Country Roads, quaint towns, green forests...

Vermont is the perfect palette for a watercolor workshop

Story and photographs by Kris Grant

Last August, I was enrolled in a watercolor class at a country inn in the picturesque village of Landgrove in south-central Vermont.

Aah, Vermont! The Green Mountain state, where three-fourths of the land is covered in a carpet of forests, dotted with more than 600 lakes and ponds. Even better, I found myself painting in a spot that was featured in one of my favorite all-time films, the 1987 rom-com, Baby Boom.

You all remember that movie, don’t you? In the middle of the night, “Tiger Lady” J.C. Wiatt (Diane Keaton) gets a phone call with a very bad connection, informing her that her distant cousin from England has passed away, but has left her a package at the airport. J.C. excitedly heads to the terminal to retrieve this unexpected inheritance, which turns out to be… Baby Elizabeth! Immediately overwhelmed with motherhood, J.C. quickly finds herself sans boyfriend, and is soon out of a job as well. What to do, what to do!? While still in her ultra-modern Manhattan apartment, J.C. flips through a magazine and spies a dreamy Vermont farmhouse with an apple orchard for sale. She immediately decides to cash out and head north, cooing to young Elizabeth, “It’ll be just like the Farmer in the Dell.”

Despite encountering every setback at her new (old) home from a dried-up well to a rotted roof that caves in with the first snowfall, J.C. perseveres. She begins cooking and canning loads of applesauce, which becomes the first product of her “Country Baby” food line, and she meets the man of her dreams, town veterinarian, Dr. Jeff Cooper (Sam Shepard.)

Now, back to my travel story. My visit to Vermont, too, was just like the Farmer in the Dell. Sam Shepard wasn’t there (darn it), but I did enjoy a lot of maple syrup!

Welcome to the Landgrove Inn

From time to time, I’ve gone on watercolor workshop adventures with Doris Rice, who comes to Coronado every spring to teach plein air (a French word meaning “in the open air”) painting. I’ve also participated in Doris’s workshops in Tuscany, Italy; Costa Rica and Santa Fe, New Mexico and visited her on occasion at her home and studio in North Hampton, New Hampshire.

Her workshop at Vermont’s Landgrove Inn was one of my favorites, and it’s one of Doris’s faves as well. “It’s a great spot to teach a class, we have so many comforts,” she says. “Creating a sense of community happens so easily when we stay in one inn, dine together and paint together.”

The Landgrove Inn, circa 1810, was once a farmhouse for a dairy, then a ski lodge and today operates as an inn that also offers art and yoga workshops throughout the year.

a couple of gents will participate, and sometimes spouses come along for the ride. Getting to the Landgrove Inn is relatively easy, especially with GPS. Suffice it to say, it’s off Route 7 and Route 11 and some even smaller country roads. As I drove down Landgrove Road, I passed a few barns, contented cows grazing in meadows, and mighty appealing country homes. Then I spotted the inn’s bright red with white trim exterior, and its welcome sign with a drawing of a sleigh and horses and the words “The Soul of Vermont.” Oh yeah, this would be perfect!

diamond trails.) It was sold again in 1959 and expanded. The present owner and innkeeper Tom Checciah and his late wife Maureen purchased the inn in 2000 and in 2005 added a 50-by-30 foot post-andbeam studio at the rear of the property, with the idea offering art workshops. That idea really took off and today the inn offers 35 art workshops and a few yoga workshops each season and is adding some in the winter season this year and next. Sadly, Tom lost Maureen in 2020, but he is supported by a loyal staff and buoyed by guests, many of whom return year after year.

Tom greeted me at the check-in desk and, hearing that I was a writer, arranged for a room just above the reception area where I could pick up the Internet signal. (They don’t come easy in these off-the beaten track locales.) This part of the inn was original and I had to laugh at the steep stairs up to my room. By the way, many of the 16 rooms at the inn are easily accessible, with several on the first floor. But my room itself was spacious and lovely with windows that looked out over the property and the pond beyond.

I met up with Doris and my fellow painters in the inn’s original tavern with dark wood paneled walls, fireplace and comfortable sofas and rocking chairs. I grabbed one of the rockers and a glass of wine and soon made the acquaintance of painters who mostly hailed from other parts of New England and upstate New York.

At six, we made our way to the dining room, where we would gather for breakfast and dinner over the next four days and evenings. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every meal was delicious. Is there such a thing as gourmet comfort food? Each dinner included a choice of the soup of the day or salads, plus homemade desserts, like bread pudding and apple strudel. Each night we had a choice of six entrees that included such offerings as Crispy Roast Duckling with Raspberry Sauce, Prime Rib au jus, Vermont Maple Pork Chops, Thai Curry Haddock, Beef Short Ribs over Mashed Polenta, Pappardelle Alfredo or Chicken Saltimbocca.

My Landgrove Inn dinner entrees included (from top) Baked Salmon with Rémoulade Sauce, Crispy Duck with Raspberry Sauce, Prime Rib au jus, and Short Ribs over Mashed Polenta.

The village of Landgrove, says Tom, is probably just 150 people. “Most of the homes here are second homes,” he said. Many of the local residents, full time and seasonal, plus residents from Londonderry, Peru, Weston and other little towns you’ve never heard of, frequently enjoy dinners at Landgrove. Tom says Chef Chris Strecker’s osso bucco is “absolutely the best!” I must try it on my next visit!

Each day, our group would paint outside at settings around the inn – by the pond, on the patio, or we’d walk around the neighborhood – choosing a subject. One day I chose to paint an old rustic barn, and you can see the results here. I’m particularly proud of my weather vane.

Another day we drove about three miles to the town of Peru that was basically a church, a store and a park. Charming little venue. It wasn’t until weeks later when I was back home that, just out of curiosity, I Googled the movie Baby Boom. I wondered if they had actually shot the movie in Vermont.

An old barn in Landsdown, a block from the inn.

My painting of said barn.

Back in the studio, Doris critiqued my work and made gentle suggestions on how I might complete it. Till next time, Doris!

I was ecstatic to discover that Peru was the stand-in for the movie’s fictional town of Hadleyville, where J.C. Wiatt and little Elizabeth settled! There’s an “establishing shot” of the town: an overhead that shows J.C.’s station wagon rolling into town, past the park and past the church I had just painted. It was so satisfying to know that I had indeed found the heart of Vermont, validated by the fact that writer Nancy Meyers chose this spot for filming! This was one of Meyers’ earliest films, which she produced

with her former husband Charles Shyer. Meyers is one of my favorite writers, who also brought us such hits as The Holiday, Something’s Got to Give, The Intern and It’s Complicated. Meyers is very particular about settings, such as the interiors of the Cape Cod home in Something’s Got to Give, which coincidentally (?) also starred Diane Keaton along with Jack Nicholson. Turns out that the Vermont house that J.C. Wiatt purchased is a real house, also in Peru, up a dirt road. I read online that it has a lawn sign (that probably gets buried in snow each winter) that identifies it as the Baby Boom house. The film’s farmhouse interiors were all shot on Hollywood sets. Apparently, several of the townsfolk, saluted by the movie crew as friendly and outgoing, were recruited as extras in the film. I imagine those Peruvians were excited in the same way Coronado residents turned out to watch the 1958 filming of Some Like It Hot.

The church in Peru and fellow artist Joanna Ravgiala’s painting.

The J.J. Hapgood general store in Peru was featured in the movie Baby Boom, although not by its name.

Weston and The Vermont Country Store

We drove six miles down Landgrove Road to descend into the bucolic town of Weston, where we painted for a day at the former gristmill, which is attached to the Old Mill Museum, and across the street at the Vermont Country Store.

The Old Grist Milll in Weston and Doris Rice’s resulting painting.

Weston is an absolutely adorable hamlet, with an 1832 Old Parish Church, waterfall, and central park with gazebo. Cold Spring Brook flows down into the town. At one time, there were two dams on the stream, but in 2011 during tropical storm Irene, the lower dam was breeched and declared unrepairable. So, in 2019, the brook was restored to its original stream course, with new trees and shrubs, and the result is a beautiful and serene Cold Stream Brook Memorial Park.

The town’s business district, across from the park is about two blocks long, if that. There’s a Village Green Gallery and Weston Village Store, but the granddaddy of the town is the Vermont Country Store. I get their catalogue in the mail three times a year, and love the nostalgic and practical items packed inside. There are old-time candies, Lanz Tyrolean nightgowns, café curtains, and brands from the past, like Tangee lipstick, White Shoulders Eau de Cologne, Teaberry gum and Packer’s Pine Tar soap. There are toys I remember from my childhood, like a tin kaleidoscope, an eight-volume Nancy Drew book collection and a Duncan 1955 Super Tournament Replica yo-yo.

It’s all there beautifully displayed in settings that include authentic items from yesteryear such as cast iron tubs, potbelly stoves and antique stoves.

Next to the store is Mildred’s Restaurant, (named after founder Mildred Orton), offering burgers made with local grass-fed beef, mac and cheese, salads, and grilledcheese sandwiches, including Mildred’s ham-and-cheddar melt. There’s also a walkup window for snacks and ice cream cones, where I enjoyed a maple creemee (that’s what they call soft serve in these parts) and they use real maple syrup. Oh so good!

The entire town, population 623, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was incorporated in 1799 and by 1859 was a thriving community of 950, with sawmills, the gristmill, two tanneries, and woodworkers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights and shoemakers. The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, still going strong today, was founded in 1935.

Let me tell you a bit about the history of the Vermont Country store. This catalogue, retail and e-commerce business was established here in 1946 by Vrest and Mildred Ellen Orton.

Vrest’s father and his father-in-law owned a general store, the Teachout-Orton store, in North Calais, Vermont, and Vrest’s warm memories of that store never left him.

What a life Vrest led! He accomplished so much before he ever opened this store! After serving as a medic in France during World War I, Vrest moved to New York City and worked as a publicist for H. L Mencken’s American Mercury magazine, Alfred Knopf publishers, the Saturday Review of Literature, and Life magazine. He wrote articles on many American writers and became friends with poet Robert Frost, Theodore Dreisser, H. P. Lovecraft and Sinclair Lewis. He attended Harvard University and Brown University, but as much as I could ascertain, only briefly at each.

He finally proclaimed that he disliked New York and returned to Vermont and in 1936 married Vermont native Mildred Ellen Wilcox. The Ortons purchased a home in Weston, where Vrest established a publishing company (he wrote several books on writers and Vermont) and also founded The Colophon, a bibliophiles’ magazine.

During World War II, Vrest worked for the Pentagon as a speechwriter and publicist; at that time he developed and nurtured the idea of opening a store and mail-order business. In 1945, the Ortons bought a former country inn and founded the business on the property. Based on fond memories of his father’s business, the store and catalogue featured foods and specialty items that had largely disappeared from modern store shelves, but were fondly remembered by Vrest (and the American public, as it turned out!). The Ortons’ first catalogue called “The Voice of the Mountains” was mailed out in 1946 to 3,000 people, many of whom were on Mildred’s Christmas card list!

I share this information because I believe Vrest’s intellect – his love of language, literature and respect for his Vermont heritage – is what ultimately led to the success of the Vermont Country Store.

Today the store is run by the Ortons’ son, Lyman, and his three sons – Cabot, Gardner and Eliot, all strapping gentlemen who you’ll find pictured, wearing flannel shirts of course, on the store’s website.

Inside and out, the Vermont Country Store takes you back to yesteryear, with practical merchandise displayed among vintage and antique furnishings.

The Shelburne Museum

The Horseshoe Bar at Shelburne Museum was one of the first buildings constructed and was filled with Electra’s in-law’s collection of sleighs and carriages, plus those she had collected.

The Shelburne Museum, a stone’s throw south of Burlington, Vermont, was a wonderful discovery, and we all have Electra Havemeyer Webb to thank for it. Don’t you just love that name, Electra? I mean, who names their kid Electra?

In this case, the name was selected by her uber-wealthy parents, Louisine and Henry O. Havemeyer, the latter the head of the American Sugar Refining Co. We Coronadans are already familiar with the vast wealth of entrepreneurs in the sugar industry, especially during the Gilded Age, in the visage of one John D. Spreckels and his father, Claus Spreckels, the sugar king of California and Hawaii.

As an aside, Henry Havemeyer and Claus Spreckels were at one time intense rivals. In 1887 Havemeyer established the Sugar Refineries Company, known as the Sugar Trust, and he tried to bring all independent refineries into his organization. His chief rival on the West Coast was Spreckels, who refused to join. Using a small California plant that the Sugar Trust had acquired in 1891, Havemeyer began an aggressive price war to put Spreckels out of business. In retaliation Spreckels opened a Philadelphia refinery in 1889, intending to undercut the Trust’s business in the East.

After a fierce price war of two years, the Trust and Spreckels came to an agreement in 1891: Spreckels sold his Philadelphia refinery to the Trust and the two sides agreed to keep out of each other’s territory. Good thing that happened or John Spreckels may never have been in a position to purchase the Coronado Beach Company!

The Havemeyers were rich – really rich –and owned one of the finest homes in New York City. They took Electra and her older siblings, Adaline and Horace, on regular trips to Europe where the parents visited museums and collected art, sculpture and ceramics. The family visited the World’s Fair in Paris when Electra was less than a year old and she later said that she felt her love of collecting and museums was almost genetic.

Electra Havemeyer Webb’s life story is told in the book “To Collect in Earnest,” on sale at the museum gift shop.

As a teenager, Electra spent time at Shelburne Farms, the estate of Dr. William Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb, and soon was being courted by the Webb’s son, James Watson.

When Electra was just 18 years old, her father died suddenly of kidney failure and when the family estate was settled, Electra was a very rich young woman. She traveled with her mother for another year in Europe, buying artwork and announcing to her betrothed just how pleased she was to start her own collection.

Things got interesting, when much to her mother’s horror, Electra began focusing on Americana folk art. When she and James married in 1910, Electra moved to Shelburne, and her new in-laws gave the newlyweds an abandoned historic home that came to be known as The Brick House, plus 1,000 acres.

It was early in her marriage that Electra began to conceive of a museum. But meanwhile, she and James built a home in Westbury, New York, where Electra gave

birth to their five children, and kept collecting. The house was filled with her pieces and the Webbs once entertained the Prince of Wales there.

Louisine was quite beside herself as she surveyed Electra’s collection of hooked rugs, wooden carvings and needlepoint. “How can you, Electra, you who have been brought up with Rembrandts and Manets, live with such American trash?” she protested. But Electra would not be swayed. It was not until after World War II when the Webb’s children had grown and James Watson had retired from polo, that the Webbs moved permanently to Vermont and Electra pursued her ideas for the museum, beginning with her father-in-law’s many horse-drawn vehicles including carriages and sleighs. She purchased eight acres, and incorporated the museum in 1947. Over the years, more buildings were saved from demolition and moved to the property, which gradually was enlarged to 45 acres.

Family Cares by Eastman Johnson

Cambridge, 1944 by Anna Mary Robertson, aka “Grandma Moses.”

A New England Country Grocery by Abbott Fuller Graves

Today the Shelburne Museum campus is comprised of 39 buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the grounds. Among the most beloved attractions are the Shaker-design Round Barn, a General Store, and the Circus building with carousel.

My favorite is the 220-foot side-wheel steamboat Ticonderoga. Built in Shelburne in 1906, Ticonderoga operated as a day boat on Lake Champlain, serving ports along the New York and Vermont shores until 1953.

Electra arranged to have an entire steamboat, Ticonderoga, moved onto the museum property. Pictured above is the stairwell to the dining room and staterooms.

In addition to the buildings, the museum’s beautifully landscaped grounds feature 22 gardens.

The Webb Gallery features American paintings by Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Grandma Moses, John Singleton Copley and many more, and the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education features changing exhibitions.

I visited a number of additional cities in Vermont. Here are a few you might consider for your itinerary:

Burlington

Here’s a fun fact: With a population of 44,743, Burlington is the least populous city to also be the most populous city in a state! It is situated on the eastern banks of Lake Champlain, and was named after French explorer Samuel de Champlain, the first European to discover the lake in 1609. The lake separates the Adirondacks Mountains of New York and the Green Mountains of Vermont and leads up to the Canadian province of Quebec. The lake was of strategic importance during the Revolutionary War, but today it is used mostly by ferries and pleasure craft. Restaurants, jogging paths and marinas dot the lakefront.

Burlington is home to the University of Vermont. The school is the fifth oldest university in New England and its red brick buildings are situated on a hill overlooking the lake. Its 11,000 students and 1,400 faculty members add to the vibrancy of the city’s food, arts and cultural scene.

Downtown’s Church Street marketplace is a bustling shopping and dining district, while Pine Street in Burlington’s South End features breweries and art studios. Here, from May through September, locals and visitors gather for “Truck Stop” that features 30 food trucks in rotation plus music every Friday night.

On the waterfront you’ll also find the ECHO Leahy Science and Nature Center. North of downtown, you can visit the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum, the former home (circa 1787) of the Revolutionary War hero.

Lake Champlain in Burlington is filled with boaters and diners in the summer months.

Montpelier

Vermont State Capitol

I thought this state capitol was one of the prettiest in the nation. It is also located in the smallest capital city in the nation, with a population of just over 10,000. Guided tours of the statehouse are offered in the summer months and self-guided tours are available all year.

Brattleboro

I loved this little town and its many art galleries housed in historic buildings, most of them two and three stories of red brick, on Main Street that runs along three blocks of the Connecticut River. Its Historic District features architectural styles ranging from the Greek Revival to Modernistic, with examples from the Victorian period being the most numerous. Union Station, still operating with daily Amtrak service, houses the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center on its second and third floors.

Located at the southern tip of Vermont, bordering New Hampshire, Brattleboro is also the first Vermont town you’ll encounter if you are heading north from Massachusetts. Several charming bed and breakfast inns are in the area; I think I might try the Inn on Putney Road on my next visit. And if I’m really on the ball, I’ll time my visit to take in some of the cultural events like the summer Shakespeare festival presented by the Vermont Theatre Company.

Wallingford

This is where Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, grew up in the care of his grandparents. There is a Rotary Club in the town and Harris was there for its chartering in 1928 (two years after Coronado Rotary was chartered). You can go on a self-guided tour of Harris’ haunts during his formative years.

Stowe

I didn’t visit Stowe, New England’s popular ski destination, but it’s on my list, mostly to see the Trapp Family Lodge, made famous by The Sound of Music family that established it. October is when I’d like to visit to see the colors of the maples change and to participate in the Trapps’ annual Oktoberfest.

Rutland

This was the birthplace of John Deere, who learned the blacksmithing trade in nearby Middlebury. In 1836 he moved west to Grand Detour, Illinois where he built the world’s first steel moldboard plow, known as “the plow that broke the plains.” Rutland is home to the Vermont State Fair, the oldest state fair in the nation, to be held this year from Aug. 15 through 19. The city has a lively downtown, filled with art, murals and sculptures. One sculpture is of Rotary Founder Paul Harris, who lived in nearby Wallingford. I chatted with Tiffany of the Downtown Rutland Association asking if there was a sculpture of their most famous hometown boy, John Deere. “Why, no, but maybe we should,” she said. And I do believe it was a light bulb moment.

Rutland is filled with service clubs.

IF YOU GO…

Statewide Tourism website

One of highlights of the website is a link to Vermont’s 10 scenic byways – road trips throughout this beautiful state are part of the adventure! You can also request a printed brochure on the byways.

1-800-VERMONT

www.vermontvacation.com

Landgrove Inn

The website includes a listing of workshops throughout the year; you pay one price for lodging, food and instruction. You can also stay at the inn or dine at the inn without enrolling in a workshop, but sometimes space is limited. So it’s best to talk with the innkeeper, Tom Checciah, by phone to get all your questions answered.

(800) 824-6673

www.landgroveinn.com

Doris Rice Watercolors

Find out Doris’s schedule for watercolor workshops throughout the United States and internationally. You can also enroll in her online classes and meet some other students who may end up in the workshops with you!

www.dorisrice.com

President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site

This year marks the Coolidge Centennial Year Celebration: On August 2, 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge was vacationing at his home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, when word came that President Warren Harding had suddenly passed away. Coolidge’s own father, Colonel John Coolidge, was a notary public and justice of the peace. By this authority, the father swore the son into office as our country’s thirtieth President at 2:47 a.m. the next morning.

The Coolidge Foundation partners with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation to present a wide variety of educational

programs on Coolidge’s life and times. Visit includes a tour of the authentic 19th century village, including Coolidge’s birthplace and homestead, barns, general store, a working cheese factory, church, schoolhouse, with hands-on activities, museum, and cemetery. The site includes walking paths and picnicking areas.

Open May 26 through Oct. 22, 2023, Tuesday - Sunday, 10 am - 5 pm (closed Mondays). Adults, $12, children (6 – 14), $4

3780 Route 100A

Plymouth Notch, Vermont

www.coolidgefoundation.org

Shelburne Museum

The Circus Pavilion at Shelburne Museum features miniatures of circuses from the late 1800s through the 1950s.

In addition to its permanent exhibits, the museum has a number of traveling exhibits, and performances including Ben and Jerry’s Concerts on the Green, concerts by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and theater performances.

Handy tip: This summer season features Free First Friday Eve events. You can enjoy an evening of live music, lawn games, food trucks, and special exhibitions – from 5 to 7:30 p.m., the entire museum campus is open and free to all!

www.shelburnemuseum.org

Maple Sugar

Each spring there are Maple Open House weekends, where makers invite you into their sugaring houses. This website has great links to county fairs and the Vermont State Fair. The website also has lots of maple sugar recipes.

www.Vermontmaple.org

Visitors see the sites at Shelburne Farms by tractor-pulled carriages.

Shelburne Farms

Shelburne Farms operates independently from the Shelburne Museum. The Farms was once the agricultural estate of Electra Havemeyer Webb’s in-laws, William Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb. Now a nonprofit environmental education organization whose mission is to cultivate a conservation ethic for a sustainable future, the 1,400-acre working farm on Lake Champlain offers a children’s farmyard, cheese making and tasting, walking trails and tours of the grounds, formal gardens, and historic barns. The Farms also operates the Inn at Shelburne Farms with 24 restored guestrooms and a fine dining restaurant.

www.shelburnefarms.org

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory Tour Waterbury

Factory tours are available for $7 a person and include an elevated view of the production facility that manufactures up to 350,000 pints of ice cream daily. Tours start with a MOO-vie of the company’s history, and end with a visit to the Flavor Room where you’ll taste one of the company’s euphoric flavors. You might also want to visit the “Flavor Graveyard” where granite gravestones pay respects to the “dearly de-pinted” – ice cream that was once somebody’s favorite but failed to attract a large following. Situated on a peaceful hill overlooking the company factory, it’s Vermont’s most visited tourist site.

www.Benjerry.com (click on the search bar and enter Factory Tours)