Grandma Moses

Anna Mary Robertson Moses started painting at the tender age of 76! I guess there's hope for me after all. She painted nearly every day and turned out more than 3600 paintings during the time she painted. Bennington has a museum that features some of her beautiful paintings. I couldn't wait to see them, and they're all amazing when you consider that she didn't use a paintbrush at first and used whatever paint she could find, including regular old housepaint. They have the old wooden kitchen table on display that she used to create her paintings. The museum has a store connected to it where you can purchase prints and cards with her paintings in them and also those of her grandson, Will Moses.

The museum also had beautiful quilts from Haiti, vintage and perfectly preserved antique grandfather clocks that were made in Vermont, an antique car, civil war era weapons, and a replica of an old schoolroom. I loved it. The outside of the museum is guarded by two identical Dalmations, one on each side of the doorway.


And just at the entrance, to the left of the gated pathway, there is a wonderful sculpture named the "American Spirit: Faith, Hope, and Charity."

Bennington Covered Bridges

Bennington, Vermont, is known for its covered bridges. They actually have a covered bridge museum where you can learn all about them and how they're made. I didn't actually tour the museum, but we took the time to drive through three of the five bridges. The bridges were covered to protect them from the harsh elements, keeping the wood dry and preventing it from rotting.

The Silk Bridge

Inside structure of the Silk Bridge

The Silk Bridge crosses the Walloomsac River and was built about 184. The inside structure is called Town Lattice, and all of the covered bridges in Bennington are the same type.

Paper Mill Village Bridge

Wallomsac River by the Paper Mill Village Bridge

The Paper Mill Village Bridge was originally named for a 1790 paper mill in Vermont. It was built by the son of Benjamin Sears, the man who built the Silk Bridge.

Henry Bridge

The Henry Bridge was named for Elnathan Henry who bought the land from James Breckenridge and constructed the Henry House in 1769. The Henry House operates today as a Bed & Breakfast Inn and is located directly across from the bridge. The Henry Bridge spans the Wallomsac River. The original bridge was constructed in 1840. In 1989 a complete restructuring was done by Blow and Cote, Inc.

Wallomsac River view upriver from Henry Bridge



Small dam and water fall Henry Bridge

Sunflower field next to Henry Bridge

Robert Frost

Vermont was a beautiful state. We stayed in Bennington, a city known for its covered bridges and Robert Frost's burial place. He lived in Shaftsbury, VT, after moving from Derry, New Hampshire. You can see a picture of his little stone house in Shaftsbury and read about his dream of planting a Garden of Eden with a thousand apple trees. I personally love his poetry. We visited the Old First Church in Bennington where he's buried in the graveyard behind the
church.

Old church of Bennington

Entrance to graveyard

Robert Frost's gravestone

"And were an epitaph to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover's quarrel with the world. "

On the drive down to Massachusetts, I wanted to stop at his farmhouse in Derry, New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the house was closed to tours for the season, but I managed to snap these few photos. Just thinking about the fact that he walked where I walked was amazing to me.

Front of farmhouse in Derry

Side of house and children's garden

There was a maple that had to be removed at the right side of the house. When people heard about it, many of them requested pieces of the wood from the tree as mementos. You can actually purchase a keepsake piece of the wood from the maple.

New England

I've always wanted to take a trip through New England in the fall, and this October I did just that. The foliage was so beautiful! We drove up through PA and through the Catskills to Vermont, down through New Hampshire, ending up in Massachusetts. It was very cold, and it snowed several times! I loved it though because it hardly snows here in northern Virginia (it's true).

Cedar, here is the photo I took of the snow on the mountain from Burlington, VT, and thought of you!


I took some wonderful photos of the drive through Pennsylvania, where the fall color was amazing! The trees had not even started to turn yet here in VA.




Road trip!! There's nothing I enjoy more than taking a road trip to see new things and being able to take gorgeous photos along the way.

Swan

My first finished palette knife painting.