New England - part one

The Bennington Flag

Last we checked in we were in Rochester, NY. Well, we left there last Saturday morning and set off east towards New England. We took in some highway first, then came off to find lunch in a small town, and that proved harder than you might think. We found sweet nothing in Little Falls, NY and kept going through the countryside for some miles (parallel to the highway). Eventually we stopped at a ‘New York Pizzeria’ in little place called Fort Plain and were just sitting enjoying a very delicious slice of pizza (each) when a horse and a little black box-like carriage went past (along a fairly ordinary looking small-town street). Amish people! Very exciting and quite unexpected in amongst the cars and pizza places. Didn’t get a photo though (too busy eating).

Because we don’t like to do too much driving in a day we stopped for the night in Amsterdam, NY (and we don’t have a whole lot to say about that apart from that it doesn’t seem to have too much in common with Amsterdam, NL). Sunday morning though we were up and ready to get into New England – first stop Bennington, Vermont.

Bennington is just inside the Vermont border and was added onto the itinerary largely because the poet Robert Frost is buried there (and we weren’t going to manage to get to any of the other Frost landmarks around the US, and I am a fan). His grave is by the Old First Church in Bennington (and you can read about why it is there here) and because it was Sunday morning the church service was just finishing as we were coming out of the graveyard. The locals were very friendly and let us into their beautiful old church for a good look round, a chance for some photos and some hints about where to go for lunch. After this we wandered up to the Battle Monument (remembering the Battle of Bennington 1777 from the Revolutionary War/American War of Independence), enjoyed the sunshine and gorgeous views and worked up an appetite. Next we headed into the lovely little town and had a great lunch in Madisons (local restaurant that makes its own, very good, beer). We could have stayed longer but our booking for the night was down near Boston, MA and we had a few states to get through before bed.

We drove east through dazzling scenery – mountains, trees, snow still high up on the peaks – and we stopped at the look-out for a few more photos. Then it was back down the hill towards Brattleboro and over the border into New Hampshire. We had originally had a longer NH stay planned but that had had to be changed – still, it seemed mad to be so close and not at least put our feet on NH soil. So we crossed into our third state of the day, stopped to try and find a cup of something, failed, took some more photos (oldest continuously working Post Office in Hinsdale, NH – posted a card there too), drove past an amazing garage completely covered in car number plates and then crossed another border into Massachusetts (where we did finally find a cup of coffee in a lovely local store in Northfield, MA). Then it was onto our stop for the night (Concord, MA). But that will be the next post.