Fall Colors in Vermont

I recently spent three days viewing the fall colors in Vermont with my 84 and 90-year-old parents. I was planning to visit their home on Cape Cod for ten days, and we had to figure out where to go for peak fall colors. I found a great website sponsored by Yankee Magazine with cool graphics showing the migration of the fall colors on their peak foliage forecast map. The site maps out a route with all sorts of side trips: historic sites, restaurants (I like to use Urban Spoon), Vermont classics like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Waterbury, VT (you can get a factory tour) or visit Cabot Creamery at one of three locations in Vermont. If you’re into cheese, check out a map of the Vermont Cheese Trail. Unfortunately, due to the warm autumn we were a bit early, but the colors were lovely nevertheless, enhanced by Vermont’s rolling hills. Another fun thing to do in Vermont is to visit breweries. Vermont is coming on the map for their beer production, and according to a local source they used to grow hops in Vermont. In addition, to enhance the leaf peeping experience, there are some fabulous restaurants, which also service the ski community in the winter. Some of the quaint areas have grown up to service the tourists, such as Stowe, but there is still plenty of old New England charm in the churches that dot each town (for a real treat visit the Old Round Church in Richmond, VT), the village greens, or make a fun side trip to Hope Cemetery in Barre, VT (est. 1895) with amazing tombstones carved by local sculptors. I also have a thing for covered bridges. You can find a Vermont covered bridge map and pick how many you want to see en route.

Our visit was greatly enhanced by our stay at a B&B in Waterbury, about half an hour SE of Burlington. The Moose Meadow Lodge is run by Greg Trulson and Willie Docto, Washington, D.C. transplants. They bought the lodge and turned it into a B&B and added a treehouse for those so inclined. Willie makes up a fabulous breakfast and also offers massages in your room. Greg is a hunter, with much evidence displayed around the main rooms. I patted the bear each time I walked past it saying “poor bear,” but Greg assured me that none of the creature goes to waste, but sustains them over the winter.

We didn’t do much hiking this time around, but here is a list of good hikes to do around Vermont, or visit one of Vermont’s beautiful State Parks. Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont, offers a pretty drive, which can be followed by a ride on the Stowe gondola to get a view of the surrounding countryside. If you like to bird, the Green Mountain Audubon Society has a list of birding hotspots in Northwestern Vermont; or a general list of birding trails in Vermont put out by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; or visit Vermont’s IMB’s (Important Bird Areas).

Finally, we can’t mention Vermont without a visit to the Trapp Family Lodge, remember the Von Trapp Family Singers from the Sound of Music? Well they settled in Stowe, Vermont in the early 1940s. The lodge was opened in the summer of 1950.