Ten Great Things to Do in Central Vermont

The heartland of Vermont tourism starts in Central Vermont.

Smack in the center of Central Vermont is the Green Mountain National Forest, headquartered in Rutland, which welcomes nature lovers for four seasons: leaf-peeping at the fall foliage; camping, hiking, backpacking, fishing, and canoeing in the summer; skiing (downhill and cross-country), snowboarding, snowmobiling, snow tubing, and snowshoeing in the winter; photography, hiking, biking, and bird watching in the spring. Another Vermont tourism location of great natural beauty is the scenic canyon of Quechee Gorge formed by the Ottauquechee River near White River Junction, with trails, picnic areas, and breathtaking views. As for ski resorts, some of the biggest names in outdoor winter activities are here in the heartland of Vermont tourism: Killington, Woodstock, Quechee, Sugarbush, Mad River, and Middlebury among them. At the opposite end of the year there are plentiful opportunities to play golf at freestanding courses or at courses operated by resorts. Lodgings, in the form of inns, B&Bs, hotels, and motels are abundant, many with spas. For indoor fun, museums and historic houses run the gamut from the Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, the New England Maple Museum in Rutland, and, for dinosaur people, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and Raptor Center in Woodstock. As for shopping, don’t miss the Vermont Country Store in Weston for penny candy, toys, maple syrup, cheeses and other Vermont delights.

Some principle cities and towns of the region are Montpelier, the state capital and home to the State House, with its glistening gold-leaf dome; Barre, close to Montpelier and center of the granite-quarrying industry; Middlebury, an archetype of Vermont beauty with a waterfall on Otter Creek, right in the middle of town; Woodstock, with a lovely and heavily used town green, spectacular houses in all the classic styles, and several bells from Paul Revere’s shop; White River Junction, with a graceful downtown and, just five miles to its west, the spectacular Quechee Gorge; Rutland, close to Killington-Pico and built directly on a marble bed, hence the center of the state’s marble quarrying; and Springfield, which was home, in the last century, to Vermont’s precision tool industry.

Ten Great Things to Do in Central Vermont