Woodstock, Vermont. This was my favorite area on our trip to Vermont in 1997, so I've been looking forward to shooting here again. It was raining when we got up, so things weren't very promising. We decided to head out anyway in hopes that we might catch a break in the weather when we got to Woodstock.
Our first stop was the Sleepy Hollow Farm
on Cloudland Road. This was my favorite location on our
last trip, and it will probably be my favorite for this trip.
The rain stopped and the sun started peeking in and out while
we were there. We missed the old red Farmall tractors that were
parked by the barn last time, but most of the farmyard was the
same. The tree at the head of the driveway to the farm was just
past peak, so the ground was covered with leaves. That made a
great foreground for the driveway leading down to the pond and
barn. Everything around the farmyard looked like it had been
manicured.
We continued up Cloudland Road through tunnels of maples. We dropped down into a gorgeous valley where the trees on the hillsides were amazing
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| Sleepy Hollow Farm | Sleepy Hollow Farm | Cloudland Road |
Our next stop was Jenne Farm, the most photographed farm in America. I personally like Sleepy Hollow
better, but it's still a great location. It started pouring rain
just as we arrived, so we waited out the rain and watched everyone
else leave. When the rain stopped, we had the area to ourselves.
Very nice. We shot all the traditional locations, and then walked
down the road to shoot up close to the farm. The farm definitely
looks better from a distance. Up close, it's starting to show
it's age.
While we were at Jenne Farm, another photographer told us about a good shot of a nearby sugar shack on Bailys Mills Road. The only problem was that the sugar shack was on Caper Hill Road. We drove all over the hills south of Woodstock before we decided to stop and ask the owners of a Bed and Breakfast if they knew about the sugar shack. Here's the strange part. The lane leading to the Bailys Hills Bed and Breakfast ran right along a cemetery. The bed and breakfast looked right out over the cemetery. Weird!
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| Bailys Hill Bed and Breakfast | Sugar Shack |
We found the sugar shack, but the shot wasn't worth nearly that much bother. We returned to Woodstock to check out the town.
We had forgotten how small a town it was. It took us about 30 minutes to check out the entire town.
Our final stop was Quechee Gorge. The last time we were there, the New England Specialties Store had these gorgeous bird feeders and bird houses. I was hoping they would still carry the same kind of quality products. No such luck. They had nothing but typical tourist junk.
Our final stop of the day was the Taftsville Bridge. We arrived just about sunset, so we had some nice lighting on the bridge.
Finding a good location to shoot the bridge was a much bigger challenge because of all the structures around it.
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| Taftsville Bridge | Taftsville Bridge |
Our meals on this trip have been awful...until tonight. We had seen Shari's Family Restaurant
in East Woodstock this morning and planned to have dinner there
on the way back to the motel. When we stopped tonight, it was
closed. We had just passed Ramunto's a couple minutes before,
so we turned around and went back. It was a pizza and brew place,
so we didn't really know what to expect. The pizzas were HUGE.
They had to be 17" in diameter, and they sold only one size.
We had no way to store that much pizza, so we ordered hot Italian
sandwiches. It was the best Italian sausage sandwich I've ever
had. Carol's chicken parmesan sandwich was equally good. It was
no wonder that the place was filled by mostly local customers.
They knew it was a good place. Our only regret is that we won't
be in the area tomorrow night to go back.
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