Instagramable Woodstock and Quechee

If it wasn’t for the fact that this part of Vermont is so authentic, you’d swear you were on a movie set. Most of the Green Mountain state outranks many of the other states of the union in terms of overall beauty but in this part of Vermont, the bar is raised even higher.

Make sure you have purchased that extra storage space for your iCloud account or whatever you might need for your device to be able to accommodate lots of images and perhaps videos of your visit to this endearing part of America. No matter the season, there’s much to capture and you’ll find an instagramable scene at every corner. If by any chance you’re using an old Leica, you’re really going to have some fun.

The Marsh-Billings-Rockfeller National Historical Park and Mansion are good places to start. Whether inside this historic home among period furnishings or outside on the rolling green lawn, you can find any number of shots worth saving. The panoramic view of the countryside and the Green Mountains from the property is one of the best in the area. It’s only appropriate to begin here because this is Vermont’s only national park and also the cradle of America’s environmentalism. (George Perkins Marsh, one of the country’s first environmental thinkers and for whom the park is partly named, grew up here.) The work of conservationism was continued by the Billings and later the Rockefeller families.

Just down the road, you can photograph perhaps some of the most beautiful (and most likely happiest) cows in Vermont at the Billings Farm & Museum, an historic dairy farm still in operation today. (A certain Mr. Billings was so impressed by Mr. Marsh’s conservation thinking that he established a progressive dairy farm on his property.) The cows are such gentle and beautiful creatures that you may want to make them the stars of your video. Just say mooooooo. Or is that cheese?

Within the heart of Woodstock, lies a photo opp at every turn. Chartered in 1761, fifteen years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this sweet little town stands out as one of the best preserved and most historic in the United States. It’s hard to find anything obtrusive or unattractive here, so just fire away. You have your choice between Colonial era homes, quaint storefronts and a beautiful village green.

If you like horses or have friends and family members that do, line up all kinds of shots at The Vermont Horse Country Store & Equine Gallery. Tact has never looked so tantalizing. Take a pic to send to your horse-y friends back home.

Over in Quechee, you can find many instagramable moments that pay homage to the history of artisanship and mill working in the region. Renowned glassmaker Simon Pearce is the granddaddy of them all. Set up in an old mill along the Quechee River, there’s much to take in (and capture) here. It’s worth reserving a table at The Mill at Simon Pearce, the restaurant that hangs (seemingly precipitously) over where the water from this tranquil river crashes over the dam. What’s served up on your plate is worth posting, too. Visit the glassblowing studio here to see (and immortalize) how these magnificent creations are formed.

At Taftsville Historic District, you truly gain a sense of what a nineteenth-century industrial village looked like. Pretty darn quaint actually. Not surprisingly, this old mill town is also located alongside a river, this time it’s the Ottauquechee River. Don’t you love those Native American names? Take a picture of the signage while you’re at it.

The Taftsville covered bridge is quintessentially Vermont. Not only is it the second longest in the state but it’s also rust red, a real beauty. If you’re lucky you can snag a shot during peak fall foliage season with the palette of reds, russets, oranges and golds in the background.

So many memories are wrapped up in pictures, films and videos. So many memories are wrapped up in toys, trains and dolls. When you combine the two, you have a whole lot of “I remember when” moments, a whole of of instagramable joy. To relive Christmas morning, go to The Vermont Toy & Train Museum inside Quechee Gorge Village shopping complex. A visit here will bring back so many memories and at the same time, create new ones from this visit.