Entering Vermont's Northeast Kingdom

Quote: Located about seven hours from New York City, the Northeast Kingdom offers a glimpse of a time when life was a little slower and people took the time to enjoy everyday. Not to imply that they are locked into the past, you will find all the modern conveniences.

We made our base in Barnet, which is 10 miles south of St. Johnsbury. Barnet is a village with a beautiful white church and very little else. What we did find there was the Old Homestead Bed and Breakfast, and since we were traveling with our grandson Brandon we needed a place that would accommodate him. What I found was that even the motels were more costly than the B&B where we would get to meet people and have a delicious breakfast and a warm welcome for a child.

St. Johnsbury was founded in 1790 and named, at the suggestion of Ethan Allen, for the French Counsel Hector St. Jean de Crevecouer. It was the counsel who suggested making it St Johnsbury instead of the more common St John. To this day, St. Johnsbury, VT, is the only St. Johnsbury in the world.

What the Carnegie’s were to Pittsburgh, the Fairbanks were to St. Johnsbury. Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scale and it was the basis for the family fortune. Like many other wealthy families the Fairbanks didn’t forget their hometown. The company financed the St. Johnsbury Academy which is still one of the finest private schools in the country. The Athenaeum and its Art Gallery were donated by Horace Fairbanks and the Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science grew from the collection of Franklin Fairbanks.

Quick Tips:

When planning a visit to the Northeast Kingdom I found these websites helpful. At www.travelthekingdom.com.
It is an excellent site that offers suggestions for dining, events, attractions and places to stay.

Another site worth visiting is the Chamber of Commerce for the Northern Kingdom at www.nekchamber.com. It also has lots of suggestions from members of the local chamber about things to do places to eat and where to stay.

We spent the afternoon entertaining ourselves and Brandon in downtown St. Johnsbury.

The Atheneum and Art Gallery this National Historic Landmark was designed by John Davis Hatch III in the Second Empire Style. It was built by Lambert Packard, a local builder who is responsible for many of the finest buildings in the area, to be a public library. The woodwork and carving in the reading room and stacks are just stunning. From its humble beginnings with a collection of 8,000 books it has grown to over 45,000 volumes today. In 1873, Horace Fairbanks acquired the monumental work by Albert Bierstadt entitled "The Domes of Yosemite" and it was around this painting that he had his Art Gallery designed. Enhanced by gifts from other members of the Fairbanks family, the collection grew from a few dozen to over 100 works. Some are copies of famous European works purchased during the "Grand Tour’ with Rembrandt, Raphael, and Van Dyke represented. Beyond that, there are many works by Americans from the Hudson Valley School as well as European works from the same period.

Fairbanks Museum This is a fascinating natural history museum with a wide selection of taxidermal animals as well as items from around the world. It is small when compared with the museums we have visited in Boston or Philadelphia, however, the collection is certainly interesting enough to entertain for an hour or so. What I liked the best was the local history section with a nice section about the Civil War and some interesting old pictures and maps.

St. Johnsbury is a charming city with an attractive, old fashioned Main St. We were very impressed with Elements, the Restaurant where we had dinner. They use local products to prepare their amazing food and they are of equal quality with the best restaurants we have ever eaten at.

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transportation is non-existent in this area of Vermont. You will need your car or need to rent a car. If you are coming from NYC, you will be best served taking Interstate 95 to Interstate 91. From the Boston area, Interstate 93 to Interstate 91. From Montreal, Highway 10 to 55 to Interstate 91. Once you arrive in the area, Route 5 offers many scenic options. This is a road that we travel just for fun every year for at least 20 or 25 miles to break up our trip.

The area has no major airport but smaller planes can find airfields at Pond Island, Newport, and Lyndonville. Major airports are located in Burlington, VT, which is about 1½ hours away, and at Montreal which is two hours away. Both areas will also offer car rentals.

Downtown St. Johnsbury offers on-street parking with meters. We were able to park right across the street from both the Athenaeum and the Fairbanks'. Across from the Fairbanks Museum there were no meters, parking was free.

Quote: Located in the peaceful village of Barnet, VT, the Homestead B&B has it’s own homey charm. Our room was located on the second floor and was reached by climbing some very steep stairs. The room itself is good sized with a king bed and also a love seat that turns into a single bed which was perfect for us since we were traveling with Brandon, our grandson. There are hooks on the wall for anything you might want to hang up and also an open closet (more of a niche in the wall.) There is also an antique dresser with a doily on top. Two luggage racks are provided for those who are luggage challenged.

With this room you also have two porches, one screened and one with windows. It gave us lovely views of the backyard and the very pretty flower gardens. The porches both have seating areas and there was a small table and chairs in the glassed-in one. I sat there with my computer and was able to get some work done. We had arranged with Gail to arrive a little outside of her target time 4-6pm and she was there to greet us with a smile when we arrived. Brandon’s bed even had two stuffed animals waiting which was a very nice touch. It is not always easy to find a B&B that is willing to tolerate children and here they are made to feel very welcome and Gail encouraged Brandon to go out and explore in her expansive yard.

The bathroom is basic with a shower and toilet and plenty of towels. The pedestal sink was located within the bedroom. The bed was very comfortable and covered in a white spread with floral shams and king sized pillows, there was a chenille throw if you want to lie down and not mess up the bed. Al had an end table with a lamp on his side of the bed, I had a small table covered with a floral cloth. There is a large ceiling fan as well as lighting on the ceiling and two other lamps around the room. The floors are wide wooden boards and are covered with a carpet in the center and several throw rugs around. The feeling is warm and comfortable and you would think that you are visiting a member of your family.

This is a traditional B&B where you come to get away from the stress and the hustle and bustle of daily life. There are no TVs, telephones, or WiFi in your room. At first it scared me but reading and relaxing is a very good thing.


Breakfast is served between 8am and 9am, family style. Great attention is paid to any allergies you may have and no wheat or eggs were used in the delicious pineapple upside-down cake we had.

For those who may have difficulty with stairs there is one bedroom located on the first floor.

Quote: Located in a former factory building, this restaurant is as upscale and sophisticated as any you would find in Boston or New York. We were amazed and delighted. I didn’t just happen upon this restaurant, I did my homework and it jumped out at me as the best choice in the area. I was not disappointed.

We arrived at 4:30pm. The restaurant opens at 5pm but the bar is open at 4pm so we sat down at a table to get a drink while we were waiting for them to open. Our drinks were served with homemade potato chips which were a foreshadowing of the excellent food we would receive later in the restaurant. The bar is backed up by glass blocks which give it an open feel, they don’t go all the way to the ceiling. The ceiling is wood beams with hanging copper lights, it still has the ambiance of a factory building just better and brighter.

We began our meal with a basket of homemade bread and dipping oil. We know it was homemade because we saw it coming out of the oven. The staff puts on quite a show tossing the bread from the oven with a wooden paddle to another server who caught it and placed it on a shelf. There was a whole line of these fresh beauties.

We were very surprised to find that they had a children’s menu and are very child friendly. It only had three items on it but given what kids usually eat they had covered all their bases. Brandon ordered the chicken fingers which are served with fries and the tiniest of baby green beans.

I ordered an Element salad and the red curry mussels. Al ordered the steak and fries. We decided to share an order of calamari. I know I have said this before but yet again I think I may have just eaten the best calamari ever. Great breading, tender texture, and the best roasted red pepper aioli. If I had any complaint it would be that there were more tentacles than rings but these tentacles were so good and so tender that I ate them without hesitation.

The salad came first and was simple, with a maple vinaigrette dressing but the local produce make it so fresh you notice the difference.

The meals just blew us away. The mussels were tiny but so tender and tasty that I wished I had twice as many to eat. The red curry sauce was divine and thank goodness they gave me two pieces of toasted sourdough bread so I could soak it up. Al’s steak was cooked exactly as ordered and when I asked his comment was “perfect”, that says it all. Make sure you try their fries, they are excellent.

Brandon had chocolate gelato for dessert served in an edible cone bowl. It was yummy. We loved Elements. The food was outstanding, the service was flawless and the prices were right on. Five stars from me!

Quote: Located on Main Street, this magnificent Second Empire building was designed by John Davis Hatch for Horace Fairbanks in 1871 as a public library. Mr. Fairbanks gifted it to the people of St. Johnsbury. Horace was the nephew of Thaddeus Fairbanks who invented the platform scale and was a partner in the company his uncle had founded. Described by Time Magazine as "The oldest unaltered art gallery still standing in the United States," the Gallery at the Atheneum was added in 1873. It originally housed a goodly number of copies of old masters that had been acquired by the Fairbanks on their various trips to Europe. The determining factor in the design of the gallery, however, was the acquisition of the monumental painting by Albert Bierstadt entitled ‘The Domes of the Yosemite”.

This painting originally graced the Rotunda of the Lockwood Mansion in Norwalk, CT. When the owner Lagrand Lockwood died, his widow needed to sell part of his estate to meet expenses and she sold the Bierstadt to the Fairbanks. It has remained here since that time and still today members of the Lockwood family come to check up on “their” painting.

There will be a docent in the gallery to answer any questions as well as guide books that you may use to identify the paintings, they are also for sale if you want to learn more about the Athenaeum. If you have the time there is an eight-minute headphone tour if you choose to take it. It is worth listening to but do talk to the docents, they have lots of stories to tell and are more than willing to share them with you. They are also very child friendly. One story that I particularly liked has to do with Mr. Fairbanks portrait which hangs in the Fiction Room, look closely at his feet I won’t tell you any more, you will just have to go to see for yourself.

Beyond the old master copies and the Bierstadt there is a very nice collection of American Hudson River paintings as well as other pictures that would have been painted contemporary with Mr. Fairbanks' life. I particularly like the painting by John George Brown “Hiding in the Old Oak” it shows three young girls hiding within the trunk of the tree. Until recently, it was thought that there were two girls but when the painting was cleaned the third one became visible deeper within the tree.

Keep in mind that this is still a public library and the book collection here is quite amazing. Originally consisting of 8,000 volumes, it now has over 45,000. Like most public libraries they also have Internet access on the second floor.
This building is worth visiting just to look at all the magnificent woodwork. Entrance is $5 for adults (children under 17 are free) to visit the gallery and none of the pictures anywhere in the Athenaeum may be photographed.

There is metered parking on the street.

Quote: This museum traces it beginings from the personal collections of amateur naturalist Franklin Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Museum has been delighting the residents of St. Johnsbury for over 100 years. Franklin hired architect Lambert Packard to build a museum of natural science. The result is a sandstone Romanesque building that resembles a castle with turrets as much as a museum. It was dedicated in 1890 and, by 1894, it had to be extended to accommodate the ever-growing collection.

Franklin, together with taxidermist William Balch, created a collection of mounted animals that to this day is the finest in northern New England. There is street parking in the area and we didn’t have any trouble finding a spot right across the street. Just a note, in Vermont they take crosswalks very seriously and as soon as you step into it all traffic will stop, it was a very nice surprise.

Entrance into the Museum was $6 for adults and $5 for children with a family total of $18. The building itself is large but the museum compared to many we have visited is relatively small. Your attention is attracted right away by the magnificent bears. They are very realistic and one of them has a very ferocious snarl.

We found out right away that Brandon has been to the Natural History Museum in Boston and he was unimpressed by the fantastic collection of stuffed birds. I found the peacock to be quite outstanding and the owls were beautiful. The hummingbirds filled several cases and I had no idea that they came in that many colors and varieties. Brandon also was unimpressed by the bison; his comment was "I have seen bigger," and the moose left him cold. Rest assured however, this museum isn’t a bust, we got his attention back as soon as we got to the bald eagle and the Bengal tiger.

The second floor is reached by climbing some very steep circular stairs and is not for the faint of heart or the bad of knees. Here we enter a totally different world. Beginning near the north end on the east side we came across a fine collection of dolls and historic toys. There are over 1000 dolls and accessories. Some of them are baby dolls and others are ethnic dolls. About 750 of these dolls were donation to the museum by Marguerite White

There are small collections of items from Egypt, India, and many other countries. Being a typical boy, Brandon was enthralled by the exhibits of weapons. Daggers and sabers and also some fine guns. The second floor consists of two balconies that overlook the lower level. On the west side we have historic items. There are early maps of St. Johnsbury and also a nice exhibit of St. Johnsbury’s role during the Civil War. Among their treasures are the drumsticks of a 12-year-old named Willie Johnston who enlisted as the Company D Vermont regiment's drummer. At age 13 he was awarded the nation's highest honor.