Our Vermont Travelblog

Trip 12 - Westford And Williston

It is the dawning of a new age: the Post-Cairo Era.  I had to take Mexico to the vet this afternoon, and since I'm abandoning him at a kennel for the first time tomorrow (his usual sitters are otherwise preoccupied), I decided to take the opportunity to spend some quality time and start the 251 Club anew.

I left Mex off-leash in the town green, which might have been a mistake because he really wanted to go play with the wolf hound and other dogs across the road.  I guess that's a typical conflict in Father-Son events, eh?

I took a meandering path to the vet by going the back way to PetSmart in Williston for some toys and treats.  First we had a pit stop in Westford (history, demographics):

Absent any evidence otherwise, the name appears to derive from being the most westerly of four granted the same day. For whatever reason, in 1781 the young Republic of Vermont granted another Westford, in Orleans County. That town was subsequently renamed Westmore [where the Fortress of Solitude is].
...
Where family names and descriptive terms were usually the basis for place names, Westford has a distinction in Number Eleven Hill. Nowhere else in the state is anything named by a number. When the town was being laid out, land was distributed in rounds, somewhat like modern sports drafts. The best land (suitable for dwellings and tillage) went in Round One to the most prominent grantee. Pasture land was Round Two; Round Three was frequently woodlot. Round Eleven would have been pretty far down the list in terms of usefulness.

I think this is a de-sanctified church.  They show movies here.

A while back I took a picture of Westford's covered bridge, some skating, more skating, even more skating, and a snow-covered bench.

Trip 11 - Shelburne And Middlebury

It's quite unusual for Stef (and Cairo) to be home on weekends, but they were today so we decided to do our first 251 jaunt with the new guy.  First we had to stop at the office in Colchester so I could drop off some stuff, then hit Noah's Ark (apt, given the flood watch in effect today) across the street to buy dog kibble and other sundry animal supplies, then we could mosey on down Route 7...

We figured that if the dogs behaved okay together on the trip to Colchester, which they did, we'd head south to Shelburne (history, demographics):

In the 19th Century, a gristmill, a sawmill, a carding and fulling mill and a blacksmith shop sprang up along the rushing LaPlatte River at Shelburne Falls. Sheep raising and fruit orchards became popular methods of farming, with some 17,740 fruit-bearing trees by 1880. After the War of 1812, lake commerce surged. The Champlain Transportation Company established a shipyard at Shelburne Harbor and launched the "General Green," the first of ten proud steamships to call Lake Champlain home between 1825 and 1905, the last two of which can still be found in New England. The "Mount Washington" (still in service on New Hampshire's Lake Winnepesaukee) and the "Ticonderoga", the landlocked centerpiece of the Shelburne Museum, having been brought up from the lake on a specially constructed rail bed.

Shelburne today supports a wide variety of businesses, from manufacturers and retailers to Vermont's largest retirement community, including some of the more popular Vermont attractions: the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Shelburne Farms and the best historical museum in New England, the Shelburne Museum.

Mexico's first 251 Club trip with us!  Shelburne has a leash law, so we had to put one on Cairo as well--she didn't seem to mind.

Notice how there's no snow on the ground?  The last few days' thaw wiped it out most places, but it's returning tonight with a vengeance.  It was 50 degrees and foggy when we left Colchester, and by the time we got home 4.5 hours later it was 32 and snowing!  We expect up to 10 inches by the end of the storm tomorrow night.

Trip 6

Today we began our very cold trip in Jericho (history, demographics): On the Underhill-Jericho town line is Underhill Flats, one of the few villages in the state which lie in two towns.

In what could be called an early variant of gerrymandering, the story is told of Jedediah Lane, who moved here from Connecticut, eventually to become the town's representative in the Legislature. When a land survey was completed, it was discovered that Lane actually lived in Underhill. Not wanting to lose his job, Lane had his house moved a few feet west, over the line into Jericho.

Jericho was home to "Snowflake" Bentley.

To Stef's left (uh...your right) is Elizabeth of the LATimes and her photog, Alden (who lives in VT).  Both were very nice--Cairo accepted them into the pack--and we asked them to be in one of our "official" photos.  A fun trip with special guests!

Trip 3

Cairo romps in Colchester's Bayside Park.

Cairo was just so excited to be going on another 251 Club trip! Come play with us as we visit Colchester, Waitsfield and Stowe (Moscow, too)...