Two pals, a $5 correspondence course from Penn State in ‘Ice Cream Making’ and the rest is history. Ben & Jerry opened their first “ice cream scoop shop” in a renovated gas station in Burlington Vermont, in 1978. We just had to do the factory tour! From humble beginnings it’s now a Unilever brand but very much at arms length. The OTT tour guides with appalling jokes continually talk to the ethics that are actively sustained from the early days. The ‘Flavour Graveyard’ was fun, even if just for the creativity in the naming. It was interesting but, shhhh…. it wasn’t the best ice cream we had in Vermont!
One of the least populous States, Vermont packs a big punch. It was the first US state to power itself 100% from renewables, lots of wind turbines in the hills. Talking of hills, up in the mountains we could hear the sound of music…. Yes, we found the real home of “The von Trapp Family Singers”. Who knew that it was a more or less, true story?! The family escaped Nazi Germany in 1942, built a lodge in the hills, reminiscent of Austria, and the rest is musical history. These days, the homestead lodge is a full-on resort hotel, the children no longer sing, unless for a TikTok video and Maria sits at the swanky bar with a dry Martini (maybe?!) The local town of Stowe is also a tourist haven. A sizeable ski area there were lots of lodges, cabins etc and the giveaway clue for the ‘second home/ski set’, homeware shops galore. Manicured homes, restaurants and bars as it was, Stowe was as pretty as the UK version, on The Wold.
Nearby is The Old Round Church, like many, closed. In historic Richmond it was built in 1812 and is 16 sided. A meeting place, it also catered to Baptists, Christians, Congregationalists, Methodists and Universalists who shared it as a place of worship until they built their own (so the sign said). The interesting bit was the ‘box pews’ inside. Locals with money bought the box pew for themselves, those without were in the cheap seats upstairs.
Exploring Vermont there’s plenty of quirky stuff to see. Land locked, it has it’s own Whale Tails sculpture by the side of an Interstate. Maybe someone misses the ocean, the sculpture is called “Reverence”, 36T of black granite, 13 ft tall. You can’t miss ’em! We spotted a skeleton on a bike and a fabulous sculpture made from fire hydrants that looks like a giant toy ‘jack’. It was built as a tribute to the 9/11 firefighters. We sang along as we passed ‘The Portway Diner’ until finding out it isn’t the one Billy Joel sang about in ‘Scenes from and Italian Restaurant’.. ah well! There’s much less Americana in these older states. The Worlds Tallest Filing Cabinet at 38 drawers was fun, designed to reflect bureaucracy and paperwork… built in 2002, nothing has changed as we know, from trying to build a house! Hence perhaps, the need for giant pencils?
We took a long boat trip, 200ft in fact. Out on our bikes we cycled into Burlington via a causeway that has a gap in it, so there’s a summer ferry to bridge the gap! The Island Line Bike Trail was a fabulous ride from Grande Isle along the narrow causeway with the wind whipping across, into Burlington’s suburbs and green forested trails. Bit of a grey day but we could see the Adirondacks in New York State and the Green Mountains of Vermont. The railway was originally built in 1899 to connects markets and Ontario via the waterways and it’s repurposing is great. What wasn’t, was the bloke on his phone while riding nearly sending me into the water (angry emoticon symbol!) An evening of live Jazz in downtown bars and parks was the best way to wind down!
Montpelier is Vermont’s State Capital, it has a population of 7.5k! It’s a wonderful place, very multicultural, lots of cool architecture and very austere Government Buildings. The Secretary of State’s house was old time fancy and The Court House as colonially impressive as they get. The State Capitol Building was a wowzer! The variety of buildings was fascinating, as the town has evolved over many years. The only dingy place a down town bar! It was flooded in July 2023 after significant rainfall and snow melt, 3ft of water in the shops and buildings, still showing tide marks. For a small population it sure had a lot of churches, we lost count but it did great coffee when the rains came…. again. I loved the words on a customer’s sweatshirt. There’s definitely a reason for Vermont being green!
Green Mount Cemetery is known for its ‘Funerary Art’, that was a new term for me! Lots of gravestones scattered on the hillside, for that kind of place it was actually really pretty, but there were a few standout works of art. A 1900 life-sized statue of a young girl who passed away was naturally beautiful, as was The Dieter Grave, which had a life sized Jesus being tended to by Mary, the detail close up was startling. Wandering, the heavens opened but it did make for a spectacular photo by the tall one! One day he’ll put some on his website…. (sighing emoticon!)
Moving on further East in Vermont, at Danville, “The American Society of Dowsers” was closed. Maybe they’d run out of water or couldn’t find any? (I looked it up, dowsers is divining or water witching) A pit stop at a roadside place with the most fabulous old post office was just as good. We arrived at St Johnsbury where we wandered it’s two main streets looking for interesting things. Much of the architecture there was Robert Peabody Brown, of Memphis’s “Peabody Hotel, ducks in the foyer fame” and the buildings seemed bigger than the town in a way. Again, lots of really unusual places of worship and some great houses. However, the “Athenaeum” a library come art gallery come meeting place was amazing. A gift to the community by Governor Fairbanks, it was built in 1871 and internally is stunning for a small town place. It is also home to “The Domes of Yosemite” painting by Bierstadt, donated in 1873, which at 15ft x 10ft filled the wall but was of a quality that you could visually walk into it. A brilliant find.
From there we headed off to New Hampshire to see what we could find but it’d do well to surpass Vermont, a low key state with a lot to shout about, a cool vibe and wonderful outdoors… just bring the waterproofs!
The Jigsaw Blog Spot It’s been a while since I’ve written so I apologise to you, my adoring fans. Finally they’ve started meowandering in green places so it’s been fun for me. If only they could sort out the rain though as sleeping makes more bored. Out and about I saw a great sticker on a car that I asked them to get for me and when I saw them looking at a cat picture well, you can imagine what i said to that! I’m still introducing them to people everywhere we go. To be straight with you, they aren’t that interesting, its me people come for, I know that. Anyhow, here’s me looking cute, or disappearing or playing with my latest pal. Psss Psss ’til next time 😉
The Curious Adventures of the Cat in the Camper Van 
Vermont looks like another good State. Loved the tea shirt and the slanting rain pic👍
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