Meandering Through Vermont

The two lane road through Vermont is scenic as it winds through quaint little towns. 

The town of Bennington is where Robert Frost is buried alongside his first wife and son. 
People often ask: Why is Robert Frost buried in Bennington?
In 1920, Frost came to live in Shaftsbury, Vt., the next town north of Bennington on Historic Rte 7A. He said, “I mean to plant a new Garden of Eden with a thousand apple trees of some unforbidden variety.”
Frost lived with his family in Shaftsbury during the height of his career as a poet until 1938, when his wife Elinor suddenly died. Mrs. Frost had always wanted her ashes scattered at their old farm in Derry, New Hampshire. After her death, Frost traveled to the farm he had sold 25 years before, when he had written a little poem called On the Sale of My Farm, which ends as follows “It shall be no trespassing if I come again some spring in the grey disguise of years,seeking ache of memory here.”

But when Frost returned to Derry to make arrangements, he found the place was run down and the owner unwelcoming. Discouraged, he returned home telling his children it would be a sacrilege to leave her ashes there. His poem Directive speaks of "..a house that is no more a house upon a farm that is no more a farm" ''..the children's house of make believe some shattered dishes underneath a pine..Weep for what little things could make them glad.." The urn was placed on a closet shelf at the stone house in Shaftsbury. If things had gone differently in Derry, Frost surely would have been buried somewhere else. Frost took two years to think about where to establish a family burial place.

'I had a lover's quarrel with the world'

(quote on Frost's grave)

Robert Frost is buried in Old Bennington Cemetery (behind the Old First Congregational Church), Vermont. Frost gave his last poetry reading in Boston in December 1962. On the following day he underwent surgery but suffered a heart attack which led to his death on January 29th 1963.

The town of Weston, set in the Green Mountains is in Windsor County, Vermont. It was quite charming with businesses and homes decked out for fall. The population was 566 at 2010 census.  It is the home of the famous Vermont Country Store, a catalogue, retail, and online business, established in 1946 by Vrest and Ellen Orton. If you can't find what you need at the store 

then check out their catalogue. 

  

But it was the jaw dropping moment that drew some audible gasps when in a nearby apple orchard we saw   

 stunning autumn hues.

Outside of the Apple Barn and Country Bake Shop it was quite festive looking with a variety of pumpkins, mums and squashes. I never knew there were white albino pumpkins. Here we encountered another friendly moose with the map of Vermont painted on its back. 

Even the backyard had an autumn setting with scarecrows scattered all amongst the pumpkin patch.

Refueling the group with apples and apple cider doughnuts made the trip even sweeter.

A nice reminder sign in the orchard to appreciate each day.

Next stop and next posting Stockbridge, home of Norman Rockwell, artist studio and museum and the famous Red Lion Inn.

Vermonters sure do like their pumpkin decorations!