| Monday we visited the
Bennington Battle Monument before leaving for West Dover.
The Monument is 306 feet 4 and 1/2 inches tall; the
cornerstone was laid in 1887, and the monument completed and
dedicated in 1891. It
is constructed from blue-gray magnesium limestone (known as
Sandy Hill Dolomite from present-day Hudson Falls, New York),
which is rough faced with the exception of two horizontal bands
near the observatory level. The base is 37 feet square and with a gradual diminishing
curve rises upward 168 feet where the rock-faced stone changes
to a smooth horizontal belt course of 8 feet; above this is a
band of rock-faced stone punctuated by twenty, eleven-foot
slotted openings at the observation level.
From this level, now reached by an elevator, can be seen
the valleys and rolling hills of Vermont, New York and
Massachusetts. Above
the windows is an additional smooth belt course of 13 feet from
which soars, uninterrupted but diminishing more rapidly, the
final stone portion of 101 feet, 10 and 1/2 inches to the apex,
which is surmounted by a bronze and gilt ten-point star adding
the final 4 feet 6 inches to the Monument’s height.
The points of the star are each 18 inches long and serve
as a lightning rod for the monolith, the tallest structure in
the State of Vermont.
Leaving the Bennington
Battle Monument we continued east on route 9 to Wilmington then
north on route 100 to West Dover, Vermont.
After checking in at the Grand Summit Hotel we headed for
our 2-bedroom Condo located on the mountainside about
“one-quarter” mile from the Hotel.
All settled in with a lot of daylight left, we choose to
do the Shelburne Loop Ride Monday evening.
This Loop passes through Wilmington and Jacksonville,
Vermont en-route to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.
Points of interest along the way include the North River
Winery and the Rainsville Trading Post. Leaving Shelburne Falls, we traveled the Mohawk Trail west
passing by the Mohawk Teepee Big Indian Shop and the Golden
Eagle Restaurant to North Adams, Massachusetts.
Turning north we traveled highway 8 back to Jacksonville
then highway 100 back to West Dover.
This was a very scenic 99-mile Loop and a great
motorcycle ride. Monday
evening we checked-in at Rally Headquarters then attended the
“new members” seminar.
We visited the Quechee
Gorge Village (near White River Junction) in Quechee, Vermont
Tuesday. Quechee
Gorge Village, located in the heart of the Quechee Gorge, was
originally established in 1985 as a Woodsman Museum, Country
Store, and Antique Mall. It has evolved into one of the premier shopping attractions
in the state of Vermont, featuring antiques, collectibles, and
craft dealers like Cabot Quechee Store, Danforth Pewter, The
Vermont Toy & Train Museum, Route 4 Glassblowing Studio, The
Farmers Diner, Frozen Memories, Vermont Spirits Distilling Co.,
Allen Olmsted Furnishings, Deirdre Donnelly Jewelry Art, Quechee
Country Store, Tha Silk & Co., Whisper Hill Bath & Body,
Putney Mountain Winery and more!
Later we visited the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory
in Waterbury, Vermont. The
factory tour was very impressive and we received a sample of a
favorite flavor upon completing the tour.
We also spent some time in the gift shop and found a few
items of interest. Leaving
Ben and Jerry’s at 5 pm with a forecast of rain and a 160-mile
ride home, we decided to take the Interstate to save time.
However, about 30 miles prior to Brattleboro, Vermont
with about 60 miles left to ride the rain came gushing down.
It was a somewhat “20-mile tense ride” from
Brattleboro to Wilmington, Vermont, as we crossed Hog Back
Mountain in the rain and darkness on a curvy 2-lane mountain
road. We were
thankful to make a safe arrival about 9 pm. |
We had scheduled to visit the Old Country Store in Weston,
Vermont Wednesday. This
is an old-time country store filled with thousands of
hard-to-find goods that has charmed folks since 1946.
They even had a Columbia bicycle with a headlight,
taillight, luggage rack, mirrors, sprung front end, and a
locking fork to keep it from being ridden when parked
unattended. It was
suspended from the ceiling and I saw the key in the lock.
You can leave the hustle and bustle behind and take a
leisurely stroll down memory lane as you discover delectable
Vermont cheeses, rows of jars filled with penny candy, and such
brands from the past as Tangee® Lipstick, Buster Brown Socks,
and Tinkertoys®. Shopping will make you hungry, so don't miss
our Bryant House Restaurant for lunch and dinner or Mildred's
Dairy Bar for a quick bite.
Be sure to take extra time to stroll around the charming,
historical village of Weston and visit the highly acclaimed
Weston Playhouse as well as several museums and art galleries.
After cruising through the store for some time we had a
nice lunch at the Bryant House Restaurant next door.
Leaving Weston, we returned south on route 100 to
Jamaica, Vermont then took route 30 south to Brattleboro.
Our goal was to ride Hog Back Mountain in the daylight on
dry pavement and do a little playing in the curves.
Goal Complete……! Lance Oliver a Moto Journalist from West Virginia who
currently lives in Ohio conducted a nice presentation Wednesday
evening relating to his motorcycle travels over the past 30
years. He
contributed articles to the American Motorcyclists Association
(AMA) magazine for many years.
Having been an AMA member for over 22 years I recall
reading many of his articles.
Lance wrote a book titled “The Ride So Far” that was
published by the White Horse Press in 2010. Even though I have already read many of the trips included in
his book (in my AMA magazines), I still wanted to add Lance’s
book to my motorcycle-reading library.
Thursday we crossed
the mountain on a different route going through Dover, East
Dover and Williamsville to route 30 then south to Brattleboro,
Vermont. There is a
neat one-lane covered bridge in Williamsville.
These are unincorporated towns, no traffic signals, no
stores, no gas stations or anything else except a very few
houses that can be counted on your hands. We did see an “old country store” building in
Williamsville that had been closed for several years according
to a local resident. He
said everyone was quite upset when it closed.
From Brattleboro we rode south on route 5 through
Greenfield, Massachusetts then the Mohawk Trail west to
Shelburne Falls to visit the Bridge of Flowers. The bridge was originally constructed in 1908 to carry
trolley tracks 400 feet across the Deerfield River. When trolley
service ended in 1928, the bridge was neglected and soon became
an eyesore. In
1929, the Shelburne Falls Fire District purchased the bridge,
since it carried water mains across the river and, at the
impetus of town residents Walter Burnham and his wife; a
fundraising drive was launched to turn the bridge into a
beautiful garden pathway. A
local businesswoman and Woman's Club member, Gertrude Newall,
was named the bridge's first "gardener," a post she
held for 30 years. In 1983, the bridge underwent a massive half-million-dollar
renovation to ensure its continued longevity.
All plants were removed from the bridge during the
renovations, and, in 1984, the bridge reopened to the public,
newly designed by Shelburne Falls horticulturalist Carrolle
Markle. The design
still features Wisteria vines that were kept growing during the
reconstruction by members of the volunteer Bridge of Flowers
Committee and returned to their original spots on the bridge. A paid gardener and assistant and volunteers |
from theCommittee and
the Woman’s Club currently maintain the Bridge of Flowers.
More than 20,000 people stroll its blooming expanse each
year, and care is taken to ensure that from the time the tulips
pop up in April until the mums mark the end of New England's
fall flowering season that something spectacular is always in
bloom. If you spot an intriguing plant on your visit, check for a
marker, as many of the rare and historical plantings are
labeled. While
there is no charge to meander across the Bridge of Flowers, bird
house donation boxes at both ends help to fund the maintenance
of the bridge: 80 percent of the annual operating budget comes
from these donations and memorial gifts.
Friday we
just had to ride the mountain road again through the covered
bridge en-route to Brattleboro where we would take Interstate 91
north to Windsor, Vermont.
There were two attractions of interest in Windsor, The
American Precision Museum and the Cornish Toll Bridge.
However, there was no toll required for crossing the
bridge.
The American
Precision Museum is located in the old Robbins and Lawrence
Armory and Machine Shop that was built in 1846.
It is an attractive example of nineteenth century
American industrial architecture.
Located on Mill Brook the Machine Shop was originally
powered by a water wheel. During
the Civil War, 50,000 rifles were made for the Union armies.
The building was turned over to the American Precision
Museum, Inc. in 1966. The
organization is now developing the Armory as an industrial
Museum illustrating the history of machine tools and their
products. They have a machine that can make all the screws used to
assemble a Waltham pocket watch.
There are also many firearms (rifles and pistols) on
exhibit. Just a few
examples of what is on display.
The Cornish Toll Bridge was constructed in 1866
and cost $9,000. It
spans the Connecticut River connecting the towns of Windsor,
Vermont and Cornish, New Hampshire.
The bridge is 449 feet long, 24 feet wide and 12 feet 9
inches high. There
are two spans of 204 and 203 feet and the maximum weight limit
is ten tons. You
ride on wide wooden planks that no doubt are quite slippery when
wet.
We rode 900
miles on state roads such as (2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 30, 100, 103,
106, 112 and 131) during the week.
There are lots of beautiful scenic views in Vermont.
Even though
the weather forecast was somewhat negative several days while in
Vermont, we only had serious rain Tuesday evening when returning
from Ben and Jerry’s.
Leaving
Saturday morning we traveled the big highways with a lunch stop
in Milford, Pennsylvania. Leaving
Milford we traveled south on route 209 through the Delaware
Water Gap to East Stroudsburg then on to the big highways again.
We encounter very hard rain around Wilmington, Delaware
then stopped at our son’s house in Newark, Delaware for a
much-needed break.
Later we
continued on and arrived home Saturday evening the 13th
of August after traveling 1,776 enjoyable and safe miles.
Dave Bohrer
|
