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Ladies' Home Journal named Woodstock, Vermont as the prettiest small town in the USA, and National Geographic concurred, and described it as one of the ten most beautiful small towns in the USA. The American Architectural Society went one step further and stated: "it is perfect - if any town in any country can be."

Woodstock, Vermont

Norman
2004-08-11 14:43:15

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All of these accolades led me to ask - what is so unique about this quintessential Vermont town, where the population is less than thirty five hundred? And, if all these kudos checked out, wouldn't it be wonderful to celebrate a wedding here or experience a romantic getaway?
As my artist wife Lily and I strolled down Woodstock's main street, my better half pointed out to me that the town is an artist's dream, located in a valley between two of its guardian angels, Mt. Tom and Mt. Peg. Where the winding Ottauquechee River meanders through the middle of the town. You could almost sense Norman Rockwell's presence, perhaps giving a few drawing tips to Lily!

You won't find any tacky tee shirt shops, billboards, high-rise buildings, overhead electricity wires, traffic lights, and fast-food outlets. What you will notice are historic 18th and 19th century New England Colonial homes clustered around the town's famous village green, quaint family owned specialty shops, art galleries, gourmet restaurants, old world wrought iron lamp posts, quiet streets shaded with beautiful trees, and in season, folks sitting on benches outside of store shops decorated with flower baskets.

In fact, most of the village's downtown buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Moreover, it is the only town in the USA that has five bells that were cast at the Massachusetts foundry once owned by Paul Revere. One of them is owned by the Woodstock Inn & Resort and is located in front of the Inn's putting green in the rear of their property.

It is also home to the first National Park in Vermont- the five hundred and fifty acre Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, and the only national park to focus on conservation history and the evolving nature of land stewardship in the United States.

The park's site was at one time the home of George Perkins ...