Striking gold in Vermont

Bennington, Vt.

My favorite vignette from my recent trip to Vermont was watching the man on his hands and knees in the Vermont Country Store in Weston. He was wielding a long stick, in hot pursuit of a baby chipmunk that was making a dash for the candy counter. Earlier the little intruder had been spotted with a peppermint patty in its tiny jaws.

It was so Norman Rockwell, but that’s not why I came here.

My mission was twofold: to write about the best routes to see Vermont’s fall foliage and to visit some of the state’s cheese makers. (See Page 12.) It was early September, and the green hills were already punctuated with great splotches of red, amber and gold.

Temperature and rainfall help dictate the best time for leaf-peeping -- and even then it’s a guessing game -- but the show has usually started in the northern part of the state by now and in the south is just getting underway.

After flying into Burlington and staying overnight at the Willard Street Inn (a far happier choice than the Radisson downtown), I set off to find the cheese makers in the south. Starting at Brattleboro, I drove State Route 9, the Molly Stark Trail, a scenic two-lane highway that climbs over Hogback Mountain and through the Green Mountain National Forest, 40 miles to Bennington. It’s named for the wife of Gen. John Stark, whose New Hampshire Militia defended against the Redcoats at Bennington in 1777. She was a spunky woman who nursed the wounded in a makeshift hospital in the family barn. I detoured through wooded Molly Stark State Park, prime leaf-peeping territory where leaves were already turning. The ranger told me to climb the fire tower, from which one can see 100 miles. “It looks like the whole woods is on fire,” he said.

The pretty town of Wilmington, with its restored 18th and 19th century buildings, shops, restaurants and antiques stores, is a good midpoint stop.

Primitive charm

In Bennington, I headed for the Bennington Museum, where a whole room is devoted to the Martin car. There sits the only existing Martin Wasp 221, a sporty six-cylinder four-door 1920s touring car with red leather seats. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. paid $5,000 for one and had it shipped to Hollywood, but, alas, the Bennington-based car maker produced fewer than 20 Wasps before it foundered.

The museum’s piece de resistance is its Grandma Moses Gallery. The late-blooming but prolific primitive artist lived nearby, and the museum has the largest public collection of her work.

I loved the legends posted with the paintings, such as: “Grandma did not allow geographical accuracy to hinder her creativity.” While her winter scenes fetched big prices, Grandma once told Life magazine, “People would be better off buying chickens.”

From Bennington, I drove the 7A north to Manchester, notable primarily for its upscale outlet stores. Here, roads come together in what locals call “malfunction junction,” but I managed to find my way onto the 30S through Green Mountain National Forest, winding up on a dirt road. (Vermont has lots of dirt roads, many well maintained and not treacherous.) It led through a pretty glade into Newfane, a gem of a village with pristine white buildings. I would love to return.

In the morning I had time to poke around nearby Grafton before an appointment at Grafton Village Cheese Co. About half of its meticulously restored 19th century buildings are owned by the philanthropic Windham Foundation, which brought the village back to life. It may be a bit of a museum, but it’s gorgeous. I poked my head into the Old Tavern, which opened in 1801, but lunch wasn’t being served.

My next date with a cheese maker was two days later in Londonderry, so I had an afternoon to do more leaf-scouting on my way to West Townshend, where I had booked two nights at the Windham Hill Inn.

I’d been a little too ambitious and, poking around on minor roads after dark, managed to get quite nicely lost and limped in about 11 p.m. I was shown to the West room in the White Barn, the inn’s delightful annex (and the only barn I know of with a brass chandelier). The upstairs room was cozy and bright, with a fireplace. The barn, whose main room serves as a lobby for the bedrooms, is a trove of farm antiques. It was great fun.

On principle, I’d decided I would not stay in Woodstock or Stowe, reasoning that there must be less-hyped pretty villages -- and there are. But I’ll confess that I did drive to Woodstock for a peek. It is undeniably chic and cute, with its little stream and covered bridge, but I’d hate to be there when the tour buses descend.

I fell in a big way for Quechee, a village just east of Woodstock. I lunched at the Simon Pearce Restaurant, a stunning brick-walled room in a former woolen mill overlooking the Ottauquechee River. It’s popular, but if there’s a wait you’re handed a beeper and are free to browse the Simon Pearce pottery and glass showrooms. You may even see glassblowers at work.

Nearby, 165-foot-deep Quechee Gorge is Vermont’s version of the Grand Canyon and worth a peek from the bridge on Highway 4. Quechee Gorge Village has a huge antiques mall and a Christmas shop with dizzying displays of Santas and elves.

For my next overnight I chose Weston, close to Londonderry and the cozy Inn at Weston. This pretty village is best known for its summer theater and for the Vermont Country Store, a rambling emporium selling goods as varied as long johns and licorice. I bought a gizmo that you chill and wrap around your neck like a scarf to keep you cool. I had no occasion to use it, though; the Vermont weather was sunny and in the high 70s to low 80s.

By now I had determined that there are many “best” leaf-peeping routes, as I found hillsides brushed with color everywhere I drove. Those dirt roads often paid big dividends. And trees aren’t obstructed by billboards, which are banned in Vermont. I was told not to miss Route 100, which meanders north to south, border to border.

“All of 100 is fantastic” for fall foliage, agreed Chris Fogg, vice president of travel and tourism for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

I picked up the 100 at Weston and followed it through Plymouth Union (nearby Plymouth Notch is the birthplace of Calvin Coolidge) and through scenic twists and turns in the Green Mountain National Forest to the one-mile turnoff to Warren, a sweet village on the Mad River.

A clerk at Warren Store told me the river was so named because it flows north. (If I had paid attention in geography class, I’d have known that most rivers don’t.) He added, “It’s anything but mad, except in the spring, when the snow melts.” The store has a nice cafe with a terrace overlooking a brook and, on the upper floor, an upscale clothing boutique.

Across the street stands the Pitcher Inn. If I had made that new list of the Forbes 400, I’d be staying there now. The inn, which overlooks a stream, has 11 elegant themed rooms and suites, a library and a common room with massive stone fireplace -- but the Madonna Inn it is not. The manager showed me several rooms, including the Mallard, where a Canada goose is suspended from the blue-sky ceiling and guests are enveloped in a high-style duck blind.

After Montpelier, the capital, about 90 miles north of Weston (where I checked into the adequate but not memorable Montpelier Inn), and Cabot for the Cabot Creamery, I drove to Waterbury for lunch at the Mist Grill, in a converted gristmill overlooking Thatcher Brook Falls. Remnants of the old mill remain, including giant tree trunks that once supported a 2-ton grindstone.

And I couldn’t resist Vermont’s No. 1 tourist attraction, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory, where tours are offered every 15 minutes, seven days a week, through late October. Our group followed our guide into the Cow Over the Moon Theater to see a short “moovie” retelling the tale of childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield and how they built an empire starting with a $5 correspondence course and a small shop in a Burlington gas station. (A European conglomerate that also owns Slim-Fast now owns the company.)

You don’t really see much on the $3, 30-minute tour, except pints of ice cream rolling down a conveyor belt. But it was fun to learn about “dearly departed flavors,” including top flop sugar plum. We sampled Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cherry Garcia (the top sellers), and I won a cone by being first to answer a question about the movie we’d just seen.

From Waterbury, I took off for Stowe, home to the Trapp Family Lodge and very Alpine. I was all but yodeling as I drove through, past chalet-themed lodges, then to the causeway to the Lake Champlain Islands. The setting sun was amazing, a great ball of red.

From my windowside dinner table at North Hero House, on the lake in the hamlet of North Hero, I watched a full moon shining on the water. This is a different Vermont, with its apple orchards and little boat harbors. I checked out the great general store, Hero’s Welcome, and drove past the summer home of Herrmann’s Royal Lipizzan Stallions, which put on shows here through late August.

The next morning I drove about 30 minutes north to Alburg, close by the Canadian border, to visit Lakes End Cheeses.

Before returning to Burlington the next day, I continued south on Highway 7 to nearby Shelburne, home of the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. Waiting for the tour, I browsed among the Superman bears, bride and groom bears, biker bears and Holstein bears. (All but the premium bears now are made in China.) Having paid our $2, about 35 of us followed the guide and the paw prints on the floor into the factory. One machine presses bear parts out of a huge bolt of bear “fur” and another shoots polyfill at 120 mph into bear bodies. A fun tour.

A shoreline cruise

Back in Burlington, I caught the 4 p.m. sailing of the Spirit of Ethan Allen III, a 500-passenger cruise ship, for a 90-minute spin around Lake Champlain, home to a legendary Loch Ness-type monster known as Champ. There were no Champ sightings on this trip, but we did see New York’s Adirondacks bathed in haze and sailed past Valcour Island, where in 1776 Benedict Arnold led a U.S. fleet into battle against the Brits.

With a full day in Burlington before catching my plane, I headed first for Church Street Marketplace, a lively pedestrian mall with restaurants and shops, and people-watched over lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes. I then drove back to Shelburne to see Shelburne Farms and the Shelburne Museum.

The 1,400-acre Shelburne Farms was developed in the 1880s by William Seward Webb and his wife. It is now a nonprofit environmental education site, its focal point a spectacular Norman-style barn that houses a cheese factory. Admission ($6) includes a ride in a tractor-pulled wagon. It’s beautiful and pastoral (grounds laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, who helped create New York’s Central Park), but unless you have small children who would get a kick out of activities such as brushing a donkey or milking a cow, I think the nearby Shelburne Museum is time better spent.

The museum, sometimes called Vermont’s Smithsonian, is a showcase of 18th through 21st century Americana. The 45-acre complex comprises 39 buildings, many of which -- including a meetinghouse, a general store, a jail and a Lake Champlain lighthouse -- were moved here from throughout New England. The museum also is home to the side-wheel steamship Ticonderoga, which now plies a green lawn. Galleries house paintings by Monet and Degas, as well as quilts, carriages and farm tools. Visitors should plan to spend half a day. Tickets cost $17.50. The museum closes for the season Oct. 26.

Returning my rental car at Burlington airport, I was astonished to find that I had logged 1,500 miles in a state that is only 160 miles long and 80 miles wide. I didn’t see as many flame-colored leaves as I might have wished, but I did see some spectacular scenery. And I brought home a teddy bear.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Of color and cows in Vermont

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, connecting service (change of plane) to Burlington is available on United, US Airways, Continental, Delta and Northwest. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $326.

WHERE TO STAY:

Four Columns Inn, 21 West St., Newfane 05345; (800) 787-6633, fax (802) 365-0022, www.fourcolumnsinn.com. Charming 16-room inn on the green with bucolic, wooded setting. Tastefully decorated suites have double-sided fireplaces between bedroom and bath. Outstanding chef. Room rates, including buffet breakfast, $125-$340.

Windham Hill Inn, 311 Lawrence Drive, West Townshend 05359; (800) 944-4080, fax (802)874-4702, www.windhamhill.com. A bit hard to find but worth the search. Lovely 21-room inn on 160 acres with inviting public spaces (and no TV). Choose a room in the White Barn. Excellent dining. Room rates, including full breakfast, $170-$345.

North Hero House, 3643 Route 2, North Hero 05474; (888) 525-3644, fax (802) 372-3218, www.northherohouse.com. In Lake Champlain islands. Lakefront 26-room inn and fine restaurant. Try to book a room with screened porch in one of the buildings right on the water. Rates, including full breakfast, $95-$295.

The Pitcher Inn, 275 Main St., Warren 05674; (888) 867-4824, fax (802) 496-6354, www.pitcherinn.com. This Relais & Chateaux hotel is both whimsical and elegant, with 11 luxurious “themed” rooms. Rates $330-$660, including breakfast. (Or stop by for dinner; entrees $24-$34.)

WHERE TO EAT:

All of the above have dining rooms open to the public. Other good choices:

Simon Pearce Restaurant, The Mill, Main Street, Quechee; (802) 295-1470. Terrific food in a pretty space next to Simon Pearce glass and pottery showrooms. Lunch and dinner daily. Dinner entrees about $19-$26.

Chef’s Table and Main Street Grill & Bar, 118 Main St., Montpelier; (802) 229-9202 (Chef’s Table), (802) 223-3188 (Grill). A teaching restaurant of the New England Culinary Institute. Advanced students cook for the pricier top-floor Chef’s Table, where dinner entrees are $21-$29. Dinner entrees at the Grill $9.50-$14.50.

Mist Grill, 92 Stowe St., Waterbury; (802) 244-8522. Lunch, dinner and Saturday and Sunday brunch served in a converted gristmill. Dinner entrees about $13-$23.

TO LEARN MORE:

For fall foliage, see Yankee magazine’s Web site, www.yankeefoliage.com.

Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, 6 Baldwin St., Drawer 33, Montpelier, VT 05633-1301; (800) VERMONT (837-6668) or (802) 828-3237, fax (802) 828-3233, www.vermontvacation.com.

-- Beverly Beyette