Woodstock, Vermont offers abundant recreation, art, and fresh, delicious food in the summer.
This piece first appeared in Destination Vermont, a publication of The Vermont Standard.
Summer is the time to embrace Vermont’s bounty. In bustling Woodstock, a village that’s a near perfect embodiment of the charm and beauty of the Green Mountain State, there are so many ways to enjoy the offerings of its mountains and meadows. The area boasts abundant, delicious local foods, and many trails and backroads for walking or biking. The fun of Woodstock, though, isn’t only in its diverse opportunities for eating and exercising, it’s also in the creations of its resident artisans, and in the spunk and imagination of the people who work to keep the town vital.
The summer jewel of the area’s local foods movement is Woodstock’s Market On The Green.
Beginning on June 8, thirty local vendors will gather on Wednesday afternoons to offer up their fresh from the farm vegetables, meats, baked goods, prepared foods, and crafts. There’s a lively atmosphere with music, cooking demonstrations and tastings. Shoppers will likely see vibrant purple Graffiti cauliflower, red and white ringed Chioggia beets, a rainbow of carrots, and decadent Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes. They may happen on shitake mushrooms, quail eggs, chipotle pasta, pickled fiddlehead ferns, or a Rudyard-Kipling inspired concoction of black currant and lime juices. Vendors love to chat about baking methods for their artisan breads, the varieties of lettuces in their salad mixes, and usual ingredients for hummus. Twelve or so crafters will offer hand fashioned breadboards, knitted caps and scarves, jewelry, pottery, and more. The Green’s benches are great for people (and dog) watching!
On Saturday mornings, some of the same vendors gather for the Mount Tom Farmer’s Market. It’s just a mile or so north of the village on Route 12, and there are sidewalks all the way, mostly up the west side of the road, for those who like to hoof it.
Woodstock restaurants are more often integrating the fruits of local farmers into their menus. Cloudland Farm, for example, uses beef, pork, and poultry raised in their own fields for their Thursday and Saturday evening farm dinners. To create dishes like red wine braised brisket with creamy polenta and mixed greens or roasted beet sliders with chevre, Chef Nick Mahood complements purchases from near-in producers with vegetables and herbs from the farm’s own kitchen garden; the net is that almost every bit of food served comes from local farms and dairies.
But the delicious dinners aren’t the only reason to go to the restaurant, the drive up Cloudland Road is as bucolic as any in Vermont. The maple-lined, hard-pack lane rambles for four miles to the restaurant, past barns and farmhouses nestled above and below in clefts between the rolling hills.
Osteria Pane e Salute may be Woodstock’s most hidden-in-plain-sight restaurant. It’s in the heart of the village at 61 Central Street, but it’s inconspicuously nestled up a flight of stairs. Chef Caleb Barber apprenticed at a small trattoria in Tuscany, now he’s creating dishes Thursdays through Sundays that combine produce from the vineyard, orchard, and garden that he and wife Deirdre Heekin tend. They also draw on a dozen or so local farm partners to fashion a menu of imaginative risottos and pastas, wine braised and roasted proteins, and elegant desserts.
The Mountain Creamery, also on Central Street, is a familiar breakfast and lunch spot. Owners Boris and Shiela Pilsmaker are proprietors of Hinterland Farm in Killington, which provides the all natural beef used in the Creamery’s burgers, and BBQ brisket and roast beef sandwiches. In season, they also use their own organically grown vegetables. The muffins, cakes, and pies are all homemade, so is the jam and the granola. For those in the mood for ice cream (homemade as well), the menu includes milkshakes, sundaes, and an old fashioned banana split.
The means to get some exercise, and commune with nature, is also plentiful in Woodstock. There are thirty miles of trails that ramble through the town’s National Historic Park, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller, and among conservation areas.
The reward of a mile and a half hike up switch backs to Mount Tom’s South Peak is spectacular views of the village; the shorter and less rigorous hike up to the summit of Mount Peg pays off with an equally breath taking panorama of the hills rising behind the Ottauquechee River.
A complementary, comprehensive trail map, Walk Woodstock, is available at the National Park or in the informational kiosks at the Green or on Mechanic Street.
There’s both mountain and road biking in Woodstock and surrounding areas. The Start House Ski and Bike Shop at 28 Central Street rents road and hybrid bikes and its friendly employees can recommend routes. The Woodstock Bike Club meets there for group rides almost every day of the week during the summer, and the public is welcome. Family rides are on Mondays and Saturdays, race training is on Tuesdays, there’s a serious ride on Wednesdays, and Thursday is for mountain biking. Would-be riders should call ahead to confirm.
The Ottauquechee River runs through Woodstock, and there are lots of places to stick in a toe or wade. For more serious swimming, the town has two outdoor pools at the Recreation Center on Route 4 west of the village. In South Woodstock, the Kedron Valley Inn’s picturesque, grassy-banked, acre and a half spring-fed pond is open for day use on summer afternoons.
The Woodstock Racquet and Fitness Club is available to the public, as well as to guests at the Woodstock Inn. It has an indoor pool, racquet ball court, and fitness equipment, and scheduled yoga and other exercise classes. There are two indoor and ten outdoor tennis courts. Director Nat Woodrow (802-457-6658) can provide information about clinics or help arrange a match. The hidden treasure of the Club, however, may be its grassy croquet court. The wickets and stakes are set-up on a finely mown lawn; the club can provide mallets and balls.
To help soothe muscles achy from so much exercise, Woodstock has spas. First Impressions on Central Street offers a full complement of salon, facial, and massage services. The Woodstock Inn’s luxurious spa debuted just last fall.
Don’t forget Woodstock’s shopping.
The pride of the area is its local artists, and Woodstock’s many galleries highlight their work. Collective, at 47 Central Street in the village, is owned and managed by a co-operative of the contributing artists, so every day, at least one craftsperson is around to talk about his or her work. The regular artists produce fine jewelry, intricately beaded leather purses, felted and fiber clothing and accessories, and home décor items, all top notch quality with local flavor. Deirdre Donnelly’s jewelry art, for example, includes pieces inspired by a cave in South Woodstock that was reputedly constructed by druids. Collective features two guest artists every quarter; Heather Corey’s stained glass designs and watercolorist Peter Huntoon’s Woodstock and Vermont scenes are on display until the end of June.
From mid-June through mid-July, ArtisTree, which is also dedicated to the work of local and New England artists, will be showing Alan Bull’s rural-themed paintings; his representations of old farm trucks are particularly notable. Then, in an opening that co-ordinates with Woodstock’s late July Bookstock festival, ArtisTree will present Unbound, an exhibit of art using the book as material or format. The non-profit gallery, about a mile north of the village at 281 Barnard Road (Route 12), also offers classes and workshops.
The boutiques and storefronts of Woodstock village are full of surprises. In almost every one of them, the unexpected is the norm. The Woodstock Pharmacy, for example, has an extensive selection of Vera Bradley bags and purses, Aubergine carries cute and modern teapots, salt boxes, and sugar bowls from Bee House, and Vermont Flannel has t-shirts that read “poop.”
The wide variety at Gillingham’s and Unicorn Gifts should keep any kid with $20 occupied for at least half an hour.
And who would have thought that Woodstock is a mecca for shoes? For those with a Carrie Bradshaw-esque obsession, there is an entire wall of on-sale pairs downstairs at Footprints, vintage shoes at Who Is Silvia, athletic footwear at Woodstock Sports, and whimsical styles from poetic licence at Sudie’s. Tom’s Shoes, available at Elevation Clothing, will donate a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased at retail.
Woodstock extends beyond the several blocks of its village shopping district, it has four hamlets: South Woodstock, West Woodstock, Prosper, and Taftsville. The South Woodstock Country Store sits in the heart of its namesake hamlet on Route 106 south. Hot breakfasts and lunches are served at tables in the back of the store, and the adjacent Kendron Valley Inn offers yummy dinners Thursdays through Mondays. The historically preserved 19th century Green Mountain Perkins Academy, across the street, is open for history buffs on July and August Saturday afternoons. The Green Mountain Horse Association is just a bit further down the street. It’s a top equestrian destination, with a robust schedule of clinics and competitions.
West Woodstock, about a mile west of the Green on route 4, is home to the White Cottage Snack Bar. That’s a place to enjoy dozens of flavors of ice cream, vanilla and chocolate soft serve, and burgers. The Woodstock Farmer’s Market is a few feet further distant. Its extensive selection of sandwiches and prepared foods is exceeded in deliciousness only by the fruit tarts, cup cakes, tortes, and cookies crammed shoulder to shoulder in its substantial bakery display cases.
Route 12 north leading to Prosper passes the plaque that marks Gilbert Hill, the site of the first ski tow in the United States. Not far past the Prosper Community House, a circa 19th century stone building, the Appalachian Trail crosses route 12. There’s a small, mostly hidden parking lot at the trail head on the west side of the road. On the Edge Farm, which sells Vermont-raised beef, pork and lamb, and home baked pies, is a scant quarter mile further north.
Taftsville lies east on Route 4. The Taftsville Country Store is packed with gourmet, Vermont-made foods, like cheeses, maple syrup, jams, jellies and salsa. The hamlet’s covered bridge crosses the Ottauquechee to the scenic Old River Road.
Woodstock is rich in history. A Walking Guide available for $5 from the Woodstock Historical Society describes and pinpoints the fifty-five historic structures located within the village’s square mile. The Italianate-Revival style Windsor County Court House, just south of the Green, for example, was constructed in 1855; the Warren-Billings House at the corner of Bond and Pleasant Streets is a Federal style home built in 1808.
Hiram Powers, an eminent 19th century sculptor, was born in Woodstock and lived here for part of his childhood.
There are several books about him over at the Norman Williams Library, a circa 1884 Romanesque structure on the south side of the Green, at 10 South Park Street. A slim volume, Hiram Powers Vermont Sculptor, is shelved on the upstairs rear wall of non-circulating books. A few blocks away, at the Woodstock History Center (26 Elm Street) a plaque describing some of Powers’ successes is embedded in the bank of the Ottauquechee. Many years after he left Woodstock at age 13, Powers wrote to his cousin that a recurring childhood dream about the river inspired his famous statue, the Greek Slave. “I used to see in my sleep, when a child,” he wrote, “a white figure across the river, just below your father’s house.” The History Center’s gallery houses one of Powers’ original works, the bust America, and a bronze reduction of the Greek Slave. Another reduction, formed from a bisque porcelain, in the Center’s Victorian Parlor. The home of Powers’ youth was situated about a half-mile from the western corner of the Green, up Church Hill Road; a nearby plaque marks its location. The Powers family left Woodstock for Ohio after a year of famine and hardship. “We lived so long wholly on milk and potatoes,” Hiram wrote, “that we got almost to loathe them.”
Still, the young Powers was sad to leave Woodstock. “When I looked back on the church spire shooting up into the clear morning sky, and gazed on the hilltops I had wandered over for the last time, and the pure river, whose banks I should tread no more, I turned away my head and wept alone!” he wrote.