Scenic Foliage Drives →
Vermont Foliage Driving Tour
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For the last word in foliage panoramas, take Route 242 from Montgomery Center to the Jay Peak Resort & Aerial Tramway eight miles away. Trams run every half hour.
For an afternoon encounter with the leaves, head east from Montgomery Center through Hazen's Notch on Route 58, a gravel road (note: road may be closed in winter or mud season) through deep woods ablaze with the yellow foliage of birches. Where the Long Trail crosses the road, you find that the Green Mountain Club's Hazen's Notch Camp is a good hiking and picnic destination six-tenths of a mile north of the road.
After 10 miles, Route 58 crosses Route 100 at Lowell; continue for eight miles to Irasburg, looking north along the way for some of the best long-distance views. Just before Irasburg, you'll come to a T intersection; turn right onto Route 14, which you'll follow through town and to points south. Route 14 out of Irasburg follows the Black River, which flows north into Lake Memphremagog.
As you drive south through the valley's pastures and hay fields, you'll notice left-hand turnoffs for the secondary roads through the Albanys and the Craftsburys, each town with elegant inns and restaurants that could seduce you to extend your trip. But don't let Laura Ashley fool you -- this is still wild country. (Near Lake Elligo, which hugs Route 14 in Craftsbury, researchers have identified scat proving the long-debated existence of mountain lions in Vermont.)
Stay on Route 14 through Hardwick, 24 miles south of Irasburg, and continue for 19 miles of lake-strewn, wooded country to East Montpelier. En route, detour to Cabot (left turn at Woodbury ; you'll be on dirt roads for 6.5 miles) for a tour of Cabot Creamery.
At East Montpelier, pick up Route 2 west for the seven miles into Montpelier. Note the golden dome of the state capitol rising before you. By now, you should know why it's topped with a statue of Ceres -- the Roman goddess of agriculture -- and why, perhaps, she should be clutching a sheaf of autumn leaves.
At this point in the tour, you've already had a couple of full days, but autumn in Vermont is still calling to us. If you have the time, visit the Vermont Statehouse and the Vermont Historical Society Museum in Montpelier. The statehouse offers guided tours from July through mid-October. The atmosphere is relaxed here, and no place is off-limits to visitors.
The state historical society has permanent and rotating exhibits. It is a great little museum where you can see many Vermont artifacts. Their current exhibit, "Freedom and Unity: One Ideal Many Stories," features a series of period rooms, ranging from an Abenaki Wigwam to a World War II era living room, that allow guest to literally walk through 350 years of the state's history. Both the statehouse and the museum have nice gift shops.
If time is limited, you can hop on Interstate 89 south and pick up I-91 south to Brattleboro, Vermont, to continue to Massachusetts on our grand New England foliage tour.
In Massachusetts, we'll take you through the western hilltowns for apples, antiques, and good eating on beautiful back roads. If you can't quite leave Vermont yet, here is a (longer) scenic route and you will hook up with Massachusetts later.
Day Three Option
From Montpelier, head northwest on Route 2. Pick up Route 100 in Duxbury and follow this south along the eastern edge of the Green Mountain National Forest (approximately 70 miles from Duxbury to Woodstock). This north-south corridor, once used only by hill-town villagers, has become the way to Vermont's most popular ski resorts. It is as scenic a highway as you'll find anywhere in New England. Near the major downhill ski areas there are great accommodations and fine food.
Just a short drive from Route 100 is Woodstock -- a showcase of a town anytime, but in autumn it is stellar. For a spectacular scenic road from Stockbridge to Woodstock (25 miles), take Route 107 east to 12 south. Woodstock highlights include historic architecture, impeccably maintained; a classic town green lined with sugar maples; Billings Farm & Museum, a circa-1890s farmhouse and modern farm; and Vermont's first National Park, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park.
Reader Comments
Comment from Diane Pouliot on October 11, 2009
Having been born and lived in Vermont all my life the author presents a wonderful route to visit for foliage. I would also like to point out though that moving from Burlington to Manchester Vermont has also opened up a whole new vista of foliage. How nice it would be to take the "option" drive from I-91 into Vermont and cross over the mountains on VT Route 9 - where the scenery and landscape are as remarkable as the people who work and live on the farms and in the smaller towns. Head over to Bennington and then catch Route 7 or Historic Route 7A where the Green Mountain Boys used to roam to see some of Vermont's Southern most beauty.. Towns rich with color and history and foliage to take one's breath away ....Arlington-home to Norman Rockwell; Manchester-home to Robert Todd Lincoln, Dorset and Danby and on through up to Rutland, Vt all are well worth a quick trip off of I-91. And head back down US VT 7 all the way to CT to see more than just VT at it's finest. Southern VT is sometimes forgotten along the travels- but with the only Shires in Vermont, it is well worth the travel to our part of the state....
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