Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
4. Tunbridge
Winters are cold here, as the high-stacked piles of firewood testify. Many farmers, seeking
ways to milk their cows without having to brave the brisk outdoors, have connected their
homes to their barns with rambling additions or enclosed walkways, simple but sure ex-
amples of Yankee ingenuity.
Covered bridges are another common sight in Vermont, and five of them can be found
in Tunbridge alone. (The town, though, was named for an 18th-century nobleman, not a
bridge.)Themostprominent woodenspanistheHoweBridge, southoftown.Dating from
1879, it is almost as old as Tunbridge's self-proclaimed World's Fair—a festival that has
been held each autumn since the 1860s. The celebration features such pastoral pleasures as
floral displays and fiddling contests.
5. Brookfield
At South Royalton, across the river from the white buildings of the Vermont Law School,
take Rte. 14 north to Royalton, a town that was burned to the ground in 1780 by raiding
British soldiers and Indians. Next you'll pass through three separate Randolphs: South,
East, and North. (There's also a Randolph Center and Randolph Village—a small indica-
tion of how Vermonters can make the most out of anything, even a name.)
InBrookfieldstopatSunsetLake,siteoftheannualIceHarvestFestival.Ifyou'rehere
the last weekend in January, you'll witness some of the area's hardiest residents using ice
saws and tongs as they demonstrate the old-time skill of carving out block ice.
Still waters run deep at Sunset Lake—so deep that it has been impractical to connect
the two sides of the lake with a conventional anchored bridge. The solution: a “floating
bridge” buoyed by almost 400 barrels. Its simplicity is a perfect match for the understated
beauty of Brookfield itself. The bridge is currently closed to automobiles, but visitors can
readily walk across.
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