About St. Johnsbury
About St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Named by National Geographic as the #1 Small Town for Adventure, St. Johnsbury combines an energetic business district with a rich cultural life, year-round recreational opportunities, and beautiful historical buildings.
St. Johnsbury lies at the confluence of three rivers. It's conveniently located at the intersection of Interstates 93 and 91. There are 7500 residents in St. Johnsbury, making it the largest town in northeastern Vermont and northwestern New Hampshire. It's just 45 minutes from the Canadian border, an hour's drive from Dartmouth College and many ski resorts are nearby, including the hidden gem of Burke Mountain.
St. Johnsbury is a Preserve America and Main Street Community. The town cares about its history, architecture, cultural and authentic small town life.
Downtown St. Johnsbury is the real deal. Please join us in St. Johnsbury for an adventure that is Very Vermont!
This website is sponsored by the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce.
Maple Season -- Vermont’s “Fifth Season”
Can you smell it in the air yet? That sweet fragrance of maple sap, being
boiled for hours and hours, until it reaches that golden stage called “maple syrup.” It must be maple sugaring season -- Vermont’s “fifth season” that comes between winter and spring!
Vermont’s syrup producers are known as “sugarmakers,” and the area around St. Johnsbury is filled with people who produce a variety of maple products for retail sale, and others who just produce a few gallons as a hobby to share with family and friends.
Plenty of special events are planned in Vermont to celebrate the delicious products of Vermont’s state tree, the sugar maple. The end of March is time for the state’s ninth annual Maple Open House Weekend, March 26 through 28, 2010. During the weekend, sugarhouses across the state will be open to the public, and people can watch the fascinating process of turning maple sap into “liquid gold.” In the area around St. Johnsbury, seven sugarhouses will participate in the Open House Weekend, with activities ranging from demonstrations of the syrup production process to tours of the properties to tasty samples of maple products. Some sugarhouses will host sugar-on-snow parties, which are a Vermont tradition. They pour hot syrup on fresh snow -- a kind of “ice cream sundae” you won’t find anywhere else! Local sugarhouses participating in the weekend include: Achilles Family Sugarhouse, Center Hill Maples, and Goss Sugar House in Barnet; Fradette’s Maple Syrup in East Hardwick; Gadapee Family Sugarhouse in Danville, High Meadow Farm in East Burke; and Mountainside Orchards in Hardwick. Check the website vermontmaple.org for more information about the Open House Weekend.
Here in St. Johnsbury, our own Maplefest celebration will take over the downtown April 24. A great street fair, Maplefest fills Railroad Street in St. Johnsbury with everything maple. Scott Beck, owner of local independent bookstore Boxcar & Caboose, heads the Maplefest. You can get more information about Maplefest by calling him at 802-748-3551. Watch this fun video about last year’s Maplefest by clicking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbHd5bZiDpk.
St. Johnsbury has a long tradition of producing maple products, leading to its nickname as “Maple Center of the World.” Maple Grove Farms, one of the world’s leading producers of maple products, was founded in St. Johnsbury and has its Vermont headquarters right here in town. The company’s Maple Museum in St. Johnsbury, with its huge maple syrup jug outside, attracts thousands of visitors from around the world each year. An article written in the Vermonter magazine in 1927 details the founding of Maple Grove Farms in 1915 by three young St. Johnsbury women, Katherine Ide Gray, her daughter Helen Gray, and Ethel McLaren.
You can read more about the process of making maple syrup and St. Johnsbury’s tradition of maple products here. And come join the sweet fun!
New Facelift for Main Street Clock
Seems like every small downtown has one – a clock that sits in the middle of town as a landmark: “Meet me at the clock.” St. Johnsbury’s clock on the corner of Main and Eastern Avenue is just such a landmark for the town. In years past, the Randall and Whitcomb stationery store advertised their location at the intersection as, "on the corner by the clock."
Owned by the Fairbanks Museum, it’s been here since 1910, when it was brought from New York City’s Grand Central Station and erected by H. W. Randall. At the time, it cost $700, according to “The Town of St. Johnsbury,” a history of the town written in 1914 by Edward T. Fairbanks.
You may have noticed that the clock had stopped a long while back. Recently, a small group of people in town decided it was time to get the clock working again.
“Every twenty years or so, the clock needs an overhaul,” says Bob Desrochers. He should know – he’s been involved in the last two times the clock needed work, in the early 1970s and again in the 1990s. This summer, Desrochers contacted Peggy Pearl at the Fairbanks Museum and Dick Diefenbach, local clockmaker, to get them involved. Both had been part of previous renovations of the clock, so everyone knew what had to be done.
Workers from Desrochers’s company, Fairbanks Mill, handled the
work of sandblasting and repainting the clock. Glass for a new bezel was obtained from Mayo’s Glass, and Dick Diefenbach worked on the inner parts of the clock to get it in running order. After sealing the clock against the elements, it was wound and back in action in September.
Dick Diefenbach at work
About that winding…Desrochers says the clock must be wound every week – no batteries in that old clock! For now, he is happy to take care of those duties. “It’s fun to be part of an effort for almost forty years, off and on,” says Desrochers. “I guess we’ll have to do it again in another twenty years or so.”
If you see St. Johnsbury tax assessor Peter Whitney peering intently at your Victorian filigree, don’t panic. Whitney is probably much more interested in how your house will look in a photograph.
Church spires in St. J
Whitney has an avid interest in old buildings. For the past couple
of years, Whitney has been photographing architectural features of residences and other older buildings in St. Johnsbury and other communities. Once he bought his digital Canon Eos Rebel, he decided to start taking pictures of buildings and especially details that interested him. “With my digital camera I can take as many pictures as I want without any additional expense,” Whitney explains.
Zucarro & Willis law office, Main St.
Whitney’s St. Johnsbury photos show his attention to building detail. His photo of church spires provides a vivid contrast of the architectural styles of two of St. Johnsbury’s churches. The architectural details of the Estabrook House, a St. Johnsbury bed and breakfast, make for some beautiful shots of that magnificent Queen Anne Victorian home.
Estabrook House, Main St.
Whitney provides an interesting view of the building that houses the Zuccaro & Willis law office, framed by an archway across the street. He also shows interesting details of two other St. Johnsbury houses, one of which
contains a very large tower.
Tower house in St. J
Whitney taught himself how to take architectural photos. Recently, he has become very interested in how he frames his pictures and says he has taken more time to establish just the right frame for each picture.
On Flickr, Whitney has joined several groups that contain photos that interest him, such as “Victorian houses,” “houses with towers,” and “historical porches and scroll work.”
Whitney says he is always looking for
new buildings to photograph. “Recently I photographed the Reed Supply building near the Old Mill Racquet Club,” Whitney said. “You might not notice it right away, but the building has gorgeous lines and details.”
Reed Supply porch, St. J
Whitney has uploaded his pictures to Flickr, an Internet photo archiving service that members of the public can visit. His photos are located at http://www.flickr.com/photos/21136694@N02/. In addition to his architectural photos, Whitney also has collections of nature photos, including flowers, foliage, and birds, as well as photos of hiking trips and travels.
Thanks to Peter Whitney for his generosity in allowing us to use his pictures here on the DiscoverStJ site from time to time, as other local photographers have done. We enjoy his beautiful photos of our beautiful town.
Fred and Robin Little have owned Sunshine Boutique in downtown
St. Johnsbury for over 20 years. It’s a thriving business, with beautiful jewelry, clothing, and decorative items for the home.
So why would they want to own Moose River Lake and Lodge, another store in downtown St. Johnsbury that offers jewelry, clothing, and beautiful items for the home?According to Fred Little, “It’s an exciting challenge for us. The two stores are completely different from each other.” Their plan is to maintain the distinct look and feel of Moose River, with its rustic upscale North Country cabin-like atmosphere. “We’re enjoying having the two different kinds of stores,” says Fred.
Robin and Fred take turns being in each store. So far, th
at’s worked out just fine,” says Fred. Years ago, the Littles owned a fine jewelry store in Littleton. “But it was much harder running two locations 20 miles away from each other,” he says. “It’s great being a 28-second walk between the stores.”The transfer of the store from Bob Hoffman to Fred and Robin Little took place
in mid-November. “We’ve had a wonderful holiday season,” says Fred. “Moose River has done much better than we had even hoped, and Sunshine Boutique exceeded our expectations, too.”Fred is pleased to own the magnificent building that houses Moose River Lake and Lodge as well as a number of offices on the second floor. “We think it’s a great investment in St. Johnsbury,” says Fred, “and we’re proud to be part of the historical downtown.”
Thanks to the Littles for their many years of being great merchants in St. Johnsbury. Best of luck in their newest retail venture, Moose River Lake and Lodge.
“People see our ‘St. Johnsbury Works’ shirts,” says Susan, “And right away they start asking questions. We try to direct them to help them find what they’re looking for.” You’ll often see the Downtown Ambassadors out on their rounds with their children in tow – Heather and Susan each have a toddler, and Maribeth has two children under 5 years old. “We try to go out between 11am and 2 pm, 5 or 6 days a week,” says Maribeth. “We’ll be here through the end of the summer.”
The women are very pleased with the job so far – the flowerpots are lush and blooming, the street looks great, and as Heather says, “Lots of people thank us for what we’re doing, and that’s really nice.”