8 Great Places You've Never Heard Of: Brattleboro, Vermont

Described as “Vintage New England,” Brattleboro residents go to great lengths to ensure the sustainability of their agricultural heritage.

August/September 2007
By Dave Wann 
The Strolling of the Heifers in Brattleboro
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The Strolling of the Heifers in Brattleboro
JASON HENSKE
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Faced with the challenge of preserving their agricultural heritage and their beautiful landscape, the residents of Brattleboro created a local tradition that has captured New England’s heart: “The Strolling of the Heifers,” a feminine version of Spain’s famous “Running of the Bulls,” according to founder Orly Munzing. Up to 50,000 people attend this event to celebrate regional agriculture with a parade, music, food, workshops and farm tours. Munzing’s inspiration came as she talked with a neighbor in his orchard. “Pretty soon,” he told her, “there won’t be any picturesque hay bales in Vermont.” But Munzing hopes she and her colleagues can help prevent that loss.

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People love Brattleboro because it’s vintage Vermont, complete with covered bridges, dairy cows grazing on hillsides and church steeples jutting into the sky. This artsy, intellectual town on the Connecticut River is known for music, art and great food. The Brattleboro Food Co-op, in business since 1975, now has 5,000 members and 16,000 square feet of space. Members can do volunteer work in the community for discounts at the store. The co-op carries 500 different cheeses, and every month a producer is spotlighted at the store and in the co-op newsletter. According to Jenifer Morier, an employee at the co-op, “Sometimes people have a hard time getting through the store because they keep running into people they know.”

Do you live in Brattleboro? Have you visited? Please post a comment below.

Brattleboro, Vermont

Population: 11,994
Climate: Winters that usually make the holiday season white (average annual snowfall is 68 inches). Average January temperature: 25 degrees. July average: 73 degrees.
Median House Value: $180,000
Natural Assets: Skiing at Mount Snow, Haystack and Stratton ski areas; kayaking on the Connecticut River; mountain biking and hiking in the Green Mountains.
Sustainable Initiatives: Civic activism to preserve quality of life (for instance, no billboards allowed). Recently, 200 residents took the “localvore” challenge in which they pledged to eat locally grown foods for either a week or a month.

 

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Comments

  • Hit-man 8/14/2008 10:55:10 PM

    Unfortunately Brattleboro is not a good place to visit. How about nudist pedophiles standing around playing with themselves in public. A total disregard for the feelings of others. The restaurants are overpriced and staffed by long-haired ninnies who live in their own little planet and that's if you get service in a restaurant. The drivers are as bad here as in Boston and there a lots of accidents here almost everyday.

    Avoid Brattleboro at all costs. Visit Vermont if you must, but skip the southern part of the state. Nothing but ripoff city!

  • Cameron 2/8/2008 11:05:07 AM

    Brattleboro, while it does have it's positive aspects, also has
    plenty of negatives. Over 13% of the population lives below the
    poverty line (compared to less than 9.5% in the county). There is
    also a LOT of drug use (and I'm not talking about pot). And parts
    of the town could definitely be considered slums (with little sign
    of improvement). The downtown and main street area have been
    revitalized, but that's about it.

  • Ted 8/19/2007 10:38:25 AM

    It is comforting to see that the area that I live in is recognized
    for it's unique character. I was born there , still live within
    eleven miles of main street , on the east side of the Connecticut
    River. There is no other place on the planet that travels to it's
    own drummer, the way Brattleboro does. The community certainly
    values people and is very proud of that fact that there is no fast
    lane there.

  • Mark 8/12/2007 6:46:40 PM

    I just made a trip up to battleboro (from Florida) and it was the
    nicest place i had been to and i also visited bloomington, IND. Me
    and a friend got to catch the parade of heifers, great parade so
    many smiles, we ran in to people we have met in gainesville, fl and
    they let us cook for them, we went skinny deeping(which is legal)in
    a ice cold river, and all around had the best time on our trip
    there and we only spent a day there, i can't wait to go back, but
    when i do again it will be in the summer....(born and raised in
    florida snow is a scary thing for us...... Peace and Solidarity
    Mark

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