The first thing to say is that in the UK I don’t usually eat doughnuts (UK spelling), as they tend to be over sweet and rather sickly. But on our New England road trip from Boston we had dropped into the ever popular Dunkin’ Donuts and been pleasantly surprised by their plain donut stick. When researching things to do in Vermont, the Green Mountain State, apple cider donuts kept coming up, and so I was on a mission.
Our favourite things to do in Stowe, Vermont – ride the gondola up Mount Mansfield for stunning views, wander Stowe Village and cross the covered footbridge for the classic church view, then drive 10 minutes to Cold Hollow Cider Mill for the famous apple cider donuts and a cider slushy.
Vermont is one of the six New England states, bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west and Quebec to the north. The Green Mountain State takes its name from the Green Mountains and the trees that fill this small state, the sixth smallest in the USA. We drove in from Lancaster, New Hampshire, about 1 hour 40 minutes to Stowe, passing through Montpelier on the way.
Exactly what the nickname promises – mountains, trees and rolling green farmland. We rolled past grazing dairy cows, red wooden barns and historic villages, and all those farms (many organic) make Vermont a foodie heaven of farm to table dining and farmers markets. We didn’t make it to Lake Champlain west of Stowe, but with over 1,200 square km of water and islands to explore, it looks a fantastic spot for hiking, biking and kayaking, and it is firmly on the list for next time.
First settled by the Abenaki, Vermont has an interesting history for a small state, including 14 years as an independent republic between 1777 and 1791. Today, alongside farming, tourism leads the way thanks to the ski slopes in winter and the colours in autumn.
Montpelier is Vermont’s capital and America’s smallest state capital, with only around 8,000 residents, and the only state capital without a McDonald’s. Passing through, we spotted the Vermont State House with its golden dome; we were too late for a tour, but apparently fossils of ancient sea creatures, quarried from the Champlain islands, are embedded in the black lobby floor.
Stowe sits in a broad valley at the foot of Vermont’s highest peak, and the drive in rolls through pastures of red barns and dairy cows. On the way we passed the Trapp Family Lodge, founded by the famous von Trapp family of The Sound of Music after they fled the Nazis in Austria; their influence explains the area’s Austrian eateries and the von Trapp Bierhall.
We booked The Lodge at Spruce Peak quite late, and it was our most expensive stay outside Boston, but it was wonderful – a large ski hotel with restaurants, bars, spa, pool, ski hire, and even a short pre gondola connecting to the main gondola up the mountain. Out of ski season it makes a lovely base for walking and leaf spotting, and we ate very well at the Tipsy Trout, the hotel restaurant.
Next morning we headed for the red gondola, past great photo props at the base station (a red gondola cabin and a giant pair of red skis), and rode the continuously moving cabins to the top of the ski slopes on Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak at 1,339 m, with pretty colours all the way up.
The views from the top were stunning, with a row of Adirondack chairs to sit and soak it all in. Facilities up top run to a waffle house, souvenir shop and cafe, and nothing else – just ski slopes and walking trails back down. No cider donuts here, just wonderful views.
Settled in 1794, Stowe Village is quintessential Vermont – historic clapboard buildings, independent shops and pretty window displays, dressed with pumpkins everywhere when we visited, and a High Street in a constant stream of cars chasing a parking space. We picked up pumpkin spiced lattes and croissants from the Black Cap Bakery opposite the white church and happily watched the world go by.
That white church is not the famous view, though. For the shot you know from social media, leave the main street and cross the covered pedestrian bridge over the river. Look back across the valley and there it is – the pencil thin steeple of Stowe Community Church rising out of the trees.
Ten minutes south of Stowe towards Waterbury sits Cold Hollow Cider Mill, where we had heard the best apple cider donuts could be found, and judging by the queue of cars for the car park, the rumours were true. There is a restaurant on site, plus a market style shop with a small museum at the back showing how the apples are pressed for cider. The smell of donuts frying filled the shop (not in a bad way!) while we browsed the food and merchandise; I loved the hats with the “Vermont to the core” logo.
We left with apple cider donuts and cider slushies in hand. The donuts were perfect, not too sweet (hurray!), and the slushies delicious. I had found exactly what I was looking for. Tick.
Just over the road in Waterbury is the Ben & Jerry’s factory, which you can tour. The iconic ice cream company was started in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who changed America’s ice cream culture with their fun flavours and names. We skipped the busy tour (after the donuts, ice cream felt like a burden!), but the Flavor Graveyard behind the factory is free to enter – a neat white picket fence ringing headstones for retired flavours, including Sugar Plum, their least successful flavour ever. Which one do you miss?
Continuing south towards Concord, New Hampshire, we detoured into the Mad River Valley, said to have some of the best colour around. It is another ski area, home to a vintage single chair lift from 1948, the last of its kind operating in New England, which runs foliage rides above the trees on Green and Gold weekends in September and October. We passed through on a Friday when it was closed, but the trees around the lift were stunning, some of the best colours of our whole trip, so no complaints.
Retracing our steps to the road south, we happened upon The Roots Farm Market and an incredible display of gourds – pumpkins of every colour, shape and size, with heirloom tomatoes and apples of all varieties inside. Absolutely gourd-geous!
In closing
Vermont really delivered in the short time we had - quintessential New England, all local businesses with barely a chain brand or billboard in sight, proving small really can be beautiful.
We would have loved longer, and it is firmly on the revisit list, with Lake Champlain top of the agenda. From here our New England fall road trip turned back towards Boston, via Lexington and Concord.
Vermont to the core!
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