A Post-game Peregrination

If you picked at random a southbound earful of Dartmouth fans after a football weekend, the chances are pretty good that the conversation among the occupants would be revolving around the attractions of the Upper Valley area in autumn. For those fans who have ever thought about extending such a weekend of New England scenery beyond the view of Velvet Rocks from the stadium, consider this year staying over in Hanover on Saturday night, and the next morning meandering through some of Vermont's beautiful rural countryside.

Take your leave of the Green on Sunday morning as soon as Baker Tower is visible through the fog. Head down Wheelock Hill and cross the mist-shrouded Connecticut River. Just after you go under the 1-91 overpasses, take a left turn onto Route 5 south, following it through the villages of Wilder and White River Junction. After crossing the White River, keep on Route 5 as it makes a right-hand turn and then bear to the right onto Route 4. This is a pretty little road which winds through wooded hills a contrast to the villages you've just come through. The New England countryside is full of such juxtapositions of open fields with wooded stretches, of scattered farms with bustling towns, of busy general stores with backyard businesses, and of tumbledown barns with the sort of villages where traffic islands are planted with brightly-colored flowers.

Several miles after turning onto Route 4, you'll happen upon Quechee Gorge. If natural splendors interest you, it's worth a stop to gaze into the depths of the Gorge.

As you continue on Route 4, not long past the Gorge there's a blinking yellow traffic light. Turn right there onto the road marked for Quechee. Go through the wooden covered bridge over the Ottauquechee River and then turn left onto Quechee's Main Street. Immediately on your left you'll see an old mill-originally a grist mill, later a woolen mill, and now stunningly restored as a glassblowing operation and gift shop. Glassblower and designer Simon Pearce moved his fine handblowing workshop from Ireland to Quechee in 1981. The glass-blowing operation runs entirely with hydroelectric power generated at the mill. In fact, you can go downstairs in the mill and see the generators at work in one room and the glassblowers and furnaces in another. Upstairs is a showroom and retail shop where both "firsts" and "seconds" of glass are for sale, along with imported Irish woolens, hand-thrown pottery, country linens, and fine woodenware. The mill recently opened "The Glassblower's Cafe"; if your breakfast has settled sufficiently, it's well worth sampling the baked goods there. On a recent visit, the day's specialty of blueberry crumb cake was warm, full of fresh berries, and nicely flavored with cinnamon. The food is served on the glass and pottery for sale in the shop, and the whole cafe is turned out with, casual elegance. The cafe is open in the" fall from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (from 9:00 to 6:00 in the summer); the shop is open from 10:00 to 5:00 seven days a week year-round; and the glassblowing may be viewed from 10:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 5:00 yearround on weekdays, plus on weekends in summer and fall.

After leaving the mill, continue on Main Street the same way. About half a mile the other side of Quechee village, the road forks; bear left onto River Road, which eventually rejoins Route 4, where you should turn right.

Just ahead of you at this turn, you'll see a sign for Vermont maple syrup and cheese. Such places are legion in the Vermont countryside, and at least one of them warrants a stop, for real maple syrup and tangy cheddar are deservedly among the state's finest agricultural products.

A few miles farther on, you'll come into Woodstock, a classically beautiful New England village. One of the newest and most interesting attractions in Woodstock is the Billings Farm Museum. To get there, bear right off Route 4 onto Route 12 just as you get into the village proper. The entrance is on the right, about a mile after the turn onto Route 12. The "farm" part of the operation was established in 1871 by Frederick Billings, a Vermont lawyer, railroad, president, and philanthropist, and is a working farm still. The "museum" part is a series of exhibits on Vermont farm life of the 1890s. The farm and museum are open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. seven days a week through the end of October. Admission is $3.00, $1.50 for children. The tour of the museum exhibits begins with a slide show which extols the "simple but rugged life" of our forebears. Artifacts from grub plows to butter churns and hay ricks to sap buckets are displayed attractively and explained clearly. A stroll through the dairy barns reveals beautifully caredfor animals, a barn so clean hardly a fly is in evidence, a display of trophies won by Billings Jerseys over the years, and straw-hatted farm hands who answer questions in characteristic New England laconic fashion.

If commerce rather than cows is your cup of tea, there is a slew of shopping to be had back in Woodstock village. One of the don't-misses is Gillingham's, a slightly gussied-up general store remarkable for the diversity of goods it stocks from overalls to copper saucepans.

By now, it ought to be getting on towards lunch time, and Woodstock has a wide range of offerings. A few from which to choose: the buffet lunch at the sumptuous Woodstock Inn, on the Green; the eclectic menu at Bentley's, opposite Gillingham's; the casual fare of the Downtown Deli, on Route 4 in the middle of town; or, on the eastern edge of town, Spooner's. To get there, you'll have to go back on Route 4 the way you came into town; it's on the left about a mile from the Green. A recent visit to Spooner's yielded a delicious seafood salad with scallops, shrimp, and swordfish in a creamy lemon vinaigrette.

After lunch, continue west on Route 4. Several miles past Woodstock, you'll see the Marketplace at Bridgewater Mill on the left. This is another restored mill, with several dozen little shops. It's not done with quite the elegance of Simon Pearce's the merchandise and renovation tending more towards the craftsy than the classy but it's a fun place to poke around.

Back again on Route 4, you might notice, as you continue driving through the Vermont countryside, the absence of billboards along the roadsides. A law passed in the early seventies prohibiting all off-premises advertising has had a major impact on the "unspoiled" effect of the scenery throughout the state.

A spectacular way to take in the Vermont scenery is offered a little farther along Route 4. Watch on the left for the gondola station for Killington Ski Area. A trip to the summit of Killington Peak takes 45 minutes, costs $9.35 for adults and $6.25 for children, and offers an incomparable view of not only the Green Mountain State but four neighboring states and Canada as well. In addition, there is a half-hour nature walk at the summit. (The gondola operates 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from June 30 to September 3 and daily from September 22 to October 14.)

After returning from the clouds, continue west along Route 4 to the junction with Route 100 north, a right turn. Several miles later the road forks, and you'll bear right onto Route 107, then just a few miles later turn onto Route 12. These roads meander through archetypal Vermont farm country rolling fields and wooded slopes dotted about with white Capes and big red barns. A recent drive along the route even offered up, as though staged, a tottering, newborn calf being licked by its mother, both oblivious to the observers lining the fence of the roadside pasture.

It should now be getting towards dinnertime, and there are several fine choices in the area. For classic Italian specialties at moderate prices in a casual setting, try Ene's Table, just a few miles along Route 12 after the turn from 107, on the left. For more elaborate fare, a more expensive menu, and more elegant surroundings, the following all have fine reputations: the Barnard Inn, a little farther along Route 12 from Ene's Table; the Parker House in Quechee, which you get to by following Route 12 into Woodstock, going back east on Route 4, taking the turn into Quechee at the yellow blinker, and turning left after the covered bridge it's just after Simon Pearce's on the left; and the Quechee Inn, for which you turn right after the covered bridge and then look to your left. It's worth noting that while entrees at all three restaurants are in the $15 to $20 range, informal attire is perfectly acceptable in the North Country (though the Barnard Inn and the Quechee Inn do request that men wear jackets).

After dinner, continue east back along Route 4 until the junction with I-89, which connects with various routes leading you back to civilization.

This is the first in a series of travel columns which will appear from time to timein these pages. Written by the Magazine's associate editor, with research assistancefrom fellow staff member fane Dawkins,the series is intended for returning alumniwho would like to expand their horizonsbeyond campus or for armchair visitorswho like to think about doing so.