Farewell to Vermont , New York State Here We Come

President Collidge;ss boyhood home

What a wonderful time we have had during our brief visit to Vermont. A lot of miles exploring this great state in the Toad has brought us to several interesting places. Crossing through the Green Mountains off on a gravel side road found us lost on our way to President Calvin Coolidge’s birthplace in Plymouth. The GPS lead us on the wrong path to a closed gate at a dead end out in the back woods.Keeping a positive frame of mind we just chalked the event up to having had a true Vermont wilderness adventure. Hunting season must have just opened up as well. Several folks in their trucks with hunting dogs, tracking devices and rifles were out. We retraced our way back down the gravel road some six miles before getting in the right direction. The Coolidge State Historic Site of our 30th President’s boyhood homestead was informative. He was VP when President Harding had a stroke and died, thus putting him into the presidency. Seeing the bedroom where Coolidge was born in the farmhouse, a quilt and wooden chest he made as a ten year old, and a nanny chair were a few of the house’s highlights.

Calvin Coolidge was born in this bedroom on the homestead in Plymouth, VT

Another great place was the Wilson Castle in Proctor. It is a lovely 115 acre estate built in the late 1800s nestled on a hillside amongst the trees. The façade of the Castle we discovered was set with English bricks and marble. It is dominated by 19 open arches and shadowed by a towering turret, parapet, and balcony. Imagine three floors with 32 spacious rooms, interior features with 84 stain glass windows, and 13 fireplaces finished with imported tiles and bronze.The grand reception hall was paneled with carved Honduras mahogany. In spite of all the elegance and beautiful antiques the castle was really drafty and cold inside with no heat.

The Norman Rockwell Museum was just ten miles away from one of our campgrounds. So naturally we all had to go check it out. Most of you know of this famous 20th-century American painter and illustrator. During his lifetime (1894-1978) he completed some 2,500 masterpieces of art over five decades. The walls of the museum were covered with many of his masterpieces. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for

The Saturday Evening Post magazine,Boy’s Life, Country Gentleman,McCall, calendars, stamps, greeting cards, portraits of famous people, and numerous advertisements. We saw among the best-known of his works the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, and the Four Freedoms series. Without a doubt Rockwell was an incredibly amazing talented artist.

Next stop brought us to the New England Maple Museum in Pittsford. It was a chance to learn about the maple products industry. It gave a terrific overview of how maple tree sap is tapped and processed into maple syrup.   This occurs during six weeks only between mid February to the end of March each year for licensed “sugar house” operators who make their living primary as farmers. For every 40 gallons of sap tapped on a maple tree, the final outcome after boiling yields only about a gallon of maple syrup.

 
Lastly, we made a visit to the Robert Todd Lincoln summer home in Manchester. The house was filled with lots of memorabilia from the Lincoln family. For a mere $10,000 user fee, wedding events can be held on the estate.We caught a glimpse of some folks training falcons in flight on the property.JR pulled his jacket sleeve down to cover his hand and extended his arm out to the bird when it landed on the grass nearby. Let’s just say that was rather darning and leave it at that.

We could go on and on about the many attractions in Vermont adding to our journey as traveling life long learners. Upstate New York is calling us to come visit next. Jack Frost covered the campground this morning at 30 degrees… burr! Meanwhile let’s pray we don’t get caught and end up in an early snowstorm. California weather and you all we do truly miss. Wishing you lovely Indian Summer days.