Around Town – Burlington Vermont

While on our 2018 summer trip, we spent 3 nights in Burlington Vermont, exploring attractions, that corner of the state, as well as bits of the city itself.

Here’s a little background.  With a population of only a little over 42,000 and a metropolitan population of about 215,000, Burlington is the largest city in Vermont.  Its only 45 miles south of the United States – Canada border and only 94 miles from Montreal, Canada’s largest city.  Its 215 miles from Burlington to Boston MA and 303 miles to New York City.

A major plus for Burlington is Church Street Marketplace, a center of the city’s open air mall that is closed to traffic.  As you can see, it was a busy place during our visit!  As per the public relations information regarding the mall, there are “over 100 places to shop and dine, historic architecture, year-around festivals, street entertainers, live music and more!” 

I’m sure that the fact that, between Burlington’s University of Vermont and Champlain College, the city has over 16,400 students perking up the local economy.  Add in university/college support staff and their dependents…and you have a real economic force.  

I’d wanted to eat at this local Burlington landmark.  Henry’s Diner was opened in 1925 and over 90 years later, they’re still serving home cooked diner style food to their patrons!  Unfortunately, we were so busy checking out the area and visiting its many attractions, we missed the opportunity…and they have gyros on the menu!  Henry’s Diner is open 7 days a week from 6 AM to 4 PM.  

As much as I researched the National Register of Historic Places and dug around the Internet, I couldn’t find out anything that I was sure related to this imposing structure at 148 College Street in Burlington.  As per the shield at the top of the building, it was built in 1900.  The ground floor now serves as a branch bank…

The McAuliffe Building is located on the Church Street Marketplace.  It’s what’s left of the Romanesque Revival YMCA block that was built in 1912 and burned down in 1928.  The McAuliffe Paper Company (1912 – 1928) was a ‘business descendant’ of the Huntington Bookstore (1837 – 1888), hence the 2 different names and sets of dates on the lintel above the door. 

This handsome Italianate 3-story structure with 8 bays, was built for Carlos Baxter in 1868.  It cost $12,000 at the time.  Baxter was a Burlington attorney and “collector of Internal Revenue in Burlington”.  In the 1850’s until the late 1870s, it was a grocery store, then it was operated at a farmer’s supply store.  

Antonio Pomerleau, a Burlington developer and philanthropist, bought the property in 1961 and in 1976, he restored the façade to reflect the way in looked in the 1800s.  His vision was based on old postcard views.  Mr. Pomerleau lived to be 100 years old and his company still leases space in this building.   

I’m always happy to find one of my former employer’s stores.  This is the former Burlington Montgomery Ward Building at 62 – 54 Church Street.  This 2-story commercial structure is considered a fine example of Classical Revival architecture and it’s the best preserved of the small number of original Montgomery Ward stores built in Vermont.

I have a 1983 road atlas that shows that at that time there were 15 Montgomery Ward sales outlets remaining in Vermont.  By then only 3 were actual ‘company’ stores of one type or another.  The other 12 locations were ‘sales agencies’, privately owned Montgomery Ward Catalogue sales outlets. 

  

The west-facing front façade is sheathed with grey cast concrete aka imitation granite.  The center section is decorated with a tall, green terra cotta panel, with the Montgomery Ward Company’s “Spirit of Progress” torch bearing figure in bas relief.  This was the five-hundred-fifteenth store in Montgomery Ward’s 'strategy' of opening many small stores to compete with the larger stores being opened at the time by Sears, Roebuck and Company.  This Montgomery Ward store closed in December of 1961.

…and looking down the street the sun set over Lake Champlain, ending another day of exploration. 

Notes:

·         Admiral George Dewey (Spanish American War in the Philippines) is from Burlington.

·         William Russell, the founder of the Pony Express is from here…

·         Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream are also locals…

·         Senator Bernie Sanders served as Mayor of Burlington.

Burlington’s old Union Station is located along the waterfront at 1 Main Street.  This impressive simple and symmetrical Beaux Arts style building was completed in January of 1916.  It was built by Central Vermont Railroad and the Rutland Railroad at a cost of between $150,000 and $200,000.

Union Station was last used at a railway station in 1953.  The closest it comes to being a passenger depot any longer is when the Vermont Rail System operates scheduled excursion trains from the railroad platform behind the building.  Today the building is leased to a variety of offices and art studios.

It sure looks like a well maintained old-time depot…but it’s really a modern visitor information facility located at 2 College Street at Burlington’s Waterfront Park!  I’m assuming that it was built to look like an early railroad combination passenger/freight depot.

Notes:

·         Horatio Nelson Jackson from Burlington Vermont was the first person to drive a motor vehicle across the USA from coast-to-coast.

·         Serial killer Ted Bundy was from Burlington.

There are 2 public marinas in Burlington’s Harbor, both offering seasonal dockage as well as transient dockage and moorings.  A project is currently underway to expand dockage capabilities to 160 slips. 

Back in the mid-1800s, this would have been a completely different sight!  Burlington was the third largest lumber port in the United States.  The lumber port and all of the related businesses were the economic machine that drove the local economy.  The waterfront, which had been a long sandy shore, was repeatedly filled and expanded.  Over 60 acres of new land were created.    

Boats for both the Vermont State Troopers Marine Division and the US Coast Guard are based side-by-side in Burlington.  The first Coast Guard Station on Lake Champlain was established in 1948.  Today the Coast Guard enforces maritime law, oversees and services aids to navigation as well as performing search and rescue missions and ice rescues in season.  They currently operate a 25-foot Defender-Class Boat and a 49-foot Buoy Utility Stern Loading Craft. 

This is the Spirit of Ethan Allen III, a 140 foot long tour boat that’s based in Burlington.  She will hold up to 363 passengers.  Daily cruises are offered in season.  The ship once hosted a ‘wrap party’ for the 2000 movie, “Me, Myself and Irene” which was filmed in Vermont and starred Jim Carey and Renee Zellweger. 

There is a local legend that dates back to Samuel de Champlain.  In 1609, the explorer claimed to have spotted a sea monster.  Over the years, other travelers on the lake have reported similar sightings of “Champ”.  However, in 1984, the largest-ever mass sighting of Champ occurred aboard the Spirit of Ethan Allen.  At least 70 people attending a big anniversary party on board spotted something large in the water that couldn’t be explained…

To learn more about tours on Lake Champlain, go to https://soea.com/.

The Lake Champlain Transportation Company operates 10 ferryboats on Lake Champlain.  The company transports about 1,000,000 passengers a year across the lake.  The Burlington Vermont to Port Kent New York is just 1 of 3 routes the company operates on across the lake.  However this particular route doesn’t operate in the winter season.  The trip takes about an hour one-way.

The Adirondack is the oldest double-ended ferryboat still in service.  Named after the Adirondack Mountains, this 130 foot long ferry was built in 1913.  Between 1913 and 1954 when she was relocated to Lake Champlain, the Adirondack (operating with different names) served on Florida’s St. John’s River, the Delaware River, and New York City’s East River as well as on the Chesapeake Bay.  

The second photo shown above is of the Champlain.  She is 148 feet long and was built in 1930.  Formerly named The City of Hampton, she served many years in the Norfolk Virginia market. 

Ferry boats are a vanishing experience of the past across the USA with fewer and fewer relaxing river and lake crossings remaining almost every year.  Be sure and plan a ferry ride and capture this little slice of the past.  For information on the Lake Champlain Transportation Company’s ferry crossings and fares, just go to http://ferries.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave