A Summer Trip to Vermont and New Hampshire

While New England is most visited in the Autumn, it is truly beautiful in summer as well, and arguably easier to enjoy with kids. With few crowds, pleasant weather, and gorgeous swimming holes, there’s a lot to love about this region of the USA. Here are a few places we explored and loved on a recent visit.

For the quintessential Vermont experience, we wanted to do some mountain hiking, farm visits, and explore a small town or two. But, we also wanted to save money and see New Hampshire as well, so we decided to explore the region near Queechee Gorge, which also happens to be adjacent to Hanover, NH.

Hiking and Swimming

We stayed in White River Junction, which was generally affordable (though we used points to cover our 4 night hotel stay). It is a small town surrounded by lots of wilderness, which meant we were near many beautiful, publicly owned trails which could be accessed for free.

Queechee Gorge

Queechee Gorge is a main attraction in the area, and for good reason. It has a nice visitors center where you can park, and then walk over to the adjacent bridge which overlooks the entire gorge. Then, hike down to the gorge on a wide trail, which is partly paved and then a bit rocky toward the bottom. It is about a mile’s walk, and you can swim at the bottom of the gorge. We felt quite safe wading there in terms of water level – it was quite gentle and not terribly deep in most places. The rocks were slippery, and there were lots of fish and tadpoles to be found. We did also see some snake skin. It was a very refreshing and fun experience.

We hiked back up and that gave us an appetite, so we had lunch at the Trail Break, a well branded, brightly painted little restaurant with tacos and the like, which turned out to be quite good. They have a wide variety of drinks, including some fun and unusual non-alcoholic mixed drinks, like watermelon jalapeño water, for instance.

Gile Mountain

Another trail we enjoyed was the Gile Mountain Trail, just outside of Norwich. It is a short trail (less than two miles), with enough elevation to raise your heartrate, and enough rocks to make it interesting for the kids. At the end of the trail you come upon a watch tower that you can climb for a truly panoramic, 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains. It is important to note that the watch tower stairs are designed something like a fire escape – it is possible for small children to easily fit under the handrails and fall, and the tower is quite high, so it is important to be watchful.

Mascoma and Boston Lot Lakes

There are also many beautiful lakes in this area. One evening we had dinner at a picnic table at a public boat launch on beautiful Mascoma Lake. Possibly our favorite experiences of the trip was hiking to Boston Lot Lake just outside of Hanover and swimming in it. The hike through the woods (about a mile) was short and pretty, and the lake was crystal clear and cool, and so pleasant to swim in. We are used to tasting salt and chlorine when we swim, so the fresh water was so clean and crisp. Also, we were almost the only people around in this large lake. The rocks were slippery and the lake water got deep quickly, but I could have spent all day swimming and walking along the perimeter of the lake.

Charming Small Towns

Vermont and New Hampshire had a very spread out, quiet feel. Those towns we came upon were truly small, with some having what appeared to be just one or two shopping centers, surrounded by miles of woods with a bit of farmland interspersed. We did visit a few picturesque small towns that we enjoyed.

Queechee

Queechee, of course, is home to the gorge and Visitors Center and has a few restaurants and some souvenir stores that we enjoyed visiting.

Woodstock

Woodstock is a little ways to the west, and is known for having a small National Historic Park, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller, which contains a 19th century Queen-Anne-style mansion. We did not visit the mansion, but did walk around the town Green (or central square) which is surrounded by historic buildings such as the 1880s pink sandstone Norman Williams Public Library. You can find Woodstock’s History Center if you want to learn more about the history of the area, or you can visit a general store that has been there since 1886.

Just north, Billings Farm & Museum is a functioning dairy farm, with an 1890 farmhouse and exhibits re-creating 19th-century farm life. There are many covered bridges that people like to visit, including one just beyond the green in Woodstock.

Norwich

Norwich is known for being a wealthy small town, and the home of many a Dartmouth professor. It is lined with gorgeous, large historic homes. We enjoyed them from the windows of our van, and stopped at Dan and Whit’s General Store for trail snacks on our way to Gile’s Mountain Trail.

Hanover

Just across the border in New Hampshire sits Hanover, best known for being the home of Dartmouth University, the smallest of the Ivy League. We took the opportunity to visit the Dartmouth Green one morning, explore the lovely historic buildings, and take a walk through the town to admire the boutique shops and eateries. Since school was not yet in session, we had the green to ourselves and found the town fairly quiet, but filled with thriving small businesses.

Local Farms

Billings Farm and Museum

We visited a couple of farms during our trip. Billings Farm and Museum was a pretty place with a pollinator garden, a sunflower walk, cows, horses, sheep and pigs. The museum included a lovely quilt display and information on farming in the area, with farm equipment from different time periods. There was an ice cream shop, lawn games, and educational talks on the workings of a dairy farm (an important industry in Vermont.) We felt the price was a bit steep; we wish there had been a family price as paying for all six of us added up to over $100, more than we would normally pay for a farm visit.

Sugarbush Farm

We enjoyed Sugarbush Maple Farm even more, and it was free to enter. It included a short walk to see how the maple trees are tapped, and you could also take a look in the sugar house and learn a bit about how the maple syrup is produced. There were goats, cows, and some small playground equipment. But the best part was getting to sample the products, which immediately led us to go ahead and purchase the products. Best smoked cheese and maple syrup of my life!

We had a great experience exploring some of the highlights of the Queechee Gorge region of Vermont and nearby New Hampshire. Hiking, swimming, picturesque towns and farms made for a lovely summer vacation.