Independent Vermont

We’ll breakfast at the Inn before journeying to Montpelier, VT and the Vermont State House, one of the oldest and best preserved of our nation's state capitols. For nearly 160 it has been the centerpiece of America’s smallest capital city (pop. 9,000). Its House and Senate chambers are the nation’s oldest active legislative halls with their interiors intact. After lunch we travel to St. Johnsbury, VT home of Dog Mountain and Chapel. In 2000, this unique place of worship was introduced to the world as a symbol of peace and loving remembrance of Man’s Best Friend. In the years since, it has become a shrine to the memory of countless canine friends and companions. Feel free to memorialize your own four-legged favorite by pinning a note and/or photo to the chapel wall. Our last stop today is Waterbury, VT, where we’ll enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. After the tour we’ll enjoy a tasting experience and also have time to visit their Flavor Graveyard, where no less than 31 deceased flavors have been laid to rest (anyone miss Bovinity Divinity?). Returning to Middlebury, dinner then overnight at the Inn.

After breakfast at the Inn we travel to Orwell, VT and Mount Independence, a rocky promontory directly opposite New York’s Fort Ticonderoga. Protected on three sides by water and steep cliffs, this outcropping was an essential part of the American defense line against British attacks from Canada during 1776-77. Considered the most important historic site in Vermont, this stronghold remains the least disturbed major Revolutionary War site in the U.S. today. After lunch we’ll visit the site of the Battle of Hubbardton, fought in the green hills of central Vermont in the early morning hours of July 7, 1777. The only Revolutionary War battle fought entirely in what would become the state of Vermont, it is also one of the most successful rear-guard actions in American history. British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's well-trained Regulars met roughhewn Colonials in battle for the first time. Though a British tactical victory, Hubbardton is considered an American strategic win – as it proved to Americans that, not only could they fight the King’s professionals to a near draw, but they could also successfully disengage from a pursuing enemy. Returning to the Inn, dinner then overnight.

We’ll breakfast at the Inn before visiting Manchester, VT and Hildene, former summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, only son of Abraham and Mary Todd to survive to adulthood. Robert first visited the area at age 20 in the summer of 1863 when he, brother Tad, and his mother stayed at the nearby Equinox House to escape the heat of Washington, D.C. Hildene remained occupied by descendants of the Lincoln family until 1975, when the next to last descendant Mary Lincoln Beckwith, died there. From Hildene we make the short trip to the Equinox Resort, still a great hotel, and an unforgettable setting for a Lincolnesque lunch. Then it’s on to Proctor, VT and Wilson Castle, an architectural masterpiece blending European styles, English brick and marble, 84 stained-glass windows and 13 fireplaces finished with imported tiles and bronze. Five generations of the Wilson family furnished it with Far Eastern and European antiquities, complemented by rare statuary, Chinese scrolls, and Oriental rugs. Our last stop today is Cuttingsville, VT where we’ve arranged a special surprise. Returning to Middlebury, dinner is on our own this evening.

After breakfast at the Inn we visit the Sheldon Museum, a treasure trove of Vermont history created by local collector Henry Sheldon in 1882. In the years since, the Sheldon has broadened its focus to trace the history of Vermont through furniture, art, and relics created by the state’s artisans. Next, we visit the University of Vermont’s Morgan Horse Farm. Established in 1878, this working farm is home to some forty Morgan horses, Vermont’s State Animal. A guided tour will help us appreciate the historically close connection between the Green Mountain State and this very special breed. After lunch today we visit Ripton, VT and the Homer Noble Farm, site of the three-room cabin that served as a summer retreat for famed poet Robert Frost. Here he wrote “The Road Not Taken” and other poems that have entered the American lexicon. A final night in Middlebury Inn.

We’ll breakfast at the Inn before journeying to Cornish, NH, and the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, former home of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, best remembered today for his Adams Memorial in Washington D.C. and design of the U.S. twenty-dollar gold piece (first issued in 1907, it is widely regarded as the most beautiful coin ever minted). Sculptor of over 200 works in marble and bronze, Saint-Gaudens had an international reputation and clientele for his portrait reliefs, decorative projects, and public monuments. Synonymous with the Gilded Age, Saint-Gaudens reimagined monumental sculpture, and his many Civil War figures (Lincoln in Chicago, General Sherman in New York’s Central Park) are astonishingly lifelike. We’ll tour the handsome estate he named Aspet, the artist’s home and studio spaces as well as galleries featuring several large bronze sculptures by Saint-Gaudens – don’t miss the deeply moving Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial. In nearby Windsor, VT, we’ll enjoy lunch before pausing for a photo-op at The Old Constitution House, birthplace of the Republic of Vermont. Here the first Constitution of the “Free and Independent State of Vermont” was adopted in what was then Elijah West Tavern. This important document is particularly noteworthy as the first constitution to prohibit adult slavery and the first to establish universal suffrage for men without the requirements of property ownership or specific income. The Vermont Constitution was also the first to establish a system of public schools. This afternoon we return to the Green Mountain Suites in Burlington where we’ll enjoy dinner and overnight.

After breakfast at Green Mountain we visit the town’s celebrated Saturday Farmer’s Market, where you can shop for prepared foods, crafts and other items to take home and remind you of the Green Mountain State. Next, we visit the Ethan Allen Homestead and gravesite of Vermont’s great Revolutionary hero – the original Green Mountain Boy. Some free time this afternoon at the hotel before a very special Lake Champlain Farewell Dinner Cruise aboard the 140-foot Spirit of Ethan Allen. A final night at Green Mountain Suites.

It’s been a great tour! After an included full breakfast at Green Mountain Suites, we fly out of the same airport we flew into.