Woodford State Park & Robert Frost Trail – Bennington, Vermont - August 25

Woodford State Park & Robert Frost Trail – Bennington, Vermont - August 25 


Today we drove to Bennington, Vermont for some hiking. We searched for the Kelly Camp Trail and it was nowhere to be found. The navigator took us to a private residence. Perhaps it used to be a trail or is renamed. So, we went to nearby Woodford State Park and hiked the Reservoir Loop Trail. At 2400 feet, Woodford State Park campground has the highest elevation of any park in Vermont. Woodford is located on a mountain plateau surrounding Adams Reservoir. 

 Bennington Monument in the distance from the car

 trail

 trail

 trail

We found several places with large mixed flocks of birds. We came across Catbirds, Chickadees, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Redstarts, Black & White Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos and Red-breasted Nuthatches. These small birds don’t sit still for a minute, so photos are hard to get. (as were good looks with my binocs)


Of course, there was not shortage of lichens, mosses, fungus and wildflowers. We did get some nice views of the Reservoir. It was cool and breezy even in the woods and I was wishing I had worn my fleece. However, in the afternoon it was actually hot out. We hiked a couple of hours here before lunch.

 Red-breasted Nuthatch

 this squirrel was shrieking at me - I think it was young and scared

 boardwalk

 Adams Reservoir

 the trail was quite muddy in spots

 Greg crossing over the creek on the rocks

 immature Yellow-rumped Warbler

 female Black & White Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler 

After the hike we went for lunch at Bringing You Vermont which is a gift shop with a small café. We both ordered Hand Pies. I had the Shepherd's Pie Hand Pie and Greg had the Chicken Codon Bleu Hand Pie. Both were very good. We then split a chocolate ganache brownie. 

 lunch stop at Bringing You Vermont

 Shepherd's Pie Hand Pie & gravy

 Chicken Cordon Bleu Hand Pie & sauce

 the owner made sure I got photos of their moose

 downtown Bennington

besides all of the moose statues, there were a lot of cats all over town -  the Vermont mountain lion, known as the catamount are now extinct

After lunch we drove to the Robert Frost Paran Trail. If you take it all the way it leads to The Robert Frost Stone House Museum. We hiked to the mid-way point which is a footbridge over the Paran Creek and then hiked back to the car and drove to the end of the trail to visit his house.


The views from the trail to the south is Mount Greylock in the Berkshires, west to the hills of Hoosick, N.Y., northwest to the Taconic Mountains, and east to the Green Mountains. The trail also passes through a red pine stand planted by Robert Frost and remnants of his orchard.


Almost half of the trail passes through woods on the farm once owned by Robert Frost, and where in 1923 he wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Robert Frost lived on the property from 1920 to 1928.

 start of Lake Paran Frost Trail

 Common Reed - an invasive species of grass

 Greg on part of the trail - it got more difficult later, but not bad

 thistle gone to seed

 Frost Paran foot bridge over Paran Creek

 Paran Creek

We returned to our car and drove to Stone House Museum in Shaftsbury. On the way we passed this cool train station.

Built in 1880 as a passenger station, this Second Empire brick building is a surviving reminder of North Bennington's former importance as a major railroad hub in southwestern Vermont. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

 we also found 2 more statues

Bennington College maintains the property and the small museum. The upstairs is being renovated so there were 2 rooms we could visit. The young lady that sold us our tickets told us the story of Frost writing his most famous poem. 


“On a warm June morning in 1922, Robert Frost sat down at his dining room table in southern Vermont and wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," one of his most famous poems. He and his family lived there for nine years, with Frost winning the first of his four Pulitzers during that time.”


The one large room is set like his living room and the other room was the dining room which had his poem painted on the wall. 

After our visit, we went for ice cream at the Village Chocolate Shoppe. We had the dark chocolate gelato which was mediocre. The 2 large moose made of chocolate were quite cute, however. They weigh 100 lbs. That’s a lot of chocolate.

We came back to the hotel for dinner.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wLhRYK4kxJaUiB8YA


Tomorrow, we are going back to Bennington, VT to check out some covered bridges and the Bennington Monument.