Shelburne Farms

My fiancé convinced me to take her hiking Sunday afternoon. I couldn’t really say no; I starting blogging about exploring the area a few weeks ago and around the same time began boycotting the NFL. Hello perfect storm, goodbye any excuse to lie on the couch all day Sunday.

We settled on Shelburne Farms, located in the town of the same name, about 7 miles south of Burlington. According to their website, the farm “is a membership-supported, nonprofit environmental education center, 1,400-acre working farm, and National Historic Landmark.” Nowhere in that description do they mention that it looks like this:

We had no idea that this was what the afternoon had in-store for us.

We parked our car at our friends place (she lives and works on the farm) and began walking. Ahead of us lay dirt road as far as the eye could see. It wound through trees and meadows and walked us along Lake Champlain. On this almost crystal clear afternoon, you could see for miles.

These folks anchored offshore and paddled onto the farm. A way to avoid paying at the gate? Maybe so, maybe so.

As we aimlessly meandered away from the lake, we decided to check out the “Breeding Barn.” With an apparent destination in mind, we got moving. SPOILER ALERT: Uh, yeah, we never made it to our destination. Two roads diverged in the green farmland and we took the one that seemed to be less traveled and we were right; it was so less traveled that it didn’t lead us anywhere except into a small forest.

The forest slowly enclosed us, and soon we were enveloped in beautiful silence. The occasional sign on the side silently asked us not to veer into certain areas, but for the most part we felt unnoticed, and that was just fine.

About a half-mile into the woods, the road turns slightly to the left and opens up. There is a large greenhouse on the right, small signs of human activity and as much hustle and bustle as you can have in Vermont, which is to say people were slowly walking to and fro. Slightly hidden behind a row of trees, as if its mere presence somehow molests the landscape, is a large batch of solar panels. Personally, I enjoyed them. They struck me as an necessary sign of progress and infrastructure but that which is done in the vane of fossil fuel dependency reduction and an air of conscientiousness.

After discussing the panels, we turned around and found a neat little path, just hidden off the main road. At first we thought that it was a private, ’employee only’ sort of path, but the neat grooming of the trees suggested otherwise. Small, new growth trees were trimmed up, creating a tunnel and quite romantic tunnel effect.

We strolled through the tunnel, taking notice of some of the smaller representations of nature.

Mario Brothers anyone?

When the tunnel ended, we found ourselves in a field with the option of heading back into another wooded area or walking through the field on a path no obvious, visible destination. Having banned myself from football and created a totally free day, we headed towards oblivion. A few minutes later, we found a street sign in the middle of our nowhere.

Street signs in the forest?

I may be getting ahead of myself here, but let me just tell you this: if you have the chance to go to a place that sounds as cool as “Lone Tree,” then you should do it. That’s the logic we used and it payed off. A mile walk through meadows and small batches of forests and a small ascent to the top of a hill and we had made it. Lone Tree at last.

Spoier Alert #2! While there IS a beautiful view, there is not a 'Lone Tree' at Lone Tree, which I found slightly disappointing.

Click on this picture to zoom in. There, in the background, that mansion that you see? That’s where we parked. Cuss words came out when I saw that.

Despite the longggggggggggggg walk to Lone Tree, I have to admit I was thrilled with the view. As an added bonus, there were several little secluded places to sit on benches and take it all in. We also discovered that the returning end of the loop was much shorter, albiet spookier.

Seriously, what the hell are these? (I think that is my brother in the hat.)

We followed the path until it reached the Farm Barn- an old, medieval looking building with a huge courtyard and chickens and children running amok. Some signage and polite staff informed us that this building is used for educational programs for children and for making farm fresh breads and cheese. (The cheese factory has see-through windows which allow you watch the entire process! It’s incredible. AND they give you free cheese. Clutch.)

Everything's bigger in...Shelburne

We visited some goats and piglets and a played in a giant hay maze before deciding to get moving on the mile trek back to our car. As we drove slowly down the dirt road, we realized that we had a great time and took some amazing pictures but probably hadn’t even seen a fourth of what the farm has to offer. And we never did get to that Breeding Barn.

With that in mind, we made a plan to return when the leaves change. We encourage you do the same.

Until next time, A Stranger Observing Burlington, Vermont – Elek