THE COMMUNITIES OF THE SHIRES
Photo by Lorianna Weathers Photography
EAST DORSET
Otter Creek rises in East Dorset and flows into crystal clear Emerald Lake , home to a state park , before running north into Lake Champlain .
Ramble up Mad Tom Road in late July and early August to pick blueberries at Wildwood Berry Farm and in early October to pick apples at Mad Tom Orchard .
East Dorset is the home of the Bill Wilson House , where the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous grew up and where the 12 Steps was born .
In July and August , the Vermont Summer Festival at the Harold Beebe farm off Route 7 is a major attraction , highlighted by the Vermont Festival Horse Show .
GLASTENBURY
The town , all 44.4 mostly mountainous square miles of it , had a population of 8 at last count , all in the ghost town of Fayville at the western base of the mountain .
Vermont ’ s Long Trail ( part of the AT ) runs along the Green Mountain ridgeline and over the 3,748-ft . summit of Glastenbury Mountain .
The pop . went all the way up to 241 during the logging boom of the 1880s , when Glastenbury ’ s vast stands of timber were felled to make boards and burned to make charcoal for the iron industry – until scarcely a tree was left .
Ripley ’ s Believe It or Not profiled Glastenbury in 1936 (“ The Mattison Family is the whole town of Glastenbury , Vt . Ira Mattison and his wife and mother hold every town office ”).
The Vermont legislature disincorporated the town and adjacent Somerset in 1937 . Then came the disappearances . Middie Rivers never emerged from Bickford Hollow in 1945 . Bennington College student Paula Welden went hiking in 1946 and was never seen again . Three large stone cairns lie near the summit of the mountain . Who made them and why ? No wonder Glastenbury has acquired a certain reputation in paranormal circles . Google “ The Bennington Triangle ,” for starters .
COME EXPLORETHESHIRES . COM 20 FOR INFO CALL 802.447.2456