren of the winners of the original outhouse racers in the 1979 inaugural outhouse race. Each team has two runners and a throne sitter (reading materials optional). The World Champion Outhouse Racer wins a cash prize of $75.00.

image credit: http://www.travelpod.com

An unfortunate typo on a lovely poster...The title should be The Bridges of Addison County

Addison County is home to five of Vermont’s 100 iconic covered bridges: the Cornwall-Salisbury Covered Bridge, Pulp Mill Covered Bridge, Halpin Covered Bridge, Shoreham Covered Railroad Bridge, and the Spade Farm Covered Bridge. May is National Bike Safety Month (May 13 is National Bike Safety Week). The combination just cries out for a bike ride across some of these fantastic bridges.

Among the five, the Pulp Mill Covered Bridge is the most spellbinding. It is a two-lane covered bridge (one of only six left in the US) that hearkens back to the days of narrower vehicles (think buggy, not Hummer). Each time I drive over it I marvel. I’m anxious the bridge might not carry us all, and its slender width raises concern for my rear-view mirrors. But the bridge has carried us all over Otter Creek since 1820, I think we’re safe.

Another passage over Otter Creek, the Cornwall-Salisbury Covered Bridge is probably the most picturesque, though the Halpin is a close second. The Cornwall-Salisbury must be the best loved as it has the most names: the Station Bridge, Creek Road Bridge, Cedar Swamp Bridge and Salisbury Station Bridge. Built in 1865, the  Cornwall-Salisbury crosses the Otter from Cornwall to Salisbury, of course. The names Creek Road Bridge and Cedar Swamp Bridge seem much more descriptive, however.

The Halpin Bridge, on Halpin Road in Middlebury, spans a natural waterfall (in full force since the rains of April) and is the tallest bridge above a stream bed in Vermont. If you cross this bridge on your bike, and holler up to the beams, you can get a great echo. Something about this wonderful bridge inspires a good holler.

North Ferrisburg’s Shoreham Bridge was built by the Rutland Railroad company in 1897. It is used now as part of a hiking trail. The Spade Farm Bridge is privately owned. It was originally built in 1824 on Old Hollow Road. To protect it from modernization, the bridge was moved in 1959.

While I don’t currently have any Addison County properties near covered bridges, I can recommend several Middlebury homes that are just a short bike ride to downtown – one of them is even on Halpin Road!

You can take a virtual tour of Vermont covered bridges, but it is much more fun by bicycle. Download a map of Addison County covered bridges here. If Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep were really in love, they’d have taken bike rides over most of these bridges.

image credits: info.mymovies.ge, www.addisoncounty.com

Happy Senior Citizens...coming to a mother-in-law apartment near you.

Though so many of us who live in Vermont are young at heart, the Green Mountain State is not exempt from the demographics of an aging population.

The latest updates on the U.S. 2010 Census were just published and  the data points to significant growth in the 65+ population. The data also shows a record number of elderly parents are now living with their adult children.

According to Inside Elder Care, this number has surged by 62 percent in the last seven years.

This New Haven VT home has a wonderful second kitchen

This means that the Sandwich Generation (people responsible for bringing up their own children and for the care of their aging parents) is growing, even here in Vermont and the Northeast, where the population grew by only 3.2%. Seniors are healthier, living longer, and will soon make up 20% of the U.S. population. And more of them are moving in with their kids. There are currently more than 45 million households across the country providing care for an elderly family member.

This Cornwall home with a mother-in-law apartment is just 10 minutes from Middlebury

Elder care at home definitely presents challenges, including a loss of privacy for both the senior and the care-giver, but the benefits of home care often outweigh the disadvantages. Studies show that seniors living with family experience greater physical and well-being. Happier seniors have better lives. With the right housing, the whole family will benefit.

Lake views, four elegant bedrooms and a mother-in-law apartment above the carriage house, Bridport VT

This is where the Mother-In-Law apartment comes into play. Seniors are able to maintain some of their autonomy while remaining close enough to family to get the support they need. Care givers are able to maintain some semblance of the lifestyles they enjoyed before mom and dad moved in.

The mother-in-law apartment was added to this Bristol home in 2007

Planning ahead for such an eventuality is key. You could find yourself happily “Sandwiched in Addison County” in any of the mother-in-law properties on this page.

Click on each image for full property details.

Data sources: www.prb.org, boomermarketingnews.blogspot.com, www.mediastorm.com, www.insideeldercare.com, www.caregiver.com

Image credit: www.dailymail.co.uk