White River Valley in the Spring
Top Picks in the White River Valley
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 White River Valley offers as the Green Mountains come alive.
Granville and Hancock, Vermont
Moss Glen Falls and Texas Falls
Spring’s melting snows cascade over two of Vermont’s most scenic and easily accessible waterfalls. Alongside Route 100 in Granville, one of Vermont’s two named Moss Glen Falls is formed by Deer Hollow Brook spilling 80 feet over a rock precipice, clinging to the stone in classic “horsetail” fashion. A quick waterside stroll of less than 200 yards leads to an ADA-accessible viewing platform. The geology is a bit more dramatic at Texas Falls, just off Route 125, in Hancock. Easy to reach via a U.S. Forest Service road, a series of walkways and footbridges follow the Hancock Branch of the White River as it thunders through a narrow gap and swirls across glacial potholes dating to the Ice Age.
South Royalton, Vermont
Worthy Burger
A star of Vermont’s locavore dining scene for over a decade, Worthy Burger has built a menu around burgers made with 100 percent grass-fed beef from Almanack Farm in Chelsea. Paired with the hefty six-ounce patties are local cheeses from the likes of Plymouth Artisan Cheese and Billings Farm, buns are sourced from La Panciata, a traditional Italian bakery in Northfield. There are fish, poultry, and vegetarian burger variations, and weekly specials add a note of serendipity (for example, a “Getting’ Figgy with It” burger made with fig jam and Jasper Hill Farm’s Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese). The impressively long beer list has Vermont stars such as Greensboro’s Hill Farmstead, Hyde Park’s Ten Bends, and Waitsfield’s Lawson’s Finest Liquids.
Randolph, Vermont
Silloway Maple
The secret’s in the mix…and the maple. When springtime brings a craving for Vermont’s favorite cone, folks head down a dirt road in Randolph for creemees made with a rich, ten-percent-butterfat base from Lyndonville’s Kingdom Creamery. The folks at Silloway Maple blend that base with their darkest, most flavorful maple syrup, simmered even longer to concentrate flavor. There’s more than just creemees to make you want to linger at Silloway, though. Visitors are welcome to hike through the sugarbush, tour the sugarhouse, and visit the store (don’t miss the bourbon-barrel-aged maple syrup).
FLY FISHING THE WHITE RIVER
– Regionwide
The White River, with its branches and tributaries, makes up Vermont’s fourth-largest watershed. Born of brooks tumbling down from the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains, and free of dams throughout its 57-mile length, the White is an often-overlooked waterway providing habitat for brook, rainbow, brown trout, and, in its lower stretches, young (parr) Atlantic salmon. Anglers wading through the White River’s narrow headwaters encounter brookies and small rainbows in cold, clear pools, while browns, big rainbows, and salmon benefiting from federal restoration efforts populate the lower reaches from Bethel to the Connecticut River.
PLAYHOUSE MOVIE THEATER
– Randolph, Vermont
Talking pictures were still nearly a decade away when the Playhouse opened its doors in 1919. Vermont’s first theater that was specially built for movies is still going strong, showing first-run films on a single screen—it’s never become a multiplex, although it’s kept up to date with the latest in digital projectors. Evening screenings run Wednesday through Saturday, and a Sunday matinee has open captioning for the hearing-impaired. Drinks and classic movie candy are available at old-fashioned prices, and the popcorn is flavored with real butter.
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.
