20 Unique Vermont Places To Photograph
Looking for unusual and obscure destinations in Vermont? This blog post is for you! Vermont is home to many unique sites which are well worth seeking out.
Here are 20 of the most unique places you will find in Vermont!
Bellows Falls Petroglyphs
- Town: Bellows Falls, Vermont
- Location: Here
Bellows Falls Petroglyph Site is an archaeological site in Bellows Falls, Vermont, that contains panels of precontact Native American petroglyphs. They portray a rarely-seen assembly of humanoid characters that is believed to be unique in New England. Various hypotheses place them at anywhere from 300-3,000 years old.
The petroglyphs can be found near the Vilas Bridge on bedrock west of and above the Connecticut River, adjacent to Great Falls. In 1990, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Brookfield Floating Bridge
- Town: Brookfield, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Sunset Lake Floating Bridge, located in Brookfield, Vermont, carries Vermont Route 65 across Sunset Lake. In 1820, the first bridge was built on this site, and eight have come after it. The floating bridges were constructed because the lake is too deep for regular pilings. Fiber-reinforced polymer pontoons support the current bridge.
Burlington Earth Clock
- Town: Burlington, Vermont
- Location: Here
Circles for Peace is a grassroots non-profit group located in Vermont that believes that by seeing nature’s rhythms and cycles, we can reclaim our inner peace and strength. The Burlington Earth Clock was their debut effort. The Earth Clock is a stone circle with a 43-foot diameter and 14 five-to-ten-foot-high stones arranged in a ring. The stones are arranged in a compass pattern.
Colchester Reef Light (Shelburne Museum)
- Town: Shelburne, Vermont
- Location: Here
The lighthouse was built in 1871 to mark the intersection of three reefs that separate Vermont from New York. It is robustly made with a post-and-beam frame and one-and-a-half-inch thick iron rods to withstand strong lake winds. The lighthouse was eventually abandoned in 1933 and fell into disrepair. It was removed from its lakeside location in 1952 and reconstructed at the Shelburne Museum, where it now stands next to the Ticonderoga, a 220-foot riverboat.
Dog Chapel
- Town: St Johnsbury, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Dog Chapel was opened in 2000 on Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The chapel was created by Stephen Huneck who was a successful artist and illustrator. He was inspired to open the chapel after he had a near death experience with respiratory distress syndrome. He feel into a coma and eventually rewoke with the vision for the chapel. He believed strongly that dogs were just like family members and he thought there needed to be a spiritual place to achieve closure for those who lose a beloved dog.
The chapel is a symbol of peace, love, and remembering. Over the years, it has evolved into a living work of communal art and history. It has become a tradition to add a remark and photo to the walls of the chapel when visiting. The Chapel has evolved into a unique and moving physical manifestation of people’s unending love for dogs.
Ethan Allen Tower
- Town: Burlington, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Ethan Allen Tower is a 40-foot structure named after the Revolutionary War soldier, Ethan Allen, who was from Vermont. The tower is located on the farm that Allen homesteaded in Burlington. The tower sits on a hill which is the highest point in Burlington.
His homestead was turned into a public park that consists of 60-acres.
Flavor Graveyard
- Town: Waterbury, Vermont
- Location: Here
Ben & Jerry’s is known for producing some of the greatest ice cream in the whole world. They are notorious for pushing the boundaries when it comes to their flavors. But what about the flavors that do not become successes?
The flavors that are discontinued end up in the Flavor Graveyard. The graveyard features tombstones for each discontinued flavor. The Flavor Graveyard is open to the public and is located right next Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour and Ice Cream Shop. Be sure to visit and pay your respects when in the area.
Want to help bring a flavor back from the dead? Let Ben & Jerry’s know at https://www.benjerry.com/flavors/flavor-graveyard
Freedlyville Quarry
- Town: Dorset, Vermont
- Location: Here
Dorset, Vermont is a well-known location for marble quarries. In fact, in 1785 the first marble quarry in the United States was carved into Dorset bedrock. Over the next 130 years, 30 more quarries would be built on the slopes of Mt. Aeolus and Dorset Peak. The marble produced in Dorset was of such high quality, with appealing shades of greens and blues, that demand grew rapidly. Dorset marble soon became well-known in major cities across the United States, including New York and Washington, DC.
The magnificent Freedley Quarry, located 1,000 feet up on Mount Aeolus’ eastern slopes, was one of the quarrying operations carried out in Dorset. Freedley was remarkable in that it was quarried in a horseshoe-shaped tunnel with tunnels and corridors blasted into the mountain’s base, rather than a hole in the earth. By the 1920s, the marble business went bust, largely because of the introduction of Portland cement. Today, the abandoned quarry is an amazing place to explore due to its unique formation. A true Vermont gem!
Fire Hydrant Jack
- Town: Shelburne, Vermont
- Location: Here
Artist Chris Sharp has welded together multiple hydrants in the shape of a big toy jack in front of the firehouse on U.S. Route 7 in Shelburne, Vermont. Many people stop to snap photographs of his unique sculpture of the fireplugs. Created “in response to the heroic effort of firefighter/first responders after 9-11,” he calls his several hydrant sculptures “candy for your eye” that gives “you a good feeling about the supporting infrastructure of our society.”
Grave of Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef
- Town: Middlebury, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Grave of Amum-Her-Khepesh-Ef is a unique grave of a 4,000-year-old mummy prince. The grave was created by Henry Sheldon who was a collector in Middlebury, Vermont. One of his most interesting pieces was an infant mummy prince. The mummy did not end up in his museum but rather buried in the West Cemetery right next to Middlebury College.
Old Round Church
- Town: Richmond, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Old Round Church in Richmond, Vermont was constructed in 1812-13 under the direction of a local craftsman named William Rhodes. The church was built to be a Town Meeting Hall and a place of worship for five Protestant congregations. It is thought to be one of the only 16 sided churches ever built.
Today, the Old Round Church is maintained by the Richmond Historical Society and is open to the public during the summer and early fall. It is also available for weddings and other events
Reverence (Whales Tails)
- Town: South Burlington, Vermont
- Location: Here
Reverence is a 1989 sculpture by Jim Sardonis in Vermont that portrays two whale tails “diving” into a sea of grass. It’s designed to represent the planet’s vulnerability. The tails are 12 to 13 feet tall and composed of 36 tons of African black granite. The “Whale Tails”, as the sculpture is more commonly known by local residents, can be found in South Burlington, Vermont.
Retreat Tower
- Town: Brattleboro, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Brattleboro Retreat was founded in 1834 as a not-for-profit hospital to provide mental health and addiction services. The retreat sits on hundreds of acres and today many of the buildings and structures are abandoned. The land owned by the hospital is open to the public and can be used for walks, hikes, and even cross-country skiing. One of the must-see structures on the hospital grounds is the stone Retreat Tower which was built in 1887 by patients. The staff believed the physical work and fresh air would help the patients. Sadly, it is said that many patients would leap off the tower and commit suicide. Many visitors claim that the retreat is haunted, especially the Retreat Tower.
Robert Frost Interpretive Trail
- Town: Ripton, Vermont
- Location: Here
Robert Frost Interpretive Trail is a nature trail, posted with Frost’s poems, leading to beautiful views of the Green Mountains. The trail sits in part of the Moosalamo National Recreation Area, a 16,000-acre section of the 400,000-acre Green Mountain National Forest.
Rock of Ages Quarry
- Town: Barre, Vermont
- Location: Here
Rock of Ages’ quarry in Barre, VT is the world’s largest deep-hole quarry that’s nearly 600 feet deep. There are guided tours most days to the edge of the massive quarry and a state-of-the-art visitor’s center that’s a must-see if you’re in the Central Vermont area. Tours run from May to the end of October. Don’t miss out on seeing this unique Vermont location!
Tallest Filing Cabinet on Earth
- Town: Burlington, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Tallest Filing Cabinet on Earth is located in Burlington, Vermont, and is constructed of 38 filing cabinets. The cabinets were welded atop each other into a skinny, towering pile by Bren Alvarez in 2002. Over the years, the filing cabinets have rusted a bit, but are still well worth seeing!
The Museum of Everyday Life
- Town: Glover, Vermont
- Location: Here
The Museum of Everyday Life is an independently run museum that is housed inside a barn in Glover, Vermont. The museum was founded in 2011 by Clare Dolan with a mission to capture a “…slow-motion cataloguing of the quotidian–a detailed, theatrical expression of gratitude and love for the minuscule and unglamorous experience of daily life in all its forms.” Dolan’s focus is to highlight the beauty of everyday objects that are usually not celebrated. Don’t miss out on this amazing and unique Vermont location!
Ticonderoga Steamboat (Shelburne Museum)
- Town: Shelburne, Vermont
- Location: Here
The steamboat Ticonderoga is one of just two preserved side-paddle-wheel passenger steamboats with a vertical beam engine. The steamboat offered freight and passenger service on America’s bays, lakes, and rivers from the early nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth century. Ticonderoga was commissioned by the Champlain Transportation Company and built in the Shelburne Shipyard on Lake Champlain in 1906. The Shelburne Museum decided to move Ticonderoga overland to the museum grounds in 1954. The steamboat can be viewed up close and is a popular tourist attraction.
Vermontasaurus
- Town: Post Mills, Vermont
- Location: Here
Vermontasaurus is a 25-foot-tall (7.6 m), 122-foot-long (37 m) folk art representation of a dinosaur at the Post Mills Airport in the town of Thetford, Vermont. Brian Boland, a retired teacher and experimental balloon pilot, began construction of the Vermontasaurus in June 2010 with the help of a group of volunteers using scrap lumber recovered from a collapsed piece of Boland’s own museum (the Experimental Balloon & Airship Museum) and hot-air balloon production plant. An eyewitness suggested the name “Vermontasaurus,” which Boland adopted.
Be sure to check out Vermontasaurus and the Experimental Balloon & Airship Museum in Post Mills, Vermont!
Wilson Castle
- Town: Proctor, Vermont
- Location: Here
Wilson Castle is a nineteenth-century estate in Proctor, Vermont. The house was constructed in 1867 using a combination of nineteenth-century architectural styles such as Dutch neo-renaissance, Scottish baronial, Queen Anne, and Romanesque Revival. The castle was built for a Vermont doctor, John Johnson, who spent $1.3 million on the estate. The Johnson’s remained in the castle for only a brief time.
The castle changed hands many times after the Johnson’s sold it in the late 1880s. Herbert Wilson retired to the castle in 1962 and he opened it up for tours that year. When Wilson passed, the castle remained open for tours and continues to be open to the public today.
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