Today is Friday and probably last day of intense sightseeing! We discovered that the King Arthur Flour store was only 4 miles from our hotel in White River Junction, so off we went. It was quite a find! Beautiful wood beams throughout. Such a great place - classes are held here and it has the most incredible showroom of cooking supplies. If they had one cake or bread pan, they had 50! Bought some really neat stuff here - bread basket for baking They have a great cafe which we wish we had discovered earlier because we would've had dinner here instead of McDonald's last night! But fine for coffee and a donut treat for now!
Just on the outskirts of Woodstock, we discovered a furniture and pottery showroom and workshop. We almost didn't stop, but one of the things I felt we should do on this trip was to stop if we saw something of interest and not to hurry from place to place. This turned out to be a good plan as we stumbled across some neat places that we otherwise would've missed. The company is named Shackleton Thomas. It is the combined furniture workshop of Charles Shackleton and pottery studio of Miranda Thomas, a husband and wife team. They are truly master crasftspeople. The showroom contained the most beautiful handmade tables, etc. some of which cost $8,000. Each piece is made by the same craftsman from start to finish. You could go upstairs to see their workshop also. So many pretty pottery designs too. The potter was commissioned to do a peace bowl for the Pope a few years ago. Their website --
www.shackletonthomas.com
We found out that they have a really neat workshop in the summer. It is a two day workshop making your own piece - table, bench, etc. At one point, those taking the workshop take a "walk and learn" through the forest where the trees are harvested for the tables. The grand finale of the event is a farm to table feast upon the completed tables under the covered bridge in Woodstock.
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| Plymouth Cheese Company located here in Plymouth - bought some cheese! |
Next stop was Plymouth Notch - home of Calvin Coolidge. Didn't know much about him, but I do now! He was president during the 1920's and is known as "Silent Cal". We could use a guy like him right now in the White House. The town where he was born is very remote and only consists of a few buildings - the most beautiful setting looking out on the mountains. It was very interesting and to think that one our presidents was born in this tiny little town.
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| Looking out onto the mountains from Coolidge homestead |
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| The church at Plymouth Notch |
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| Grafton Home |
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| The Village Blacksmith |
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| Inside of The Grafton Inn |
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| Church in Grafton |
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| Inside of Coolidge church |
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| Coolidge Compound |
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| Coolidge birthplace |
We had been to Grafton (not far from Plymouth Notch) one other time, and remembered it as being very charming. It was! Every small town has a General Store which are always fun to wander around. Never know what you will find there. After thinking about it, these little stores provide just about everything - there are no strip malls or other stores in the near vicinity so they are not just for nostalgia - they are definitely needed! Prices are high because no competition!
The blacksmith told us that the movie Funny Farm was filmed at a house in Grafton!
Last stop today is Bennington. Lots of history here. Stopped at a Revolutionary War monument first and then the cemetery where Robert Frost is buried complete with birch trees planted next to the tombstone. The cemetery was behind a most beautiful old Congregational church.
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| Congregational Church |
Full day today! Leaving for Albany tonight and heading back to Michigan tomorrow!
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| The only moose we saw ! |
