Friday, July 29
The Journey from St Johnsbury, VT, to Burlington, VT
North Beach Campground
We arrived at the North Beach Campground around 12:30 am, but they were not ready to check us in yet and asked us to return in about an hour. Check-in time was 2 pm, so this was fair. We parked at a nearby high school parking lot, relaxed in the shade of our trailer, and ate lunch until then.
At about 1:30 pm, we checked in and set up along a tree line. Unfortunately, the trees did not provide us with any shade though. It was a nice grassy spot that was only slightly sloped. We had full hookups. There was little room between campers, and our next-door neighbors had several families crammed into their space up to our camper. It was a little noisy, but they were courteous and quieted things by 11 p.m. each night. I did get a little nervous with their horde of bicycles that parked a little too close to my trailer, but they kept them in check.
North Beach
We then drove to the beach area, where they had a nice snack bar, and drank some local beers while looking out over Lake Champlain. The lake was the nation’s sixth largest and is more than 100 miles long, but we could easily see across it. Surprisingly, there weren’t many people on the beach, but we found out later that there was an algae bloom warning because of the recent rains. Our waiter said it would be much busier the next day.
Lake Champlain Islands
We then jumped into the truck and drove north through the Lake Champlain islands of South Hero, Grand Isle, and North Hero before returning to the mainland and driving south along the east shore. It was a very marshy area, and the islands had a surprisingly large number of farms and cows.
We returned to the camper at about 6:30 pm, ate dinner, and settled down for the evening.
Dam near Milton, VT
Saturday, July 30
Burlington Farmers Market
We left the camper at about 9:15 am and headed to the Burlington Farmers Market. As expected, we were not able to find any street parking near the market, but we did find a mostly empty parking lot a couple blocks away behind a rather depressed building that had a large mural painted on it. We learned later that the Pine Street mural was painted by a BIPOC-owned art collective to combat unsanctioned graffiti. This mural represented “the artists’ Afro-pollinator theme in their Afro-futuristic style, incorporating Afro-Indigenous and native botanical elements, as well as youth poetry rendered in the artist’s handwritten style.” It was very good.
The farmers’ market was rather large, with many organic products from local farms. It had a very bohemian feel to it. We even met a candidate for Lt Governor of Vermont there selling vegetables from his farm. We bought a cantaloupe, some cherry tomatoes, and blueberries, and Lisa enjoyed a salted caramel iced coffee.
World’s Tallest File Cabinet
At 208 Flynn Ave, Burlington, VT 05401, a tall file cabinet sits upon a concrete pedestal in an empty lot near some construction. This art installation is over 40 feet tall and was created by welding 38 individual filing cabinets together.
Shelburne
On the way to the Shelburne Museum, we passed some interesting art we quickly photographed as we drove by.
Shelburne Museum
We then drove down to the Shelburne Museum just south of Burlington. This museum was similar to the historical museums we had seen before, full of historical buildings that had been moved to the 45-acre grounds, but there were some unique differences. One was that many structures were filled with unique exhibits and collections. Another was that they had a large ship you could walk around on. We spent several hours looking through all the buildings and collections. We ended our day riding a vintage carousel.
Lighthouse
The Lighthouse was built in 1871 to mark three reefs between Vermont and New York. Because it had to endure strong lake winds, it is solidly built with a post-and-beam frame and one-and-a-half-inch thick iron rods. In 1952, the abandoned Lighthouse was dismantled from its site on the lake and re-constructed at the Museum. The tower was closed to visitors.
Ticonderoga
The Ticonderoga was built in Shelburne in 1906 and operated as a day boat on Lake Champlain, serving ports along the New York and Vermont shores until 1953. It was moved in 1955 two miles overland from the lake to Shelburne Museum. Today, the Ticonderoga portrays life on board in 1923. The ship’s carved and varnished woodwork, gilded ceilings, staterooms, grand staircase, and dining room evoke the elegance of steamboat travel. Visitors can freely explore the Ticonderoga’s four decks, massive engine, pilot house, galley, and crew quarters.
Covered Bridge
The 168-foot bridge was built in 1845 to span the Lamoille River in Cambridge, Vermont. It has two vehicle lanes and a footpath. The Covered Bridge was dismantled and moved in 1949 to the Museum, where it now spans a man-made pond.
Round Barn
The Museum’s eighty-foot-diameter Round Barn is one of only two dozen built in the state. Round barns, designed for the economy of labor, were first built by Massachusetts Shakers in 1826 and were re-introduced by a national farm magazine in 1896.
Shelburne Museum’s Round Barn was constructed in East Passumpsic, Vermont, in 1901 and moved to the Museum in 1985-86. Much of it was dismantled and moved on flatbed trucks, but the 9,000-pound upper segment of the silo was flown across the state by helicopter and lowered into place.
The Round Barn houses a selection of the Museum’s outstanding collection of horse-drawn carriages.
Circus Building and Carousel
The horseshoe-shaped Circus Building was designed to showcase the hand-carved miniature Arnold Circus Parade, which stretches nearly 518 feet. The Circus Building is also where you will find hand-painted carousel figures—horses, tigers, giraffes, and more—made by the renowned Gustav Dentzel Carousel Company. An operating vintage carousel operates just outside the Circus Building.
We were back at the campground around 4:30, and then we drove back to North Beach. We were back at the camper by 5:30.
Sunday, July 31
We took off at about 9 am and headed south along Lake Champlain to see Fort Ticonderoga.
Vergennes Falls Park
We briefly stopped in Vergennes to see the Otter Creek Falls there. Vergennes has the distinction of being Vermont’s first city in 1788, and today is the smallest of its ten cities. The falls provided power for mills and factories in the early days of the industry. The basin below Vergennes Falls is where Thomas Macdonough built and armed the fleet that defeated the British on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812.
Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area
Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a 2,858-acre tract used as a waterfowl refuge. We stopped at the public viewing area with information about the WMA. It is also a viewing area for watching the large concentrations of Canada and snow geese traveling there.
Crown Point Historic Area
As we continued south and crossed the New York state line, we stopped at the Crown Point State Historic Site to see the beautiful Champlain Memorial Lighthouse and Crown Point Pier. Though there was a fee to enter the park, they said we could drive to the lighthouse and stay for 10 minutes for free. I climbed to the top of the lighthouse, which gave me a beautiful view of the southern tip of Lake Champlain.
The 1912 Crown Point Light is a former lighthouse that was converted into a memorial to the exploration of the lake by Samuel de Champlain. The former lighthouse was significantly changed by adding a ring of eight Doric columns and an elaborately carved cornice and parapet. On the side facing the lake is a statue of Champlain accompanied by one fellow Frenchman and one Huron native. The French government sent a plaque by Auguste Rodin, which was later placed below the other sculpture. A broad staircase led down to a pier projecting into the lake.
Across the street were a museum and the ruins of two fortifications from the colonial wars between the British and French on the strategically important peninsula known as Crown Point. The French built Fort St. Frederic here between 1734 and 1737, and in 1759, the British took control of the peninsula and built a new fortification called “His Majesty’s Fort of Crown Point”. Enclosing over seven acres, this was one of the largest buildings built by the British in North America.
There is not much left of either fort, but walking along the ruins was fun. There was a fee to see the small museum, which had a multimedia orientation program, large-scale models, and an exhibit of original artifacts recovered from the site by archeologists. They also provided a program that can be used to listen to an audio tour of the ruins.
Fort Ticonderoga
We continued south and finally arrived at Fort Ticonderoga.
Formerly Fort Carillon, the first was a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at the south end of Lake Champlain between 1755 and 1757 during the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War. The site controlled a river portage alongside the mouth of the rapids-infested river between Lake Champlain and Lake George and the trade route between the British-controlled Hudson River Valley and the French-controlled Saint Lawrence River Valley. The name “Ticonderoga” comes from the Iroquois word meaning “it is at the junction of two waterways.”
The British took control of the first in 1759. The Green Mountain Boys took control of the fort in 1775. Cannons taken from the fort were transported to Boston to lift its siege by the British, who evacuated the city in March 1776. The British took back control in 1777 but abandoned it by 1781 when it ceased to have military value.
Afterward, the fort fell into ruins, with residents stripping it of much of its usable materials. It was purchased by a private family in 1820 and opened as a historic site in 1909 after it had been restored. Today, it is operated by a foundation as a tourist attraction, museum, and research center.
Numerous reenactors on site gave cooking, drum and fife, and a cannon firing demonstration. The buildings had a lot of exhibits and information about the fort. Many cannons, mortars, and howitzers were mounted along the walls. Significant restoration efforts were made on one of the walls.
Since it was getting late, we did not visit the King’s Garden, which was the restored gardens of the private family that had owned the fort, but instead chose to drive up to Mount Defiance. We saw many monuments to various French, English, and American military units and leaders scattered around the grounds outside the fort.
Mount Defiance
Mount Defiance is a hill that overlooks Fort Ticonderoga but was deemed inaccessible, so it was never fortified. During the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777, the British army succeeded in positioning artillery on Mount Defiance, causing the Americans to withdraw without a fight.
The road up to the top of Mount Defiance was outside the Fort grounds a couple of miles away. It was a rough road, but the views of the fort and the surrounding lake were great.
Dakin Farm & Vermont Flannel Company
As we headed back, we stopped at a gift store with a giant Maple syrup jug outside of it. After taking pictures with the jug, we enjoyed looking around at all the tourist gifts.
Nearby was an old covered bridge near a Flannel Company. There was a faded sign on its side claiming that it was the second oldest covered bridge in the state. Now it appeared to be used as a storage shed.
Shelburne Farms
We then decided to swing by Shelburne Farms. Shelburne Farms is a nonprofit education center for sustainability, a 1,400-acre working farm, and a National Historic Landmark as a well-preserved example of a Gilded Age “ornamental farm.” When we arrived, it appeared we needed a ticket to drive on the grounds, so we decided to skip it because it was late.
Zero Gravity Brewery
We were hungry, so we stopped at the Zero Gravity Brewery to try a flight of their beers and eat dinner. Though we enjoyed their beers, we did not see anything we liked on their menu, so we returned to our camper.
We returned to our camper at 6:30 pm, where we ate dinner and settled in for the night.
Monday, Aug 1
We packed up and headed south to our next campsite by 10 am.