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Woodstock/Quechee The sportsman and the sightseer have plenty to do in
the Woodstock-Quechee area. You can ski at Suicide Six, not far from
Gilbert's farm where Woodstockers installed the nation's first rope tow
in 1934, or you can ski at nearby Killington, the East's largest ski
area. You can golf at the historic Woodstock Country Club, site of
Vermont's first golf course and home also of the fine Woodstock Ski
Touring Center, or at a newer golf course in Quechee. You can hike
through the Quechee Gorge area or the hundreds of acres of forests
maintained by the Woodstock Inn. You can climb a switchback trail up
Mount Tom for a bird's-eye view of the area. You can walk around the
village green and center, marveling in the architectural variety and
browsing through the Dana House Museum of the Woodstock Historical
Society. But it is arts, crafts and shopping that make Woodstock so
appealing for many. Billings Farm & Museum, Route 12 and River Road, Woodstock. This working dairy farm and living agricultural museum on the northern edge of Woodstock portrays the Vermont farm of yesteryear. It operates in partnership with the new Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park across the street. Artfully presented, life-like exhibits in 19th century barns depict the seasonal round of activities that shaped the lives and culture of rural Vermonters. The restored and furnished 1890 farmhouse – hub of the farm and forestry operation more than a century ago – shows the creamery where butter was produced, the farm office and family living quarters. Visitors wander through the kitchen garden, where heirloom vegetables and herb varieties grow. Down a path the modern farm is evident. Visitors can see the Jersey herd, calves, sheep, oxen and teams of Belgian horses, and the milking barn is open. “A Place in the Land,” a 30-minute documentary film on the history of conservation stewardship in America, is shown hourly in the visitor center. (802) 457-2355. www.billingsfarm.org. Open daily
10 to 5, May-October; also weekends at Thanksgiving, in December and
winter holidays, 10 to 3. Adults, $8. Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, 54 Elm St., Woodstock. Opened in 1998, Vermont’s first national park is the only national park to focus on conservation history and the evolving nature of land stewardship in America. The park is named for George Perkins Marsh, one of the nation's first global environmental thinkers, who grew up on the property, and for Frederick Billings, an early conservationist who established a progressive dairy farm and managed forest on the former Marsh farm. The house was occupied until lately by Billings’s granddaughter, Mary French Rockefeller, and her husband, conservationist Laurance S. Rockefeller. They established the Billings Farm & Museum to continue the farm's working dairy and left the estate's residential and forest lands to the people. A variety of ranger-led walks and talks trace the history of conservation in the surrounding 550-acre forest, which harbors twenty miles of carriage roads and trails crisscrossing Mount Tom. Ninety-minute guided tours show rooms on the first and second floors of the 1805 mansion and formal grounds. The house is simple and elegant, not opulent, and looks as if the Rockefellers had just stepped out for morning coffee and were coming back any minute. The extensive collection of American landscape paintings is the most remarkable feature. (802) 457-3368. Tours daily, Memorial Day through
October, daily 10 to 4, reservations recommended, adults $6. Forest and
trails open daily, free. VINS Nature Center, Route 4 West, Quechee. Raptor exhibits are the highlight of the new Vermont Institute of Natural Science nature center on 47 acres of rolling forestland just west of the famed Quechee Gorge. Bald eagles, hawks, owls, peregrine falcons and other birds of prey that have been injured in accidents are on display in a series of huge outdoor flight enclosures that make up the only living museum devoted to birds of prey in the Northeast. Naturalists lead walks and offer exciting flight programs. Among the more than 40 birds we saw was Vermont’s tiniest avian predator, the three-ounce saw-whet owl. Moving from southwest Woodstock to a more accessible location in 2004, the center has outdoor interpretive exhibits, nature trails and a nature shop. (802) 457-2779. www.vinsweb.org. Open daily, 10
to 4; hours vary. Adults, $8. Dana House Museum, 26 Elm St., Woodstock. This rambling 1807 Federal-style house, its back yard yielding a prospect of meadows and Mount Tom, is the home of the Woodstock Historical Society. Built by Charles Dana, a prosperous dry goods merchant, it was home to several Danas who achieved national prominence. On display are paintings, furnishings, decorative arts, photographs, dolls, toys, tools, costumes and other artifacts that bring to life the history of Woodstock. Guided tours are available on the hour. The museum shop in the rear is full of country memorabilia. (802) 457-1822. www.woodstockhistsoc.org. Open mid-May to late October, Monday-Saturday 10 to 4, Sunday noon to 4. Adults, $5.
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