Vermont vacation - day six

 

After breakfast, we visited Shelburne Farms, an educational nonprofit focused on sustainability.

Eliza Vanderbilt and her husband, William Seward Webb, created the farm in the 19th century using the Vanderbilt fortune. They purchased land from 33 farms, nearly 4,000 acres, from the original settlers' families and hired a landscape architect to lay out the farm, fields, and forests. A New York architect designed the buildings. They planted new trees, consolidated and/or tore down buildings, removed boundary walls, and plowed over roads to make new ones.

In the 20th century, the estate became too expensive to maintain, so Eliza's heirs focused on dairy and sheep farming. They formed a nonprofit in 1972 and bequeathed the property to it in 1986. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Historic Landmark District.

It is a thriving dairy farm committed to sustainable agriculture, healthy local food systems, and education. They also make cheese and sugar and have a large organic garden.

We could have stayed all day. There was so much to do and see. Instead, we followed the guy's recommendation in the welcome booth and hiked half a mile to the farm. Coming out of the woods to the first view of the structure is amazing.

We moved through the buildings, watching them make cheese, bake bread, and feed the animals. We sampled cheeses, bought a dark chocolate cherry loaf, and hiked through the orchard and flower garden. It is definitely a place to return to on our next visit because we didn’t see the house, the inn, or hike the many trails despite spending half the day there. 

We bought some sodas and gifts at the Farm Store and moved on to our next tourist destination, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. It’s the largest maker of teddy bears sold online. The founder made a teddy bear for his son, and it grew from there.

They had a factory tour, but Tom wasn’t keen on it since a tour bus had dropped off a load of older adults. Plus, honestly, the bears were not all that impressive. And they cost a fortune.

Tom: “Build-a-Bear does it better, in my opinion.”

I had wanted to do the tour, but I had to agree with him. They were subpar bears for a fortune. 

We left, drove to Burlington, and walked around downtown. We had hamburgers and cocktails in a restaurant we picked and then walked along the waterfront.

The trip back to the resort was peaceful, and we loved how much the trees had turned since we'd arrived. 

All in all, a great day.