tell me about southwestern vermont

April 17, 2022 1:26 PM

A few years ago, I surprised my wife with a weekend getaway for her birthday. In the years since, pregnancies, newborns, and Covid have made it so that we couldn’t really go away. But now that our kids are both old enough to travel and the world has mostly reopened, I’d like to do it again this year. I’ve set my sights on the Brattleboro, Vermont area, and I’d like your inside info.

We live in Nashua, New Hampshire. We’ve done a bunch of day trips, and we did an overnight to Providence after Christmas, and our kids handled them well.

My tentative plan is to leave on Friday, June 17th, find a whole house Airbnb for Friday and Saturday nights, and then hit the children’s museum in Keene on the way home on Sunday. My question is twofold:

First, I don’t have anything planned between driving there on Friday afternoon and driving back on Sunday morning other than “being somewhere scenic that’s not our house”. What’s fun in Vermont? Places to eat, things to see, stuff for the kids, etc. We don’t drink coffee or alcohol, so those things don’t matter to us, but any other fun or interesting suggestions are welcome.

Second, a lot of the Airbnbs I’m seeing seem to be further west of Brattleboro, near the ski areas. I don’t really know anything about that part of Vermont. Are there certain towns I should look for (or, alternatively, to avoid)? I was looking at Brattleboro because, as the biggest town in the area, I was assuming it would have more things to do, but maybe if the other towns are touristy, that might not be the case?

Thanks!

posted by kevinbelt to Travel & Transportation around Brattleboro, VT (6 answers total)

Brattleboro is a cute spot with several interesting things within driving distance.

- Visit King Arthur (about an hour away)
- Visit Harpoon Brewery (about an hour away) -- I know you said no alcohol. There is food & the outdoor seating is full of Adirondack chairs so it's a nice spot to stop for a lounge even if you enjoy an iced tea rather than a cold beer.
- Atlas Obscura everything - we use to find interesting stops along the way & smaller museums
- American Precision Museum (about an hour away) - very cool museum on precision tools/automations in an old steam mill
- Catch a movie at the Latchis Theater -- a beautiful old Art Deco theater in downtown Brattelboro
- Stop at the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum (about 30 minutes away) - the museum is the basement level of a gift shop at a scenic overlook and it's actually pretty cool. The small fresh cider donuts are also delicious
- Make a reservation to eat in a train car at TJ Buckely's in Brattleboro - this might be less kid friendly
- Watch the sunset & get seafood at The Marina - lots of outdoor seating waterside
- Visit the Mecca that is MassMoCA - also has kid museum/kid spaces (about an hour away)
- Visit the Eric Carle Museum (about an hour away) - seems kid friendly
posted by countrymod at 5:36 PM on April 17, 2022

There isn't a whole lot to Brattleboro. The downtown is maybe 6 or 8 blocks and can be covered in a few hours. I spent a lot of time there about five years ago and we honestly left town to do everything. Keene was where we went to go shopping at Target, get Starbucks and Chipotle!

With little kids, I'd honestly recommend something like Boston where they have zoos and aquariums.
posted by dancinglamb at 7:02 PM on April 17, 2022

Best answer: I don't know anything about where to stay in Brattleboro but Retreat Farm is there and is a nice place to go walking around, say hi to some farm animals and learn a little bit about the history of the place. I second MassMoCA, a lot of neat stuff there.
posted by jessamyn at 7:06 PM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Brattleboro is mentioned in this Thrillist article about funky arts small towns.
posted by TimHare at 9:01 PM on April 17, 2022

I'd suggest Manchester instead. I live over the mountain in Londonderry and it's where I send visitors to enjoy the day.

It's a nice little town that has great outdoors activities but also:

Southern Vermont Arts Center; it has a great outdoor sculpture garden;
Orvis offers fly fishing classes;
Hildene is Lincoln's summer home and has a working dairy and gorgeous grounds to ramble on;
Mount Equinox has some really easy but high-payoff hikes, especially on the Flatlander Trail to Robin's Lookout;
the Pastime Pinball Arcade is fun;
there are loads of working farms and dairies that are proud of their work and give tours;
the Dorset Farmer's Market on the weekends is wonderful;
the town itself has a terrific recreation center and hiking trail that features frisbee golf;
you can learn glassblowing or wooden bowl making;
Northshire Books is a gigantic bookseller with a pretty decent cafe;
and there are many great food options, including amazing farm to table food trucks, NYC style pizza and top notch casual joints.
posted by Sweetie Darling Sweetie Darling at 4:58 AM on April 18, 2022 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Coming back to leave a comment about Retreat Farm, which was one of the coolest places we've been to. Everything you read, from the website to jessamyn's comment above, really underplays how wonderful it is. From the website, you'd think it's just a normal farm, and I guess it is, but for kids it was truly magical. The Forest Playground and Storybook Walk made their day, and the animals are just out there in their fields and you can walk up to them, which the kids loved. We could've spent the whole day there. Also the cheese store is magnificent. For anyone in the future thinking about going to Brattleboro, definitely go to Retreat Farm. 100% recommend.
posted by kevinbelt at 1:33 PM on June 23, 2022 [2 favorites]