I never feel like I’m in Vermont unless I visit a tiny small town so I took a brief break from helping my cousin build a yurt on his land outside Waterbury to visit two tiny and lovely small towns.
Warren has a handful of pristine white 19th century classic Vermont buildings – church with a steeple, general store with worn floors and pricey goods, from vermonty things (maple syrup ) to imported French ceramic chickens, and the lovely Pitcher Inn (which locals report has a very good restaurant). The general store also has baked goods, fried chicken, sandwiches (soup of day: vichyssoise.) Its also home to Warren Falls, one of Vermont’s favorite swimming holes. A small waterfall with water cascading down boulders runs behind the inn and general store.
A little further north on route 100 is Waitsfield, which has a good artisans gallery, a covered bridge and a popular river swimming and tubing spot. A flatbread place serves good pizza. This is the Mad River valley near sugar bush ski area. Very lush green fields, winding roads, gentle mountains.
We came here to help my cousin build a yurt on his land in Duxbury, in the woods high above a refreshing pond. It’s hard and unfamiliar work, lugging wood planks, sawing, drilling, hammering, but fun to be working along side other family and friends. I’ve learned how to use an electric drill to insert screws and how to plane wood boards (smoothing down the sharp edges.) and how to team up to pull a tarp over the rising yurt during a sudden downpour.
I emerge from the woods with a damp saw-dust-flecked t-shirt. There’s been 10-20 of us, from vermont, Montreal, Connecticut, DC, Chicago; kids playing in the woods and pond;, dogs demanding to be thrown sticks; communal meals where we rest, eat surprisingly well, gaze out at the green field, pond, woods, sometimes threatening clouds, and get to know each other.
TakeBetsywithyou 