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It was another warm, sunny day so we visited Billings Farm & Museum this morning. This is a working dairy farm in Woodstock. We walked through the cow barn and were able to look at and pat some of the jersey cows waiting to be milked. We also saw the chickens and sheep and 2 enormous draft horses named Joe and Jim. The farm also has crops - corn, alfalfa and various vegetables. Some of the crop fields were destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011.
The farm's cows have won awards at various shows since the 1800s and they continue to do so now.
Every Saturday they have Traditional Craft Saturdays. Today was coopering so we were able to watch the cooper prepare the wooden shafts to make his barrels and buckets. He starts with pieces of wood that are all the same size and then he planes them down with a hand plane. It was very manual work & he gets his angles right by eye only. He says it takes him 6hrs to make one bucket.
There was an exhibition in one of the barns showing life on the farm. There were all sorts of artefacts - machinery, clothing, tools etc. We even watched a short video showing them ice harvesting. They cut massive blocks of ice from the frozen lake in winter to keep food cool during the dimmer months. They were doing this as late as 1940. The video was narrated by a man who worked on the farm at the time.
The farm house on the farm was built in 1890 by Frederick Billings for the farm manager he brought in. It had the best of everything at the time. The farm made butter from the milk and all the equipment was still in the basement of the house.
We watched a 30min film about the history of the farm. It was originally started by George Marsh then sold to Frederick Billings. Frederick's granddaughter, Mary, married Laurence Rockefeller. All 3 men were interested in conservation and worked hard to ensure trees were planted and resources were renewed. The family mansion, now referred to as the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller mansion, was given to the American people by Mary and Laurence in 1992, along with the land surrounding it where Frederick Billings had established a managed forest. It is now the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.
We left the farm around 1.30pm and drove to Quechee which is a tiny town about 15mins away. We had lunch at the Quechee diner which is in an old tram carriage. It was decorated with rock & roll memorabilia and old farm toys. It was very cool. In the same Quechee Village was The Vermont Antique Mall. We spent a couple of hours wandering around. There was also a toy museum which had a lot of cool old toys.
Just along from the village is the Quechee Gorge. There is a bridge where you can view the gorge or you can walk down into it. The walls of the gorge are163ft tall. The
Ottauquechee River runs through it. It was very pretty.
A bit further along was the Taftsville covered bridge. It is one of the longest in the state but was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011. It has since been rebuilt.
We walked down the road to an Asian fusion restaurant for dinner. Americans just don't know how to do flavour. At least food is cheap!
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