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Vermont Tourist AttractionsGuide to roadside oddities and other weird, strange and unusual travel attractions in Vermont.
Also a pumpkin-eating dinosaur and a wonderfully unique floating bridge.
Throw in a tour of an ice cream graveyard and a spider farm and you’re ready to plan your roadtrip to Vermont…
She’s a pumpkin eating dinosaur. Yeah! The only mobile pumpkin eating dinosaur in the world. Okaaaaaaay…..???
Personally, I think she looks more like a dragon with smoke coming out her nostrils like that. But whatever. She’s their dragon, er I mean dinosaur. They can call her whatever they want! Photo courtesy Apple Barn and Country Bakeshop.
The Apple Barn & Country Bakeshop on Rt 7 just south of Bennington VT is where you can see this unique Vermont tourist attraction.
Uh, I don’t think I want to take my little Mr2 across this Vermont tourist attraction. I’m really not that brave. I’ll walk across though… Way back when, people got used to being able to walk across the lake in the winter when it was frozen over. Summer came along and they had to walk around. Or take a boat. So they made a bridge of floating logs. That was in 1820. The logs had to be replaced each year.
So they came up with the brilliant idea of using tarred barrels to float the bridge. That worked for quite a while, like more than a century even. Now zoooooooooom to modern times…
The Brookfield Floating Bridge spans Sunset Lake, just off Rte 14, south of Williamstown, VT.
Photo courtesy uncommondays.com
Yeah. Vermont has a lake monster that’s protected by law. Well, so does New York, but since this particular page is about Vermont tourist attractions, we’ll let Vermont claim Champ for now. Lake Champlain is on the border of Vermont and New York. There’s a lake monster named Champ living within its depths. What is it about lakes and lake monsters, anyway? They ALL seem to want to claim a monster. Like Nessie in Loch Ness, Scotland. Elsie in Lake Elsinore, California. Now, that one is just a plain mystery (like the others aren’t). But how the heck did Elsie survive when the lake was dry all those years ago? Well, anyway, forget about them for now. Back to Champ. Vermont is very proud of their lake monster. In Burlington there’s even a Champ Monument at Perkins Pier, down at the waterfront.
And what trip to Vermont would be complete without taking in at least ONE maple syrup something or other? I mean, maple syrup is a Vermont tourist attraction, that's well, very Vermonty. And this being so, why not make it a BIG maple syrup attraction?
Photo courtesy Maple Grove Farms of Vermont.
Like the huge Maple Syrup can outside the Maple Grove Museum and Factory in St. Johnsbury, VT. As an added plus they have maple sugar candy, too. When I was a little kid, I always got a maple sugar candy Santa for Christmas. They were SO delicious. Weekdays you can watch them make their maple sugar candy on a tour through their factory, too. Directions from their website: Off I-91, take Exit 20. Go north on Rt. 5 through town to Rt. 2 east. Maple Grove Farms of Vermont is about 1 mile on the right. Off I-93, take Exit 1 to Rt. 2 west. Maple Grove Farms of Vermont is 2-1/2 miles on the left. Phone: (802) 748-5141
Probably most everybody knows about Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Flavor Graveyard by now. But it’s still something different to go see. While every state in America does have graveyards, they don’t ALL have ice cream graveyards. I’ve always liked graveyards. Even fake ones that are just there as a tourist attraction. This one is a lighthearted look at the death of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream flavors that…well, um…died. Want to tour Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory and see their Flavor Graveyard? Directions: Take I-89 Exit 10 in Vermont. Go north on Hwy 100 approximately 1 mile. Phone: (802) -882-1240 The Flavor Graveyard is on a hill in back of the factory, beyond the bulk milk tanks.
Spiders are roadside oddities and Vermont tourist attractions? Well, sometimes they are. Like when they’re giant spiders made out of old VW Bugs. Or when they’re in a spider farm. Yeah. A spider farm. Where they harvest the webs and stick them on wood plaques and sell them to people to hang on their living room walls. Cool. Knight’s Spider Web Farm is at 124 Spider Web Farm Road. Directions: Take Route 14 to Spider Web Farm Rd. They are about 15 mi. South of Montpelier VT. Phone: (802) 433-5568
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