Vermont

Vermont countryside

Deer crossing

Green Mountains

Ski areas

Covered bridges

Village Greens

Old churches

Small towns

Architecture

Court House in Woodstock

When I was a teenager living near here, developers from MA came and made farmers in Quechee, VT offers they couldn't refuse, effectively buying the whole town and surrounding farmland to develop into a resort area. One farmer, in the middle of it all, refused to sell. His name was Theron Boyd. The story of the standoff was written up in the National Geographic Magazine. After his death, his home has been preserved.

The Quechee Fells farm was developed into a Country Club with golf course & tennis courts.

Local VT traffic

Off the beaten path...

...to Sugarbush Farm

Where they make and sell Maple Syrup and cheeses

There's a self-guided tour through the Sugar House....it explains the process since it's way past sugaring season.

Old and new

Once collected in pails that had to be emptied daily, most sap today is collected in tubes.

Where the sap is boiled into syrup

It takes 4 2/3 pails of sap to make a quart of syrup.

Or 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

The barn

The draft horses used for hauling sap out of the woods.

There's a walk in the woods as part of the tour.

Nan following the maple trail

These maple leaves will turn beautiful reds, oranges and yellows in the fall. Then they fall off the tree. How do you know which trees to tap in March?

You can recognize them by the bark

And by looking for last year's bore holes.

You can see the tubing on these trees.

You're invited to experience carrying buckets of sap through deep snow.

Nan found it challenging enough without carrying the buckets.

This little chapel was built for the wedding of a son. Many weddings have been held here since.

We spent the night at Quechee Gorge State Park. Looking down into the deep gorge: