Headed to Southern Vermont

Taking off from lake Willoughby it was still cool and damp. I was headed to southern Vermont to explore the area around Townshend and Windham.

 The drive down was excellent with lots of beautiful scenery. My memory of Vermont was that it was just piles of gorgeous and it did not disappoint. I was headed to stay at the home of an acquaintance from another life and I was a bit apprehensive but I just had faith that all would work out as it should. I was last here 17 years ago with my ex and so I didn't know what to expect except it would be different. It was. I reached them by phone the day before and Ilana said that there was a big music festival going on just down the road. She said I should just plan on staying in one of the many extra beds inside but that there was no hot water this time of year so they just jumped in the brook to get clean. Different.

 Just as I got in the area I saw a sign that told of a farmer's market starting at that moment. I stopped in thinking that my hosts might be there. They weren't but everyone, of course, knew them.

 The directions included turning at the pond and following the road to the end. There I would find the big house, so named because it is huge.

 The kitchen was huge, amazing and well used. There was a huge wood burning range that doubled as a water heater and since they don't use it in the summer, they also have no hot water at this time unless they heat it on the smaller gas stove nearby. There were herbs and canning and all sorts of projects going on. These folks raise and can their vegetables, sauces, ketchup, sodas, spices and meat. The list goes on. They salt and smoke the meat that they raise and seriously limit the electricity they use for refrigeration, lighting and so forth.

 The big house was built in two parts. The white section on the left was built in 1780 at the time that the area was settled. Amos's grandfather was a teacher from Connecticut and in the mid thirties he bought the big house and added the huge wing on the right to create a boys' school called the Newton school. Boys learned everything there from standard curriculum to raising food and building with hand tools. They cleared and milled with axes and hand tools and cut the firewood that would heat the school through the winter. The traditions are carried on by Amos and his family. It was a magic experience and the next day's ride was pure pleasure finished off with a bath in the waterfall.