Road Tripping Through the National Parks: New Hampshire & Vermont
On this edition of “Road Tripping Through the National Parks” we are covering not one, but two states: Vermont and New Hampshire. The reasoning behind this is that both states only have two national park sites. One of those for each of them is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, which we already covered in the Connecticut edition. The others are in close proximity to each other with one being in eastern Vermont and the other being in western New Hampshire. It makes for a short trip to cover these two states. While there are many ways to get to these two states, in this hypothetical scenario we are flying into Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport in northern Vermont and picking up a rental car. It’s a ninety minute drive to your first destination.
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is your first stop on this trip. The park preserves multiple families of conservationists that have a connection to this land. It started as the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh, a literary conservationist during the 19th century, before being transferred to Frederick Billings, a railroad tycoon who managed the area as a forest and farm. The property eventually fell into the hands of the Rockefeller family who worked on setting up a series of their famous wilderness carriage roads before donating it to the National Park Service for the American people to use. While the history of the carriage road and other conservation facts make the visitor center an interesting visit, it’s walking on the actual carriage roads and other hiking trails that make this park a fun experience. They all lead to a pond called The Pogue at the middle of the property that is filled with frogs, turtles and other wildlife during the summer months. In the snowy winter months, the area is transformed into a cross country skiing escape.
Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park is just a forty minute drive across the state border. This park preserves the home and works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, a famous Civil War and Reconstruction Era sculptor and artist. There is a fee to get into the park if you don’t have an America the Beautiful pass, but it’s well worth the money as you get access to the grounds, home and studio. All of them are rather large in size. I did as much of the trails as I could. However, it was a surprisingly large trail network, and the day I went was rather buggy out. The home is probably the busiest section of the park as it has multiple benches and sitting areas to sit back and relax or have a picnic. The best part of the park, though, is the studio and the surrounding area. The studio contains interesting sculptures of Lincoln, General Sherman and Greek mythology fixtures. Hidden outdoor nooks have replicas of some of Saint-Gaudens’ most famous works including a replica of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial (which you may remember that the original is located at Boston African American National Historic Site). This area has beautiful views of Mount Ascutney, which is one of the more unique looking mountains in Vermont outside of Camel’s Hump. You can actually finish your trip by heading towards Mount Ascutney and enjoying a nice dinner at the Harpoon Brewery.
