Rain and cold kept us indoors, but not at home. We visited some of the local “factories” of the Montpelier area. We started with a local cemetery with stones dating back to the 1700s including a veteran of the War of 1812. With such a start to our day we continued to Rock of Ages, the nation’s largest granite quarrier and carver of monuments and grave stones. Though a sad and serious subject, the tour was interesting. The process of cutting and raising hundreds of tons of granite is impressive. An amusing fact is that the quarry was used in one of the early scenes of the last Star Trek movie, where a young Kirk was hot rodding. They even had a granite bowling alley that Anna Lee took a crack at.
Hope Cemetery in Barre is both a burial place for local residents and a showcase of the carving done at Rock of Ages. Along with traditional stones, there rested a race car, soccer ball, and, even, a couple reaching from their beds to hold hands forever.
We needed a bit of a palate cleanser at drove up to Grand View Winery, producer of fruit wines. Their name is apt as the view even with darkening clouds was fabulous. The wine was pretty good and we bought some apple cider as “food” souvenirs.
Our appetite whetted, we visited another of Vermont’s proud traditions, Cabot Creamery. Visitors surrounded the table laden with samples of dozens of cheeses. We learned that their cheeses are both lactose free and hormone free, making Anna Lee happy. And their cheeses are sold just down the road from us at Raley’s and Costco (sorry for the commercial).
Anna Lee’s cousin Ed went to school at the Vermont Culinary Institute so their Main Street Café was our dinner stop and a nice one it was.
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