Connecticut River Byway

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Brattleboro

   Brattleboro sits in the southeast corner of Vermont, on the Connecticut River, and it is a place with real character, a town of about seven thousand people that feels bigger because of its energy. It was the site of the first permanent English settlement in Vermont, at Fort Dummer, built in 1724 as a frontier defence against raids from the north. The town grew as a trading point on the river, and in the nineteenth century it became known for the Estey Organ Company, which at its peak was one of the largest producers of reed organs in the world, shipping instruments to parlours across America.

   Read the complete Brattleboro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Brattleboro is where the day begins. Next is Windsor Vermont.

2. 2. Windsor Vermont

   Windsor calls itself the birthplace of Vermont, and the claim rests on a tavern. In July 1777 delegates met in a building on the town's main street and adopted the constitution of the independent Vermont Republic, the first in North America to ban adult slavery and give the vote to men without property. The building still stands as the Old Constitution House, a modest clapboard museum, and it explains a lot about the stubborn, independent character of the state. Vermont was not part of the United States until 1791.

   Read the complete Windsor Vermont write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Windsor Vermont comes up about 164 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hanover.

3. 3. Hanover

   Hanover is a town that exists around a college, and you feel it the moment you roll in. Dartmouth, founded in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock to educate Native American students and the sons of colonists, owns the centre of the place, a long, broad green surrounded by white clapboard and red brick. The Appalachian Trail runs straight along Main Street here, so it is common to see hikers with muddy boots and heavy packs buying sandwiches next to students in fleece. Theodor Geisel, who became Dr. Seuss, studied here and edited the humour magazine.

   Read the complete Hanover write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 224 km into the recorded legs you reach Hanover. Next is St Johnsbury.

4. 4. St Johnsbury

   St. Johnsbury is a town that got rich making scales and spent the money well. In 1830 Thaddeus Fairbanks patented the platform scale here, and the family firm grew into a business that sold weighing machines across the world, which paid for a surprising set of public buildings. The Athenaeum, a library and art gallery opened in 1871, still has a hall lined with paintings, among them a vast landscape of Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt, hung in the same gallery since the nineteenth century. Across the road, the Fairbanks Museum, a red sandstone building with a barrel-vaulted hall, has a rich collection of stuffed birds, animals and natural curiosities, as well as a planetarium.

   Read the complete St Johnsbury write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   St Johnsbury closes the day.