Past Meets Present in Middlebury

The Shelburne Museum, just a few miles north of this attractive college town between the Champlain Valley and the Green Mountains, offers 45 scenic acres crammed with 37 period homes, 200,000 pieces of American folk art and artifacts, 100 antique carriages and sleds, plus a Vermont round barn and the Ticonderoga, a 220-foot side-wheeler that once sailed Lake Champlain.

Down the road, Middlebury is a classic New England town with white church spires, cozy inns and 18th- and 19th-Century buildings spread out from the main square.

Getting here: Fly USAir, United or Continental to Burlington, Vt. From there it’s 34 miles south to Middlebury, with regular bus service.

How long/how much? Split three days between Middlebury and the Shelburne Museum, then add another three or four for the lovely towns and countryside of central Vermont’s Green Mountains. Lodging costs are moderate hereabouts, dining the same.

A few fast facts: Come any time from late spring through February. The winters are beautiful. March-April are New England’s notorious “mud months.”

Getting settled in: The Swift House Inn (25 Stewart Lane; $75 to $115 B&B; double) began life as a Federal-style family home in 1815, with a Victorian carriage house and additional rooms added in 1902. Wonderful antiques, carved-marble fireplaces and authentic period fixtures give Swift House an engaging feeling of early New England.

Owners John and Andrea Nelson are personable and enthusiastic innkeepers, making sure that your bedroom fireplace is stoked, the fully licensed bar stocked and three acres of lawns and gardens kept attractive. Andrea also supervises the chef’s evening meals.

The Middlebury Inn (main square; $76-$112 double) has been a town centerpiece since 1827 when it opened as the Vermont Hotel, replacing a 1794 tavern destroyed by fire. Bedrooms range in size and decor, most of them spacious and beautifully decorated. The downstairs lobby is roomy and comfortable, with lots of soft chairs and couches, but it’s more than a bit cluttered by far too many gifts and knickknacks for sale.

All meals are served at the inn, plus complimentary afternoon tea with sandwiches and pastries.

October Pumpkin B&B; (Vermont 125 on edge of town; $50-$65 double B&B;) makes a point of claiming that it’s “strictly country,” so we weren’t surprised to find apples drying on the kitchen stove during our visit. It’s a simple place with small bedrooms and tubs instead of showers, but there’s a strong Colonial-era feeling in the colorful bed coverings and walls hand-stenciled in New England fashion.

Waybury Inn (East Middlebury; $100-$115 B&B; double) began in 1810 as a coaching stop. Several years ago it became the model for Bob Newhart’s television show as a typical Vermont inn. There’s even an autographed photo of Daryl and his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl in the lobby.

Bedrooms are pleasantly furnished in Colonial style and all meals are served at the inn.

Regional food and drink: It’s difficult to make a strong case for native Vermont cooking having a unique character, yet there are a number of things done very well. Smoked ham, turkey and chicken are as good as we’ve had, and the state’s veal is tender and flavorful.

The variety of mushrooms (pleurotte, oyster, porcini, morel, cloud ear) seems endless, and numerous fresh berries are found in main dishes, desserts and pastries. Vermont’s cheeses (Cheddar, chevre, feta, Brie, ricotta, Camembert) had their genesis in farm kitchens years ago, and many go well with the state’s famed McIntosh and red Delicious apples.

Catamount is Vermont’s beer, and some say that Champlain chocolate truffles rival anything the Swiss can produce.

Good dining: The Dog Team Tavern just outside town is early New England eclectic in decor, with a fireplace, spinning wheels and the like. Locals, particularly students from Middlebury College, are drawn here by the renowned sticky buns. The down-home menu spans chops, fresh seafood, baked ham and country-fried chicken.

Otter Creek Cafe, on Otter Creek, is a new addition to Middlebury’s dining scene since our last visit. It’s small, bright and country rustic, with wildflowers on tables. Or you can dine outside on a deck beside the creek.

The menu is anything but rustic, with breast of pheasant stuffed with red lentils and an oyster-mushroom-Madeira sauce, saddle of rabbit roasted with fennel and a mustard-cream sauce, and scaloppini of veal with rosemary and almonds. Classical music makes a perfect background for the classic food.

Owners of the Swift House Inn bought the place because they loved to cook and entertain. Now they have chef Martin Holzberg, who does wondrous things with a menu that includes lobster and spinach en croute , swordfish with raspberry hollandaise, and crusty maple chicken breast marinated in the state’s famous syrup.

You can also order French and California wines by the bottle or glass, and the desserts are fabulous.

On your own: Start with at least half a day at the Shelburne Museum, which, in addition to the Americana collection, has a formidable array of paintings by Monet, Degas, Manet, Corot, El Greco and Mary Cassatt. Then get back to Americana by viewing the hundreds of cigar-store Indians and handmade quilts of bygone years.

Back in Middlebury, the Frog Hollow Craft Center is sponsored by the state and contains an exquisite collection of furniture, pottery, pewter, forged iron, glass and other artifacts produced by more than 250 artisans from throughout Vermont. Traditional or contemporary, everything is for sale here.

Horse folks will enjoy a visit to the University of Vermont’s Morgan Horse Farm (May through October) outside town, with more than 70 registered stallions, mares and foals.

Then stop by the Sheldon Museum in town, an 1829 marble merchant’s house now displaying furniture by Vermont cabinet makers, plus antiques and kitchen ware from early Middlebury. There is also a collection of Victorian dolls.

For more information: Call the Vermont Travel Division at (802) 828-3236, or write (134 State St., Montpelier 05602) for a brochure on Middlebury, an 88-page “Vermont Traveler’s Guidebook,” a map of Vermont and a brochure on the Shelburne Museum.