Is a sense of place important to you when you travel? It is for me. Vermont has so much early American cultural history. I read plaques on bridges, appreciate the art and context of stone monuments, and love the quiet community of a church graveyard. What do they tell me about the social issues of the day?
Otter Creek flows over the Middlebury Falls, once the site of an historic marble works.
Addison County has plenty of spots for reflection on history. Come see for yourself! Cornwall Orchards B&B (built in 1793) is a few miles from Middlebury in Addison County, Vermont. Exploring women’s history? As told in a recent VT Digger article, Emma Hart Willard came here to teach school. A plaque in town explains that when schools for girls were illegal, she secretly studied with male college students and later lead the call for women’s education in the US. The Rokeby Museum, a few miles north, was the home of free-thinking abolitionists. Further north in Barre, you’ll find more about the Abenaki who lived here before the settlers came.
Stay with us and you will have a sense place and history. Where else can you have a molasses cookie made from Emma Willard’s great great granddaughter’s recipe? (My grandmother!)