Burlington, VT

Burlington was part of the land grants made by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth in 1763, but was not truly settled until after the Revolutionary War. During the first half of the 19^th century, the town nurtured a thriving lumber industry, and by the 1870s, the lumberyards were so extensive that the paths between the stacks of timber were given street names. 

The city’s strong maritime trade was supplemented by rail transport in 1848 with the arrival of the Rutland and Burlington Railroad—commonly known as the “Rutland”—which was joined the next year by the Central Vermont Railroad (CV). During the 1850s, the Rutland took over 65 acres of waterfront land for use as a rail yard, filling in marshy areas to make room for new tracks.

In 1861, the CV constructed a Union Station at the foot of College Street near the shore. Fifty years later, local businessmen and residents began advocating for an expanded facility, and in 1915 the railroad opened a new $130,000 station at the head of Main Street. The three-story Beaux-Arts edifice, shared with the Rutland, was constructed of buff brick and possessed a large central waiting room with an elaborately coffered ceiling.

Despite several busy and prosperous decades, the neighborhood around Union Station was showing signs of decline by the mid-20^th century. An extensive strike on the Rutland hastened the end of passenger service in 1953. Those wishing to travel by rail had to go six miles east to Essex Junction, which to this day remains the area’s primary passenger rail depot, served twice daily by the Vermonter. 

Lakefront improvements began in the late 1980s and Union Station soon came under the ownership of Main Street Landing, a development company that employs sustainable building methods to support the visual and performing arts and to provide incubator space for start-up businesses. Currently, the station houses galleries, shops, and offices that are watched over by several whimsical statues of flying monkeys.

To outsiders, Burlington is probably best known as the birthplace of Ben & Jerry’s, which opened in 1978 when two friends decided to try their hands at ice-cream making. Every fall, the town’s good humor is on display during the Giant Pumpkin Regatta. Various teams race on Lake Champlain in enormous hollowed-out pumpkins that often weigh more than 1,000 pounds each, with the proceeds going towards charity.