Champlain Valley in the Winter

Otter Creek’s roaring waterfalls may be at the heart of Middlebury, but something else flows through this college town: Green Mountain State pride. Among the storefronts here are Vermont Soap (organic, locally made cleansing products); the Vermont Book Shop (spotlighting resident authors like Bill McKibben and Julia Alvarez); and Vermont’s Own (cheese, crafts, and pretty much any made-in-Vermont item you can imagine). The food and drink scene is just as locally focused, including Drop-In Brewing Company, which is home to the American Brewers Guild Brewing School, and Haymaker Bun Company, considered one of the nation’s best bakeries. Winter brings the added lure of two beloved community events: the holiday festival Very Merry Middlebury in December, and the Middlebury College Carnival in February.

Born in California, the poet Robert Frost had deep roots in Vermont, where he lived, wrote, and taught for many years. The house where he wrote some of his most famous works is preserved in Shaftsbury; his grave can be found in Bennington. One of the best places to connect with Frost’s legacy, though, can be found along scenic Route 125 in the Green Mountain National Forest. From the roadside kiosk, a one-mile universal-access trail loops through fields and woods sprinkled with placards of Frost’s poems. You’ll read the words he wrote amid the landscape that helped inspire them. And there may be no better time to appreciate his famous “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” than during a winter visit here.