Northwest Vermont

South of the refuge, at the tip of a peninsula jutting into Lake Champlain, sits a little gem of a state park: Kill Kare. There are picnic spots, a small beach, and daily summer boat connections to Burton Island, another small but especially lovely state park. Completely surrounded by the waters of Lake Champlain, Burton Island can have a surprisingly lively feel, thanks to the many Quebec boaters who use its marina and enjoy the Burton Island Bistro, with its solid wine and beer selection and homemade omelets.

The informal capital of Northwest Vermont is St. Albans, known as “the Rail City” for its days as a passenger and freight hub. Trains are still an important part of life here: St. Albans is the northernmost stop for Amtrak’s Vermonter, as well as the headquarters of a regional line, the New England Central Railroad. Nineteenth-century prosperity gave rise to a handsome and compact city center, gathered around one of Vermont’s grandest public spaces, Taylor Park, and its fancy Victorian fountain. Every maple season, as sap lines around Northwest Vermont fill with the makings of the state’s “liquid gold,” the park is the center of a gala Maple Festival.

St. Albans stands at one end of a rail route that doesn’t involve trains at all. The Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail follows a former roadbed for more than 26 miles from here to Richford, offering cyclists and hikers a scenic pathway that roughly follows the river. Halfway along the trail is the village of Enosburg Falls, which holds the annual Vermont Dairy Festival each June, a celebration of dairying’s importance to the region. Enosburg Falls also has its own opera house, dating to 1892 and still a venue for live performances. Like Montgomery’s covered bridges, it was built to last.