Vermont - Roadside Americana

As we've traveled across the US in the past, we've always tried to seek out the “unique” aspects of each place we visit. We've gotten up close and personal to the largest ball of twine, visited the Spam museum (avoiding the tasting room) and climbed a staircase to get a good view of the world's largest boot. Vermont is no exception. The independent nature of its residents lends itself to some interesting Roadside Americana. Here's a sample.  

Perhaps our most unusual stop was at Knights Spider Web Farm in Williamstown, Vermont. Will Knight has been collecting spider webs from his barn for decades. He mounts them, preserves them and sells them.

We may have driven over lots of covered bridges and seen lots of barns, but this was the only barn we drove UNDER. The 19th century Ezekiel Ball Farm barn stretches across a dirt road and you must drive under to get to the other side. Pretty unique.

Barre, Vermont touts itself as the “Granite Center of the World”. Hope Cemetery there attests to the fact that granite is easy to come by and the stonecutters are true craftsmen. Here we saw the most unique gravestones ever.

Burlington was a treasure trove of the unique. In a downtown vacant lot we saw the world's tallest (and perhaps rustiest) filing cabinet. Lord help the person who needed a file folder from the top drawer.

The rhino crashing through the building at Conant Light & Metal was pretty unique as were the pumpkins decorating his horn in the spirit of the season. (Burlington)

Champ, the legendary sea monster of Lake Champlain, is obviously real since he posed for this statue.  (Burlington)

A winged monkey on the top of Union Station in Burlington, Vermont? We're told there are several flying monkeys on the rooftops of Burlington, but we only saw this one.

How about the world's tallest ladderback chair in Bennington, Vermont? David appreciated the fact that they used good sturdy rope to make the seat and telephone poles for the legs.

This huge teddy bear sits beside the road in Putney at the entrance to the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

Way back in 1925, Wilson Bentley aka Snowflake Bentley determined that “no two snowflakes are alike”. In Jericho, his hometown, there's a tiny snowflake museum with lots of pictures of his snowflakes to commemorate his discovery.