RonnieAdventure #0121 - Vermont, 2014 Part I

When you enter Vermont from the south, the first thing that you encounter is the Whitingham 4-acre municipal park that contains a War Memorial honoring Whitingham soldiers from WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Viet Naum. Directly across the street from the War Memorial is a monument honoring Brigham Young, who was the second President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Brigham Young was born in Whitingham June 1, 1801 and later in life led pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley where they made the desert “blossom like a rose.”

To the west of Whitingham is the Bennington Battle Monument State Historic Site, which contains a stone monument that is the tallest man-made structure in the state of Vermont. Twice a year you are allowed to walk to the top of the monument; but, unfortunately, we were not there on one of those two days, so we had to settle for an elevator ride up to the observation deck where we had beautiful views of three states. The steps to the top of the monument are known as “The Michelangelo Staircase” because they are modeled after a staircase in the Farnese Palace in Rome, “said to be a joint work of Michelangelo and Vignola, the esteemed architect of the Farnese family and Pope Julian III.”

The monument commemorates the Battle of Bennington that was fought on Augusts 16, 1777. After the combined army of British and German Hessian soldiers were defeated by the Continental Army at Bennington, the British had to proceed to Saratoga without the necessary new supplies that they had planned to capture at Bennington. Because of the lack of supplies, at Saratoga British General John Burgoyne was forced to surrender, which marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War and changed the course of American History.

Norman Rockwell, who is probably best known for his Saturday Evening Post covers, lived in Arlington from 1939 – 1953. Rockwell considered himself to be an illustrator, not an artist, so he usually gave away his original paintings after they had been used to produce printed covers or advertising pictures. Today, over 600 of his advertising pictures hang in the Corporate Offices of Coco-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, AT&T, Ford, and other major companies. There is a collection of magazine covers and other Rockwell memorabilia at the Norman Rockwell Exhibition in Arlington, but the largest collection of Rockwell original canvases is on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, Massachusetts (add that collection to my bucket list).

The Chocolatorium is located just a short distance from the Norman Rockwell Exhibition and is the home of "Cocoa," the world's largest chocolate Teddy bear. Cocoa is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs over 100 pounds, and was created in 2002 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the teddy bear. In addition to regularly scheduled tasting sessions and chocolate making demonstrations conducted by chocolatiers, you can also get free chocolate samples! There is also a picturesque little creek directly across the street from the Chocolatorium where you can sit and watch the stream flow by while pigging out on the chocolate you just purchased. Maybe this explains why I have been gaining weight lately!

At the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor you can learn about the State’s marble history and legacy. Starting in the late 1800s immigrant stone cutters moved to the area to work in the quarries that produce some of the finest marble in the world. Marble from the Proctor quarry has been used for carving statues around the world and was used to sculpture the Tome of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The museum contains some beautiful classic statuary throughout the museum, intermixed with displays of how to use marble in your home and business. There is even a kitchen display with marble floors, counter tops, etc. 

When you are tired of walking through the museum, you can watch two different and interesting movies that play continually in their theater. One movie explains the history of  Proctor Quarry and the other movie explains how the 56-ton block of marble for the Tome of the Unknown Soldier was quarried, sculptured, and shipped to the National Cemetery. At the end of the movie, there is a special segment on Changing of the Guard at Arlington, with an explanation of all the different parts of the ceremony and what the parts represent. 

If you have ever thought that you would like to be a sculptor, the museum has a special supervised room with blocks of marble where you can use either a pneumatic chisel or a mallet and hand chisel to create your own works of art. I had planned to carve a complete nativity set, but I just make one of the lambs due to the hardness of the stone and the time involved in carving. When I told the supervising artisan that I enjoyed myself so much I might go home and become a full-time sculptor, he recommended that I not quit my day job first. 

There are numerous covered bridges in this area, so I stopped to photograph the Gorham and Cooley Covered Bridges that were on the road we were following just south of Pittsford..

Vermont is known for its maple syrup and the “biggest maple syrup jug around” is located at the New England Maple Museum in Pittsford. The museum also has displays and information on where maple syrup comes from and how it is produced. Other exhibits reveal how the raw product is extracted from the trees and how it is processed into syrup and sugar.