First Stop, All Stops
creative writing post #44
This is from my creative writing series, which is normally for paid subscribers only. But this one is for everyone, including the comments — though as always I reserve the right to close them.
In the summer of 1954, Dr. Arthur Peach proposed what would become the Vermont 251 Club in an essay for Vermont Life magazine. As the official website put it:
In it, he invited “the native born and those born elsewhere but with Vermont in them” to veer from the beaten path “to discover the secret and lovely places that main roads do not reveal.”
The idea is simple and charming: not just to drive through every town in Vermont, but to actually visit them.
As of a couple of years ago, when Essex Junction was officially chartered as a city, the number’s now technically 252 — though the club hasn’t fully rebranded (yet?).
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but hesitated to begin. I didn’t want to get 20% of the way through and then have a better idea for what each stop should include, requiring me to redo the early ones.
Eventually, I realized: this list includes everything from regularly visited towns to unincorporated gores with zero population.
There’s no single template that fits all of it — so a multiple-choice approach felt right. For each stop, I’ll aim to do at least one of the following:
Shop in a locally owned establishment
Take a photo of the fire department, town hall, library, or similar
Write a few summary sentences, like a postcard I’d send from the town
Note what feels especially New England about the place — and what doesn’t
Talk to a stranger, ideally an older one (which I’ll need to work up to; I’m still an anxiety-disordered introvert)
Sketch something live, if the weather and setting cooperate
Offer an artistic interpretation — a single color, shape, or texture the town evokes
If you’ve done some traveling — or completed something similar to the 251 Club yourself — I’d love your suggestions. Comments are open.
I kicked things off yesterday with a visit to Middlebury (home of Middlebury College, where the Woke kids land you in the hospital if they don’t like your opinions). You can read that entry by scrolling to the M’s in the list below and clicking the link. This series will be for paid subs going forward, but the Middlebury link is open for everyone.
List of Places (each will turn into a live link when I visit it).
1. Addison
2. Albany
3. Alburgh
4. Andover
5. Arlington
6. Athens
7. Averill
8. Bakersfield
9. Baltimore
10. Barnard
11. Barnet
12. Barre City
13. Barre Town
14. Barton
15. Belvidere
16. Bennington
17. Benson
18. Berkshire
19. Berlin
20. Bethel
21. Bloomfield
22. Bolton
23. Bradford
24. Braintree
25. Brandon
26. Brattleboro
27. Bridgewater
28. Bridport
29. Brighton
30. Bristol
31. Brookfield
32. Brookline
33. Brownington
34. Brunswick
35. Burke
36. Burlington
37. Cabot
38. Calais
39. Cambridge
40. Canaan
41. Castleton
42. Cavendish
43. Charleston
44. Charlotte
45. Chelsea
46. Chester
47. Chittenden
48. Clarendon
49. Colchester
50. Concord
51. Corinth
52. Cornwall
53. Coventry
54. Craftsbury
55. Danby
56. Danville
57. Derby
58. Dorset
59. Dover
60. Dummerston
61. Duxbury
62. East Haven
63. East Montpelier
64. Eden
65. Elmore
66. Enosburg
67. Essex Junction City
68. Essex Town
69. Fair Haven
70. Fairfax
71. Fairfield
72. Fairlee
73. Fayston
74. Ferdinand
75. Ferrisburg
76. Fletcher
77. Franklin
78. Georgia
79. Glastenbury
80. Glover
81. Goshen
82. Grafton
83. Granby
84. Grand Isle
85. Granville
86. Greensboro
87. Groton
88. Guildhall
89. Guilford
90. Halifax
91. Hancock
92. Hardwick
93. Hartford
94. Hartland
95. Highgate
96. Hinesburg
97. Holland
98. Hubbardton
99. Huntington
100. Hyde Park
101. Ira
102. Irasburg
103. Isle La Motte
104. Jamaica
105. Jay
106. Jericho
107. Johnson
108. Killington
109. Kirby
110. Landgrove
111. Leicester
112. Lemington
113. Lewis
114. Lincoln
115. Londonderry
116. Lowell
117. Ludlow
118. Lunenburg
119. Lyndon
120. Maidstone
121. Manchester
122. Marlboro
123. Marshfield
124. Mendon
126. Middlesex
127. Middletown Springs
128. Milton
129. Monkton
130. Montgomery
131. Montpelier
132. Moretown
133. Morgan
134. Morristown
135. Mount Holly
136. Mount Tabor
137. New Haven
138. Newark
139. Newbury
140. Newfane
141. Newport City
142. Newport Town
143. North Hero
144. Northfield
145. Norton
146. Norwich
147. Orange
148. Orwell
149. Panton
150. Pawlet
151. Peacham
152. Peru
153. Pittsfield
154. Pittsford
155. Plainfield
156. Plymouth
157. Pomfret
158. Poultney
159. Pownal
160. Proctor
161. Putney
162. Randolph
163. Reading
164. Readsboro
165. Richford
167. Ripton
168. Rochester
169. Rockingham
170. Roxbury
171. Royalton
172. Rupert
173. Rutland City
174. Rutland Town
175. Ryegate
176. Saint Albans City
177. Saint Albans Town
178. Saint George
179. Saint Johnsbury
180. Salisbury
181. Sandgate
182. Searsburg
183. Shaftsbury
184. Sharon
185. Sheffield
186. Shelburne
187. Sheldon
188. Shoreham
189. Shrewsbury
190. Somerset
191. South Burlington
192. South Hero
193. Springfield
194. Stamford
195. Stannard
196. Starksboro
197. Stockbridge
198. Stowe
199. Strafford
200. Stratton
201. Sudbury
202. Sunderland
203. Sutton
204. Swanton
205. Thetford
206. Tinmouth
207. Topsham
208. Townshend
209. Troy
210. Tunbridge
211. Underhill
212. Vergennes
213. Vernon
214. Vershire
215. Victory
216. Waitsfield
217. Walden
218. Wallingford
219. Waltham
220. Wardsboro
221. Warren
222. Washington
223. Waterbury
224. Waterford
225. Waterville
226. Weathersfield
227. Wells
228. West Fairlee
229. West Haven
230. West Rutland
231. West Windsor
232. Westfield
233. Westford
234. Westminster
235. Westmore
236. Weston
237. Weybridge
238. Wheelock
239. Whiting
240. Whitingham
241. Williamstown
242. Williston
243. Wilmington
244. Windham
245. Windsor
246. Winhall
247. Winooski
248. Wolcott
249. Woodbury
250. Woodford
251. Woodstock
252. Worcester
This is great, and daunting.
I live in Duxbury, which is one of the Vermont towns most people drive through rather than to. We don't really even have a downtown, and actually have very few businesses at all. The last gas station closed a decade ago. We're bisected by Camels Hump, which means despite being a relatively small area, it can take upwards of an hour to get from one part of Duxbury to another.
Duxbury also sits between Waterbury and Waitsfield, which are much more town-like, and have a lot more going on. Waterbury's mid-summer night life can get pretty bustling, or about as bustling as a small town can be.
We don't have a library (unless you count the ones in the Middle and High Schools), or a post office (we share Waterbury's zip code), or fire/police departments. What used to be Duxbury elementary is now a daycare and apartment building.
The coolest part of Duxbury is probably Camels Hump (it's on the state quarter!), which if you're feeling energetic, is a 3-5 hour hike to the summit, depending on your pace. Great views and on a clear day you can see New York and New Hampshire.
The one thing that surprised my kids and I when we were on our East Coast US History tour last year was how each place we visited *felt*. For example, the overwhelming awe we experienced at the Wright Bros NP at Kitty Hawk was completely unexpected. It was as if we were walking on hallowed ground. It was so unexpected and yet was experienced by the adults and 20 teens alike. Boston, on the other hand, had a completely different feeling and vibe. So, the thing I would add to such a list was identifying the overarching feeling of each stop.