Hope Cemetery

Barre is the Granite Capital of the World. One of the interesting features of Vermont is its cemeteries. We've been fascinated by them. They're very old and, often, right in the middle of town. As you can imagine, they are filled with granite headstones, but none moreso than Hope Cemetery which is considered a tourist attraction. It is one of the showplaces for Rock of Ages. Enjoy some of what we found on our recent visit.







I hope you can enlarge these and see the details. They are truly amazing. The last is a very recent addition to the cemetery--the intended occupants are still living.
It certainly gives you pause to look through this huge cemetery and wonder if the rich weren't just trying to out sculpt their neighbors. This is Vermont.

Vermont Country Store

Many of you may receive flyers from the Vermont Country Store in Weston, VT. They advertise as purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find. They've been in business since 1942. Just a few weeks after we'd arrived, my sister received a catalog and her husband thought maybe we'd signed them up. That peaked my curiosity. The catalog alone is a trip through time. On Saturday, we decided to go visit the store for ourselves. What a kick!





We wandered around for over an hour looking at everything from soup to nuts. We found Garth's favorite gum Beeman's as well as Blackjack and every kind of candy you can remember. They had all the kitchen gadgets that were in your grandmother's kitchen. I heard one young girl ask her mother what an egg beater was. We found Ovaltine and old-fashioned flannel nightgowns. We found the old cat clock with the tail as the chime. It was just a real kick. The store is high on a mountain in the Bromley ski area and we didn't think there would be many people there--the place was so packed that we couldn't get many pictures. We ate in a lovely restaurant--a converted Victorian home--among the rich and famous. It was an interesting and delicious meal. And the scenery to and from was absolutely gorgeous. There was just a dusting of snow in the higher elevations.



You can see me wearing my coat in front of the main entrance, but it was actually a beautiful day. Vermont is experiencing unseasonably warm weather right now, but a snow storm is forecast for the 16th. Whenever someone hears that I don't like winter, they cluck their tongues and say, "Then you probably won't like Vermont for the next four months!" I'm as prepared as I'll ever be.
We're so grateful to all of you for your friendship. We've forged new friendships here and are sorry to see our good friends, the Longhursts, leaving so soon. We were brought to tears (at least I was) by a wonderful "missionary" box from the Royal First Ward. Thank you dear friends. We've been on hiatus for a week because of construction at the Archives, but are hoping to be back to work on Thursday. This is Vermont.

Ellie's 32nd Annual Great Green Mountain Pumpkin Show

Even though Garth wasn’t quite recovered from his ear problems, we decided to go to see an event we’d heard about. The owner of a small produce stand in Northfield Falls, VT has decorated the hillside near her stand with carved pumpkins for 32 years. We went on Friday night but there were a ton of people everywhere and it was pouring down rain so we didn’t want to brave the downpour. On Halloween night, we went early enough to appreciate the pumpkins in the daylight and stayed until it was dark. We just couldn’t get over the over 1,000 pumpkins which were carved and placed all over the hillside. We didn’t get a good picture of the hillside in the dark, but it was interesting.





















This was just a fun event to attend. We were astounded at the beautiful carving and funny sayings on the pumpkins. Every single pumpkin had a candle in it and was lighted by hand. This is Vermont.