|
|
|
|||||||
|
Champlain
Islands Water activities, birding and biking are the chief activities on the islands, where a Roman Catholic shrine is the leading tourist destination. Camping is big in the area, particularly at Grand Isle and North Hero state parks. The southern entrance to the islands via Route 2 passes the area's
best lake swimming at Sand Bar State Park, where Burlington residents go
to swim and picnic in a scenic grove. Beside it is the Sand Bar Wildlife
Area for birdwatchers. Another recreation spot farther along is Knight
Point State Park, with swimming, boating and campsites. St. Anne’s Shrine, Isle La Motte. Thousands of pilgrims find solace at the Edmundite Fathers’ waterside shrine on the site of Fort St. Anne, Vermont’s oldest settlement, where the first Mass in the state was celebrated in 1666. In keeping with island tradition, the shrine is rather primitive: a covered, open-air chapel where Eucharist celebrations are offered daily, an Italian marble statue of St. Anne housed in an A-frame, a grotto and the Way of the Cross, its stations nestled among tall pines beside the lake. A granite statue of Samuel de Champlain, sculpted in the Vermont Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, now occupies the site where he landed in 1609. After a fire destroyed the original no-frills cafeteria, the indomitable shrine director raised funds to build a new one in 1995. The result is an architecturally striking, multi-purpose building up the hillside notable for beautiful stained glass. Visitors may swim from the beach, picnic on the grounds or simply relax on a lovely, tranquil piece of land that is the islands’ best-known visitor destination. (802) 928-3362. www.sse.org. Shrine open daily,
May 15 to Oct. 15. Free. The Hyde Log Cabin, Route 2, Grand Isle. If Grand Isle has a tourist attraction, this is it, the oldest log cabin remaining in the United States. Built in 1783 with an enormous fireplace at one end and an overhead loft, it housed the family of Jedediah Hyde Jr. and his ten children. Members of the Hyde family lived there for nearly 150 years. In 1945 the Vermont Historical Society acquired the cabin and moved it two miles to its present location along Route 2. Inside you see original furnishings, agricultural and household implements, bedspreads, clothing and such. A guide from the Grand Isle Historical Society informed us that more than two-thirds of the artifacts came from the Hyde family or their descendants and the rest from other pioneer families on the island. We felt we were part of an earlier era, listening to birds twittering out back through the open door and watching cows grazing on the next property. In 2004, the cabin complex was joined on one side by a mustard-yellow one-room schoolhouse. Alas, it is now overshadowed by a sprawling new school on the other side. (802) 828-3051. Open Thursday-Monday 11 to 5,
July 4 to Labor Day. Admission, $1. Snow Farm Vineyard, 190 West Shore Road, South Hero. Vermont’s first vineyard and grape winery opened in 1996 near the lakeshore and – in the islands’ idiosyncratic tradition – across the road from the Crescent Bay llama farm. Grapevines adorn the double doors and a side deck overlooks the vineyard. Owners Harrison and Molly Lebowitz sponsor Taste of the Islands food and wine pairings and a free Thursday evening summer concert series called Music in the Vineyard. South Hero, known at least locally as “The Garden Spot of Vermont,” has a longer growing season than much of the state due to the moderating effect of Lake Champlain. That’s good for grape-growing, and the first significant harvest was produced in 1999. Snow Farm’s initial chardonnay quickly sold out, and the best-selling Snow White, a sweet blend of cayuga and seyval grapes, was down to the last six bottles at our visit. The 2002 estate riesling won a bronze medal, raising eyebrows of competitors like Kendall Jackson and Chateau St. Michelle, and the baco noir annually cops gold medals. The estate vidal ice wine is another winner. Besides wines, Vermont products are on sale and local artists show their works in month-long exhibitions. (802) 372-9463. www.snowfarm.com. Open daily 10
to 5, May-December. Hermann’s Royal Lipizzan Stallions, Route 2, North Hero. Since 1992, the islands have been the summer home for the Royal Lipizzan Stallions of Austria, which winter in Myakka City, Fla. The sponsoring Lake Champlain Islands Chamber of Commerce has successfully capitalized on their appeal, although the relationship is on a year-to-year basis. The fourteen white purebred descendants of a line established in 1580 are known for their acrobatic leaps and other precisely executed maneuvers. From roughly early July to late August, they perform on an area field, most recently at the Islands Center for Arts and Recreation in Knight Point State Park. Spectators occupy folding chairs beneath a striped canopy or a couple of sections of open-air bleachers. The Lipizzans are owned and directed by Col. Ottomar Herrmann, who with his father and the help of General Patton smuggled their ancestors out of Austria during World War II. The Herrmann family chose this as their summer rest stop because it reminded them of their homeland. After the performances, the audience may visit the tent stables, meet the riders and even rub noses with the royal horses. They also can be viewed in their off-hours working out on the field. If you arise early, you might see the Lipizzans taking their morning baths in the lake. (802) 372-8400. Summer performances Thursday and Friday at 6, Saturday and Sunday at 2:30. Adults $17, children $10.
Hero’s Welcome General Store, Route 2, North Hero, (802) 372-4161. Give a hero’s welcome for this sophisticated new general store, bakery and cafe. Here is a good stop for oversize muffins and a morning espresso, as well as afternoon ice cream and cookies. If you can get beyond all the wines and foodstuffs in front, you’ll find display area after display area chock full of everything from Tide and aspirin to expensive china handpainted with iris by a Vermont artist. The shed in back stocks everything a boater could need. Browsers could happily spend hours in this complex, and those who wait for them can enjoy the lake view from picnic tables and benches across the street. Material excerpted from Waterside Escapes in the Northeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2005. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
page |
Full destination index | |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
