2016 – New England

2nd Oct 2016

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Day 12 – Stowe to Lee

Today we drove 225 miles south from Stowe to our last stop at Lee in Massachusetts.  On the outskirts of Stowe, we came across a farm with a impressive display of pumpkins, which were just crying out for some photographs.

To one side of the building was a pumpkin carriage, ready to make deliveries!

At the same farm, they also had some alpacas in an adjacent field, so we spent a bit of time trying to get some pictures of them as well.

Driving on from the pumpkin farm, our next stop was Quechee Gorge where we had lunch and met up with an old work colleague of Carol’s who now lives in New England.  The gorge is crossed by the Quechee Gorge Bridge, a steel bridge which was built in 1911. Originally a railway bridge, it was converted to a road bridge in 1933 and is the oldest surviving steel arch bridge in Vermont. It is not possible to get a picture of the full bridge without descending into the deep gorge below, but the picture below gives some idea of the bridge’s construction

From the bridge there are views down into the Quechee Gorge. The gorge was carved out by melt water in the last ice age and at 165 ft deep is the deepest gorge in Vermont. The gorge is also known as Vermont’s Little Canyon, and is the centre piece of the Quechee State Park.

Finally we drove onto Lee, arriving at our accommodation at the Devonfield Inn after dark.  The Devonfield Inn is a lovely New England house dating from the late 18th century which was once the summer residence of George Westinghouse.  Westinghouse established the Westinghouse Electric Company, introduced the world’s first AC electrical distribution network in nearby Great Barrington and was the main competitor to Thomas Edison during the so-called current wars of the 1880’s and 90’s.