Retired Nomads - Part 2 : State House & Hubbard Park

State House & Hubbard Park – Montpelier, VT - August 17

We started birding at Hubbard Park in Montpelier, Vermont. We hiked the short distance to Hubbard Tower and climbed that for some views of the mountains. The Tower opened in 1930 and workers spent 15 years stacking and mortaring its rocks and it is as tall as a five-story building. We hiked for almost 2 hours in the woods hearing a few birds. We saw a couple of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and a Winter Wren. Not great shots of either, but enough to ID them. We have heard Winter Wrens before, but this was the first one that we have seen. They normally like to hide in the bushes. He also responded well to the bird call and he was bouncing around and looking for the other Wrens. We also saw an Alder Flycatcher so that and the Winter Wren were new birds today. It has been a while since we have seen new ones. (just not that many in this area of the States that would be new for us)

small stone towers along the way

Hubbard Tower

Greg

views from the top

Winter Wren

2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers

moss growing on quartz

On our way out we came across a lady in the woods that was barefooted and she first asked Greg “what do you say to a crazy man?” Before he had a chance to say anything, she ran towards me and again asked “what do you say to a crazy man?” I said, “just ignore him”, but I was thinking “I’m trying to figure out what to say to the crazy woman in the woods.” She then started running. It may not have had anything to do with it, but we saw a police car pass by the main road as we were coming out and then it turned around and went the other way.

We drove into Montpelier for lunch and a couple of their streets were blocked off for a Saturday Farmer’s Market. We wandered around that for a while and then headed for lunch.

We had planned to have lunch at Pho Thai Express, but they were closed for vacation. So, we headed to the Skinny Pancake. Like most of the restaurants in this area they are a bit quirky and this one was no exception. The food was very good, just very different crepes. Not thin and light, but soft and “spongy”. They also came with some interesting fillings. We ordered 2 kinds and split them. One was the Cattle Rancher filled with Braised VT steak with Cabot cheddar, roasted red peppers and a side of chipotle sour cream and the other was the Johnny Crepe filled with Slow cooked pulled pork in a sweet maple BBQ sauce with caramelized onions and Cabot cheddar in a cornmeal crepe. Both were quite good.

I think I mentioned this is a "Bernie" state

The Skinny Pancake

Johnny Crepe

Cattle Rancher

We then drove to the Capitol Building and arrived just in time for their next tour. The Vermont State House is the smallest capital city in America. Its House and Senate chambers are the oldest active legislative halls in the United States that have preserved their original interiors. The building was designed as a two story building using locally quarried Barre granite for much of the building's exterior.

Vermont State House

Thomas Chittenden

Ethan Allen

There are two Spanish cannons on the front lawn. Admiral George Dewey commanded the American fleet that captured the cannons in the battle of Manila Bay in 1898. They destroyed eleven Spanish ships and captured several others without any loss of American life.

front door

The first thing we noticed was that there was no security to go through to get in. (All Capitol buildings have had security) The doors to the Senate and the House were also not locked and just left open.

The guide was very good and made Vermont history and government interesting. He seemed to be a cross between Garrison Keillor and Paul Harvey. He explained how the State went from being hard core Republican to over the top Democrat. He said the hippies visited and stayed. They are still there today. (that explains the interesting people we’ve noticed) When the forefathers set up the government, they gave the small towns (farmers) as many votes as the cities. That was later changed to the votes being split by population. So, the cities dictate how the state is run. Pretty much the way it is everywhere now. Despite being a democratic state, they currently have a Republican governor. (possibly because he was a famous stock car driver?)

Despite having a beautiful dome, there is no reason since it’s just an empty space and no windows.

The senate chamber is remarkably well preserved. There is a magnificent chandelier which was lost for almost 65 years and eventually found in somebody’s barn. It was refurbished and reinstalled in 1981. It features a maritime theme with seahorses, water lilies and figures of Neptune.

Each of the petals on the lotus blossom on the ceiling weighs 500 lbs.

The governor’s chair, the Constitution Chair, was carved from timbers of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution. The Constitution Chair has served as Vermont’s official governor’s chair since 1858. The Governor’s office was restored to its original 1859 appearance including the luxurious carpet.

stained glass panels in the ceiling

Just as an observation this state is too “hippy-dippy” for me. There definitely were some interesting people in town, and I wondered what century we were in. Yes, I know I was a “child” of the 60’s, but I grew up. (OK, sort of grew up)

We had one last stop today and that was birding at Thurman W Dix Reservoir. We passed through Barre again to get to it.