Stratton Magazine Archives

By Geoffrey Norman
photography by hubert schriebl

Dr. Carlos Otis came up with an idea to build support in the community for the little hospital he founded in Townshend. That was sixty years ago. Today both Fair Day and Grace Cottage Hospital are still going strong.

he visitors begin arriving early and they leave their cars on the side of the highway and in empty fields that have been set up as satellite parking lots outside of town.  The fame of  Townshend’s “Fair Day” has spread far beyond the town itself or even the state line and many of the cars and SUVs—and more than a few motorcycles—have license plates from all over New England as well as the occasional wild card from as far away as Virginia or Michigan.

It was overcast but not yet raining when I arrived and I couldn’t get any closer than a quarter of a mile from the action.  I locked up and walked the rest of the way to the village green.  On the way, I passed a man headed back to his car, carrying a Windsor chair.  He looked happy.  The chair looked old and exceedingly well used.

“Got it at the auction,” he said.  “Practically stole it.”
“Are they still at it?” I said.
“Oh, Lord,” he said.  “You’ve never seen so much stuff in your life.  It’s like the yard sale to end all yard sales.” » read more

By Abbott de Rham

As beautiful as Vermont is from the ground, it takes on a whole new dimension when seen from the air.

Touring Vermont via its terrestrial byways is an experience consisting of winding roads, small towns,  mountains and valleys. Unlike the panoramic views in places like “Big Sky” Montana or the Colorado Rockies, our experience is more intimate and revealed in a series of vignettes through gaps in trees, across farm fields, over the village green, from rock outcroppings on a hiking trail or atop a pass where the road widens to allow cars to stop and take in the view. My roots are firmly planted in Vermont. Using my own unskilled hands I built our house (still building thirty two years later), tend the garden, heat with wood, make maple syrup, walk the woods and by chance of fate I am also a pilot of a small airplane.  » read more

By Myra Foster
Photography by Hubert Schriebl

The Vermont Summer Festival combines world-class riding competition and colorful spectator events with a six-week economic booster shot for the region.

My encounter was only so close as a TXT alert,  but Springsteen was definitely on the grounds. Front row instead of center stage for a change, “The Boss” watched his daughter ride in the hunter jumper ring.  CNN’s Lou Dobbs and wife, Debbie, were in the Grand Prix tent whenever daughter Hillary competed over the big fences for even bigger prize money.  Governor and Mrs. Jim Douglas.  Gretchen and Roy Jackson—thoroughbred owners of Barbaro fame— Olympic medalists, local luminaries … You never know who you’ll run into at the Vermont Summer Festival.
But one thing is for certain, when New England’s largest equestrian competition rolls in each summer,  it brings thousands of people and millions of dollars to Manchester and the Mountains.  Now in its sixteenth year at the Harold Beebe farm in East Dorset, the Vermont Summer Festival also brings world-class competition to a spectator- friendly venue with a ticket price of only $3 - $7, all of which is donated to local non-profits and school programs. » read more

By Louise Jones
Photography by Hubert Schriebl

How the tireless energy of a couple of volunteers and the generosity of an Australian horticulturist brought North Bennington’s Park McCullough House to its flowery Victorian glory...

We Americans love to visit the luxurious mansions built during what Mark Twain called The Gilded Age, when the rapid growth of industry after the Civil War created vast fortunes. The wealthy heralded their success by building enormous houses, with high-ceilinged rooms and dark woodwork inside, and manicured green lawns thickly studded with shade trees outside. There are two prime examples in southwest Vermont: Hildene in Manchester and the Park McCullough House in North Bennington, a stunning Victorian home in the Second Empire style. Not to miss are the colorful new rose gardens that have been installed recently to revive the grounds.

Looking out of a second floor bedroom window, a visitor comments on the flowers. “That’s where the old tennis court used to be,” Patricia Gordon Michael, Park McCullough House Executive Director, explains. “Most of the roses come from an Australian plant company.” Surprised? I was, and when I asked I discovered the story that led to these colorful new gardens, where the roses in all shades of red, orange, pink, and yellow shimmer in the sun and brighten a cloudy day.  » read more