AUTUMN IN VERMONT

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is Jack Douglas we're driving through New England and one of the most beautiful of these United States the time is early September Indian summer the prelude to another unforgettable autumn in a week or two the youngsters will be back in school so we're going to have to hurry because there are things to see and things to do people to meet people to listen to people to talk to but above all else the majesty of autumn is at hand autumn in Verma city of Boston is the gateway to the northern New England states and as the crow flies it's only about a hundred and eighty-six miles from Boston to Montpelier Vermont capital while staying in are passing through Boston most vacationers take time out for a memorable and almost sacred site trip a visit to nearby Lexington and a chance to pay tribute to Lexington's Minutemen of the American Revolution and some words are never forgotten stand your ground don't fire unless fired upon but if they mean to have a war let it begin here here and at Concord it did begin the revolt of farmers and shopkeepers against the mighty European power [Music] [Applause] the Minutemen made their headquarters in Buckman tavern this attractive structure so well preserved to this very day also on the Lexington battleground a huge stone marker has been placed on the spot where the midnight ride of Paul Revere finally came to an end and this known as the Hancock Park house is where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were sleeping when aroused by the night writer from Boston but these are vacation memories for some other time right now we've decided to drive to Vermont enjoying Massachusetts and much of Vermont itself on route to the capital [Music] the Statehouse at Montpelier is among the most beautiful of all we've seen admiring the gold dome are these visitors from Evanston Illinois mrs. John Burke and mrs. Jerome McArdle and the youngsters in the bright sunlight it's hard to look at that golden dome without squinting where to stay when in Vermont well in the vicinity of Stowe the Trapp family Lodge is very well known yes the same Trapp Family Singers who at one time concert eyes throughout the world Maria Trapp her husband and children bought the chalet farm in 1941 later when their singing career ended they converted the chalet into a guest lodge now a sample of yesteryears by mother and daughter an Austrian yodel [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] per month was the last of the New England states to be settled than the earliest permanent settlement was established in 1724 here at Grand Isle some 60 years later Captain jet hide a veteran of the revolution built this cabin considered the oldest law cabin still standing in its original condition and various members of the Hyde family were to make this rustic cabin their home for nearly a hundred and fifty years and not the small delivery window also used as a rifle outpost most people marveled that a log cabin could survive the elements for nearly two centuries but toughness is an inborn characteristic of this Green Mountain country and its pioneers the Green Mountain Boys they call them during the revolution Ethan Allen was their famous leader and they sang a song which said in part we all know allegiance we bow to no throne our ruler is law and the law is our own it has been said that most great deeds have been performed in small places and near the town of Bennington took place the Battle of the same name General John Stark leading a combined New Hampshire and Vermont force shouted there are the Redcoats and they are ours for this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow this enormous monolith commemorates that historic Battle of August 16 1777 the tide was finally turned that day when Green Mountain Boys under the command of Colonel Seth Warner arrived on the scene overland from Manchester the Battle of Bennington was really the end of the road for General John gentlemen Johnny for Gorham seven weeks later Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga New York the Bennington monument reaches skyward 306 feet one of the largest stone struck cheers of its kind in America and elevator ride to the top attracts tens of thousands of sightseers each year and the elevator operates daily and Sunday's the mere mention of stone is enough to send us to Barry just a few miles southeast of Montpelier in this instance first impressions are deceiving for this quiet little community of about 12,000 is the site of the world's largest granite quarry the quarry has free guided tours daily except Sundays from May to October let's listen good afternoon ladies and gentlemen welcome on behalf of the Rock of Ages corporation they're standing on the edge of the world's largest monumental stone quarry this is one of a number of granite quarries owned and operated by the rock of ages' corporation throughout the United States and Canada in addition to this quarry we have two other fully operating rock of ages' quarries located on this hill we have quarries in Wisconsin Oklahoma Quebec New Hampshire and other parts of Vermont this quarry has been in operation for more than a hundred years it's 350 feet deep has a surface opening of 22 acres the quarry is a little over 1/4 of a mile from end to end the deposit we're working here runs approximately four miles in a north-south direction by two miles in an east-west direction the granite penetrates the earth for maximum depth of around 20 miles it's been estimated we can quarry here for the next 5,000 years before exhausting our supply yes we heard him correctly there's enough granite here to quarry for the next 5,000 years none of this isn't a rummage sale this is free granite and visitors are invited to take away as many chunks as they like most vacationers are satisfied with a souvenir chunk but you're welcome to all that your car and Pires can carry while you're in Bury you'll want to stop at the maple museum to sample the byproducts of Vermont's most famous export maple syrup while looking at these maple goodies you'll have to admit that this museum is really different and its owner John Shelby is known as the maple sugar man and your request he'll make up candy assortments spelling any name or greeting you want maple sugaring is one of America's first and most interesting industries listen each year in Vermont we cap about 2 and 1/2 million maple trees in the spring of the year to produce about 1/2 million gallons of maple syrup we tap only the sugar maple because there isn't enough sugar and the other maple trees to make it economically worthwhile the SAP starts running in the spring of the year when the Sun is high enough in late February or early March when we have warm days and freezing nights and during the day the Sun will warm the tops of the branches creating a vacuum and the SAP under pressure from the roots rushes up to fill the vacuum then at night the contracting of the branches causes the SAP to return to the roots this cycle may continue forth little as 2 or 3 days - as long as 6 weeks a tree has to be about 40 years old before it can be tapped and then it only produces an average of one quart of finished syrup per season and it takes about 40 gallons of sap to boil down to make one gallon of syrup the Indians were the first to discover maple syrup and they tap the trees by cutting the v-shaped gash in the tree and driving in the wooden peg at the bottom the SAP would run off the peg into containers which they made by hollowing out pieces of blog and here we would have one of the early kin Tanner's the next step was this handmade wooden spout and handmade wooden bucket this bucket had to be soaked for a couple of weeks each spring to tighten the stay so that it wouldn't leak this is the tin bucket which doesn't leak but it does have the disadvantage of rusting today on 85% of our Vermont farms with galvanized peel and spout issues and for the first time we have a cover to keep off the weeds twigs and other Lauren matter this is the plastic bag which has many advantages such as it has a foam cover it's light and weight and transparent so at a glance you can see how much SAP has been collected the one disadvantages that small animals such as chipmunks can shoe holes and that together to sweet SAP this is the plastic tubing which is still being experimented with a line of this size connects about 25 trees and then it runs into this larger tubing which runs into a central collecting station or sugarhouse the only trouble with the maple museum is that it's awfully hard to drag the youngsters away they get dreamy just looking at the samples so you decide to use a little diplomacy in other words you bribe them with a trip to Santa's land at Putney in the southern part of the state you tell yourself you're doing it just for the kids but before this day is over you'll be on who won't want to leave [Music] now watch this deer schmear it's my bottle that's right son [Music] [Applause] [Music] you leave Santa's land daydreaming of Christmas but once on the open highway again you're glad that this is autumn and not December but the meadows are free of snow and the trees are still heavy with richly colored leaves that have yet a few weeks to shimmer and shine before they fall for autumn like Christmas comes but once a year will continue the people who live in this Green Mountain State say that it's nice and big and small well the state is one of the ten smallest in size but since the population is less than half a million the natives feel that Vermont is as big as the big outdoors you can hike for hours and even days without seeing a trace of civilization no billboards no advertising just people like yourself such as this couple from New Jersey enjoying what Vermonters take for granted as you hike along you'll run into numerous artists such as mrs. Eileen Kemp I really enjoy getting out in the early fall to paint here in Vermont the trees are beginning to turn you're getting the bright red and some of the yellows it's really exciting it's only just till beginning of the the early autumn it begins to whet your appetite for what's to come a few months or a few weeks from now or other you'll begin to get the vivid Reds and the bright oranges and the yellows whether you are an amateur painter such as I aren't a professional Vermont is a wonderful place to paint [Music] and the base of the mountain trails you'll probably click your camera like crazy to take back home pictures you'll always want to remember a solitary fisherman with a pond all to himself the angler is Peters Tychus well I think without a doubt we've got the best fishing in Vermont here than you can find anywhere in New England we not only have darn good extreme fishing like this one but we have many ponds offering fishing not only for the expert but for the everyday vacationer we've got fishing for everyone in the family I think somebody could come to Vermont and spend their entire time entire vacation just fishing Pete is right hundreds of fishermen women as well as men come to Vermont and do absolutely nothing except fish one pond and stream after another you know Indian summer is the ideal season for riding the temperature is perfect but hard to describe unless you've experienced an Indian summer in New England smugglers stables instove are well-known especially in the New England states and the younger set think nothing of whizzing up from Connecticut in New York to spend an afternoon on horseback the rates are fairly reasonable $3 per hour and four dollars for lessons it seems to me that merely riding a horse could get kind of monotonous it's what you see that makes the right interest for example the hunters there are rambling brooks the ever-present carnival of colors and the hypnotic power of running water this is fellow Falls and listen take it in England er no Apple tastes quite as good as a free Apple when I lived in these parts this wasn't snitching we used to call it unrestricted hospitality and unrestricted hospitality is especially fashionable during Halloween when anything that isn't nailed down is liable to be missing it does taste good doesn't in Vermont the maple is the state tree and the state animal is the Morgan horse named after its breeder Justin Morgan of the early eighteen hundreds to reach the Morgan Horse farm you pass under this covered bridge near Middlebury he won't be blamed for stopping and taking a few snaps of the bridge in this quiet stream the Morgan horses bred at the farm are for sale and at least a few potential buyers are always on hand to size up the prospects this magnificent colt joyous by name is as green as they come but in the parlance of racetrack addicts the horse has a lot of class here's a magnificent freedom's effortlessly trotting the track [Music] the seven-year-old stud is a cantor and by coincidence his name is cantor I'm told by experts that this is almost flawless style [Music] the Morgan Horse farm in Middlebury welcomes visitors and there is no admission charge the Shelburne Museum is as different from ordinary museums as the maple Museum we saw earlier it's located on route 7 seven miles south of Burlington and once again a covered bridge is the entry point but this one is the only double lane covered bridge with a footpath in all Vermont this outdoor museum sprawls out over an area of 40 acres it features 33 old fashioned buildings and old steamboats and numerous other nostalgic reminders among the many buildings are an old jail and on the grounds of form of shameful punishment that vanished with colonial times this reconstructed lighthouse the Colchester reef light was built in 1871 Vermont doesn't have a coastline but it does have an authentic lighthouse typical of the many that dot the New England coastline it takes about six hours to tour the south door museum dedicated to memory lane but a jeep and trailer tour has been thoughtfully added for the foot wearing here in Drydocks so to speak is the old steam side wheeler the Ticonderoga she dates back to 1906 and incidentally they show a movie aboard ship describing how the Ticonderoga was hauled overland to this very spot well we have to move along but do make a note of the Shelburne museum on your Vermont vacation itinerary seven miles south of Burlington [Music] we're backtracking now to the town of Belo Falls better known as steam town us safe and from a distance the uninformed visitor might mistake it for a small industrial city but no steam town USA is a huge outdoor attraction devoted to steam trains of yesteryear and they're all here engines cabooses locomotives fire engines steam rollers honest al Jaques pottery of steam on wheels well the old timers have no trouble remembering and as for the youngsters why they have all the imagination necessary to play the part of KC Jones [Music] Vermont borders New York State and the Lake Champlain ferry services the two shorts there are numerous ferry crossings daily from half a dozen in May to about 18 during the peak of the summer season Champlain is a small and narrow like crossing from Burlington to port Canton New York lasts less than an hour [Music] good afternoon ladies and gentlemen this is Captain Henry Taft on the motor Russell Valcour taking you from Burlington to Fort Kent adjustments of 12 miles we hope that you have a very enjoyable trip and we thank you very much there were passing one of the Valkyries sister ships making the return trip the Adirondack and Lake Champlain is as blue as a deep blue sky thanks to this excellent ferry service you can visit two states and enjoy the beauties of the lake and its shoreline all in the space of an hour most vacationers making the crossing continue on motoring through New York State but whatever else they may see they'll not soon forget a delightful autumn in Vermont [Music] more of its hospitable people and Jocelyn's woodworking shop and berry for example we'll learn from mrs. Elizabeth Jocelyn why it's increasingly difficult for her husband to make the traditional and massive maple table from just one slab of wood or perhaps our next visit will find us here during the winter when the skiing is second to none during our autumn visit we scouted some of the better-known slopes from ski lifts and we can well understand why even people who don't ski walk here by the thousands to see the mountains and valleys covered with a soft blanket of white but in any season winter spring summer or autumn Vermont is always typically New England or as they say in the Vermont travel brochures versus every man's second state