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Craftsbury/Northeast
Kingdom,
VT By Nancy and Richard Woodworth Picture the picture-perfect Vermont town: a white-spired church and public buildings facing the village green, pristine clapboard houses on shady lawns, cows grazing against a hilly landscape, youngsters picking wildflowers along the road. The town is Craftsbury, population 1,000. And the picture is of Craftsbury Common, a hilltop village of perhaps 200 souls in the middle of nowhere – the west-central section of Vermont's most remote region, the Northeast Kingdom. Craftsbury Common indeed has a common, which is nearly as big as the rest of the village. It's a serene two acres or so flanked by a few houses (one turns out to be an annex of an inn) and institutional buildings. Among them are the nation's smallest accredited college, the state's smallest public high school, a rickety post office, a wonderful little library and a funeral home, the village's only commercial enterprise besides the inn. North of the village is a sports/education center believed to be unique in the world. A few miles downhill from Craftsbury Common's perch astride a ridge is the village of Craftsbury, site of the town hall, the Catholic church, two general stores and another inn. From here an unnumbered road leads to East Craftsbury, home of a British woolens store and an English-style B&B. That's about it for Craftsbury, the most prosperous part of a Northeast Kingdom that reflects the Vermont of old, uncondoed and uncutesied. Nearby is Greensboro, a lakeside summer colony of academics and the "metropolis" of the immediate area, the place where the flatlanders go to pick up the New York Times. There are also East Hardwick and Hardwick, the latter perhaps a place you've heard of – perhaps. It's the metropolis for a somewhat broader area. A bit farther afield but worth the trip are Peacham, Cabot and Lake Willoughby. The lapel buttons that proclaim "I love Peacham" don't mention Vermont because, we're told, there's no other Peacham in the world. Cabot's fame has been spread by the Cabot Creamery, the East's largest maker of cheddar cheese. Lake Willoughby, the "Lucerne of America," is a sight to behold from a couple of inns on its sharply rising shores. Vermont's most rural region is an area of tranquility, scenic beauty, little-traveled byways, country stores and, somewhat unexpectedly, considerable summer music and exotic garden enterprises. Time spent here celebrates the look, the landscape and the lifestyle of a century ago. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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