Capital Region in the Spring
Top Picks in the Capital Region
In the spring, Vermont’s landscapes wake up from their long winter’s slumber into the riot and color of renewal. Maple sap flows in forests, warm days make for sunny spring skiing, and trees and flowers begin to bud. Hand-picked by the editors of Yankee Magazine, these 5 highlights are just some of what the Capital Region offers as the Green Mountains come alive.
Montpelier, Vermont
The State House
Not only is Vermont’s state house one of the nation’s oldest and best preserved, it’s also a surprisingly fine art gallery. Traditional works include Julian Scott’s massive 1874 Civil War mural and portraits of Vermont-born U.S. Presidents Coolidge and Arthur. The state house cafeteria hosts rotating exhibits that often highlight more cutting-edge art. Visitors are welcome year-round, but if you plan your visit while the legislature is in session (January to May), you may be able to see lawmakers in action. Free self-guided audio tours hit all the highlights, and guided tours are seasonally available. The state house is open most weekdays. Check website for updated hours.
Barre, Vermont
Hope Cemetery
Vermont’s granite capital is a showplace for stone carving, a traditional craft practiced by many Italian and other European immigrants who began arriving here in the late 1880s. Hope Cemetery is where some of their finest work is on display. The unusual collection of memorials includes a race car, a soccer ball, an easy chair, a biplane, and lifelike images of stone carvers’ friends and colleagues. Carved into one monument is a woman’s face conjured in a puff of a smoke; another shows a couple in their pajamas, holding hands in twin beds above their gravesite. Among the most touching is the life-size carving of a sorrowful-looking Elia Corti, a master carver who lost his life during local political unrest in 1903.
Montpelier and East Montpelier, Vermont
Morse Farm and Bragg Farm
Tradition’s the thing at these two Capital Region sugar makers: The Morse family and the Bragg family have worked their respective farms for a whopping eight generations. Sitting just a 15-minute drive from each other, Morse Farm and Bragg Farm let maple lovers get a double dose of Vermont’s early-spring “gold rush.” Check out the displays in Morse Farm’s woodshed theater and outdoor farm museum or walk Bragg Farm’s maple trail before getting down to business—namely, enjoying the syrups, creemees, and other tasty products that have earned these family farms their lasting legacies.
NORTH BRANCH CASCADES TRAIL
– Worcester, Vermont
For outdoor fun, this mile-long mossy forest trail along the cascading North Branch of the Winooski River has got you covered. Hiking? Check. Birdwatching and picnicking? Check and check. And if you love waterfalls, there are seven to choose from here, along with swimming holes aplenty. The recently improved pathway and its restroom facilities are ADA-accessible and there are benches and picnic tables along the way. The North Branch Cascades Trail is open in all seasons, but it may be the most inviting in the spring—with the water running high, songbirds returning, and the massive yews, spruces, and hemlocks putting forth delicate new growth.
There are currently two access points along Route 12. One is at the south end and one in the middle
GREEN MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL
– Montpelier, Vermont
Through the lens of a camera, viewers connect with the world. At the Green Mountain Film Festival, established in 1997, you might see a documentary about the history of the Black American farming experience, or a drama about a single mother in Cameroon, or a collection of short films centered on Vermont. Held at The Savoy Theater and other Montpelier venues, the March festival came back from a multiyear hiatus in 2024 and picked up right where it left off—as one of the region’s most prestigious celebrations of narrative, documentary, and experimental movies and shorts.
More to See and Do
Places to Visit In the Spring
Yankee Magazine’s editors hand-picked 5 places to visit in each Vermont region. Explore things to do in spring statewide.
