New England in a Word: Woodstock : Central Vermont’s lovingly preserved village is at its peak in the shoulder seasons of late summer and fall.

Even for outlanders (those of us not born in Vermont), images of the state--New England villages, churches around greens with tree-covered mountains in the distance--are part of our consciousness, fed by calendar pictures, elementary school textbooks and Hollywood films.

The town of Woodstock, in east-central Vermont, could have been built on the back lot of Universal Studios, it so closely matches the nostalgic pattern--from the village’s church spires, to its central green ringed with red-brick and white-frame Federal and Greek Revival homes, to the covered bridge spanning Ottauquechee River a block from the commons, all set amid the foothills of the Green Mountains.

I first came upon Woodstock about 25 years ago, in the mud season, that in-between time when the snow is mostly melted but the ground isn’t firm enough for farming or hiking. Even in these conditions, Woodstock had a charm that lured me back. I’ve been back six or seven times since then, including three visits in the last two years.

Unlike many northern New England destinations that come alive only in winter, Woodstock peaks in summer and fall. There are special charms to a late summer or autumn visit, with warm, low-humidity days and cool evenings, seemingly designed for hiking in the nearby Mt. Tom cross-country ski area, with its nearly 18 miles of former carriage roads, or simply strolling in the village.

Centerpiece of the green is the nationally known Woodstock Inn and Resort, owned by Laurance Rockefeller, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, who founded the Standard Oil companies. The Rockefeller connection to Woodstock is based on Laurance’s marriage in 1934 to Mary Billings French, granddaughter of Frederick Billings, a Woodstock native who was lured west by the Gold Rush.

But there has been an inn on this site since 1793, when Capt. Israel Richardson first offered travelers “bait and board” at his tavern. The current inn was built in 1969, replacing an 1892, Victorian-style Woodstock Inn that was torn down. Although I remember the old inn, the new one has more of a New England country feel, actually fitting into the scene better than the old one did. My last visit to the inn was last year, when I stayed in one of the less expensive rooms in the main part of the building, a good deal considering that all of the rooms have a certain charm and even the cheapest (about $125 a night) provides access to the Colonial-style hotel, with its large fieldstone fireplaces, library, lounge and two dining rooms. Impressionistic paintings of Woodstock by Arthur Wilder are displayed in public areas; Wilder studied under American realist painter Thomas Eakins, and also served for 38 years as manager of the old Woodstock Inn.

The 146-room Inn also has a par-69 golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, and a $5-million sports center with outdoor clay and composition tennis courts and indoor pool, racquetball and squash courts. (Bikers can rent bicycles at the sports center, and equestrians will find miles of trails, accessible from the stables of the Green Mountain Horse Assn. in nearby South Woodstock.)

Although the town of 3,500 is well known for its numerous bed and breakfasts, the focal point of resort life is the Inn. But the primary attraction in the area has to be the village itself, where it is almost impossible to resist a stroll. Counting both public buildings and private dwellings, there is more distinguished architecture here than in towns many times its size. Shoppers can browse through boutiques and galleries offering Vermont crafts, artworks, antiques, gifts and clothing--without a discount or national chain store in sight. There are four churches with bells from the early 1800s cast by the Paul Revere family foundry.

The best way to experience the small-town New England atmosphere is to get a map at the concierge desk at the Inn, or at the Chamber of Commerce booth on the green, and then walk leisurely around the green to the business district, then detour through side streets, taking time to visit the Woodstock Historical Society Museum, the Billings Farm and Museum, and the Raptor Center.

A recent self-designed walk I particularly liked took about two hours and covered about two miles: I began at the Woodstock Inn, heading east past the red brick and white trim of the Georgian-style Windsor County Courthouse, built in 1855. Next to it, the stone building in French Romanesque style is the Norman Williams public library. From the library, I crossed over U.S. 4, the main street (known here as Route 4), to Elm Street, also known as Vermont Route 12.

As one walks north on Elm Street, the fourth building on the left, built in 1808, used to be a combination dry goods store and home--and the birthplace of John Cotton Dana. Dana was founder of the American Library Assn., an advocate of museums “for the people,” and is considered the nation’s first professional librarian. Dana’s birthplace now houses the Woodstock Historical Society Museum, which preserves furniture, paintings and artifacts of the region’s past. Among them were a number of unusual items, such as the miniature models of kitchen appliances carried by traveling salesmen to show 19th-Century homemakers their wares, and elegantly simple devices, such as the wooden candle holder that could be ratcheted upward as candles burned down, maintaining illumination to read or work by without stopping to fetch more candles.

From the front of the museum, I turned left and continued north about 50 yards to the First Congregational Church. The white clapboard, Greek Revival church, built in 1840, has a bell by Paul Revere displayed on its south porch. The bell cracked in 1974, and was removed from the steeple to the porch. From the church, turn left and continue walking north for a little less than half a mile, then bear to the right and walk east for another 100 yards or so to the Billings Farm and Museum.

This agricultural museum and working farm features displays that show the hows and whys of hill-country farming in the last decade of the 19th Century. The farm manager’s 1890 house, office and creamery, all in the same building, are open to the public, as are dairy barns where visitors can watch Jersey cows being milked or calves frolicking in the barnyard. The museum, a project of Laurance Rockefeller’s Woodstock Foundation, is on part of the original Frederick Billings estate. After moving West, Billings, a lawyer, became California’s first attorney general, and later president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He returned to Woodstock in 1871, while still president of the railroad, and began importing Jersey cows from Britain’s Isle of Jersey.

Returning to town, turn right on River Street, the first street on the right, and walk through residential neighborhoods until you come to Mountain Avenue. Turn left and walk south across the sturdy wooden planks of the covered bridge, which has the feel of an old Vermont barn.

It was only built in 1969, however, and is the newest authentic covered bridge in northern New England. The village green and Woodstock Inn are straight ahead.

If you’re still feeling energetic, the Vermont Raptor Center is a two-mile round-trip walk. If you drive, the directions are the same: From the western edge of the green, cross over by the Episcopal church to steep Prospect Street, which turns into Church Hill Road, and follow that to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. VINS is an environmental education and research organization. Its Raptor Center (a raptor is a bird of prey) is a living museum housing 26 species of owls, hawks and eagles in outdoor habitats. The center treats injured birds and returns them to the wild; all the raptors on display have permanent injuries that prevent their release. Visitors also are welcome to walk on the marked nature trails that wend their way through the institute’s 77-acre nature preserve.

The reality of Woodstock is perhaps best summed up by a passage from the 1937 federal Works Progress Administration American Guide Series book on Vermont: “It is the village, which probably more than any other in Vermont has reverently preserved both the physical setting and the spiritual flavor of an earlier day . . . If Woodstock sometimes places sentiment above progress, if it is, as its rustic neighbors say, too smug in its own well-being, it is perhaps by these very tokens a microcosm of the state to which, culturally, intellectually, and politically it has contributed so much.” True 55 years ago, true today.

GUIDEBOOK

Taking Stock of Woodstock

Getting there: Woodstock is on U.S. 4, about 14 miles west of the White River Junction exit off Interstate 91, 260 miles north of New York City, 150 miles northwest of Boston and 90 miles southeast of Burlington.

The airport at Lebanon, N.H., about 15 miles east of Woodstock, is served by Northeast Airlines and Delta Business Express. The larger airport at Burlington, Vt., is served from LAX by United, USAir, Delta, Continental and Northwest.

Amtrak trains from Washington, D.C., and New York City on their daily runs to Montreal, Quebec, stop at White River Junction. Taxis and rental cars are available there, and at Lebanon and Burlington. There is one car rental agency in Woodstock.

Vermont Transit buses (telephone 802-864-6811) serve Woodstock from New York City via Rutland or White River Junction, and from Boston and other points in New York and New England.

Where to stay: The Woodstock Inn and Resort (14 The Green, Woodstock, Vt. 05091, tel. 802-457-1100 for information, 800-448-7900 for reservations) has a wide variety of plans. Basic rate for a double room is $125-$245. Entrees in the formal dining room are $12-$25, less in the Eagle Cafe.

The Jackson House Inn, an upscale bed and breakfast (37 Route 4 West, Woodstock, Vt. 05091, tel. 802-457-2065) is about a mile west of the Green. About $130 for a double; no smoking.

For more information: Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, 18 Central St., Woodstock, Vt. 05091, tel. (802) 457-3555.

Vermont Raptor Center, Church Hill Road, tel. (802) 457-2779, is open every day but Tuesdays year-round, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; admission, adults $5, children $1.

Woodstock Historical Society Museum, 26 Elm St., tel. (802) 457-1822, is open May through October, weekdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sundays 2-5 p.m. Adults $3.50, seniors $2.50, youths $1.