Travel New England: Peru, Vermont

Peru is a sleepy village off of Route 11 in Southern Vermont. Known best for Bromley Ski Resort, Peru is home to an annual old-style country fair complete with a pig roast.

Originally chartered as Bromley in 1761, the name was changed to Peru in 1803. The reasoning behind the change was the hope that the exotic name - Peru in South America - would attract more settlers. Though the town reached a population of over 500 residents through much of the 1800s, Peru is currently home to about 350 residents.

The original J.J. Hapgood General Store Structure.

One of Peru's links to its long history is the J.J. Hapgood General Store. The store - which opened in 1827 - still operates today. The store is now owned and operated by Juliette Britton. Britton revived the old store in 2014 as a grocery full of local goods, continued the store's wood-fired pizza oven, and expanded the menu. The old store was raised in 2013, and the Britton's rebuilt the store from the ground up. Today, the store is a community gathering place, home to a guest house, and even had a visit from Paul McCartney.

Peru Congregational Church - Doug Kerr, 2010

The Peru Town Fair began in 1978 as a large tag sale. Since then, it has expanded to include numerous local arts and crafts, music and dancing, and a well-known pig roast. The Fair is held annually on the last Saturday in September attracting hundreds of visitors to the Southwestern Vermont hamlet.

All photos taken by post author on August 20, 2005 - unless otherwise noted.

Sources & Links:

How To Get There:

Comments

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley. To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker. Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa. The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language. The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246. CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County. CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward. South of CA 127 ...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog