A Graveyard That Would Make Your Mouth Water!

Inspired by a simple postcard, I had to visit still another Graveyard on our tour of mid-state Vermont. Unfortunately, we picked a holiday weekend  to go to Waterbury. Not only was the parking lot full of buses with AARP Tours, but the grounds were also full of every school child within a 150 mile radius of Ben and Jerry’s “Flavor Graveyard!”
As one might imagine, taking a picture of this attraction without another human being in it was next to impossible. I had walked up the hill specifically to photograph it and wasn’t going to leave until I had. Unfortunately, if I had waited until everybody cleared out, it would have been closing time and we still wanted to join the others our age at that Senior Citizen sport of “Leaf Peeping.” This was the best picture I was able to get of the entrance.I thought this headstone was the perfect one to start the tour off! It died in 1987, but should have been revived by last year and given a chance at life again! I’m sure it would have made it in many circles!    I don’t remember the “Makin’ Whoopie Pie” flavor, but then I’m not a chocolate ice cream fanatic. The epitaph, however was cute! (The child in the background was getting a school lesson on spelling and seemed to want to be in all of my pictures.)Now this one was one of my favorites! How could nobody else enjoy it as much as I did?? Anything with fresh peaches tops my list, and if it’s included in ice cream, well then!The first three “headstones” you saw are amazingly intact. There are those who feel entitled to remove what ever happens to catch their fancy, and saddly, that is what has happened here. If only the next two headstones had been stripped of little pieces, it could have been a fluke. As it was, quite a few of the other headstones had their flavor descriptions removed. Little pieces were removed from the  headstone “Ethan Almond” pictured below. One can only guess what had been in those spots . . .. . . and I saved the best for last! Anything coffee! and especially ice cream! and definitely if it’s “Coffee, Coffee, BuzzBuzzBuzz!” I wish I’d been here for the funeral ’cause I would have wailed louder than any of the other mourners! Regretfully, neither of us gets to see the flavor graphic!  After viewing these headstones I was hungry for ice cream – any flavor – but it wasn’t to be at Ben and Jerry’s! Since the line seemed to be a mile long for the privilege of purchasing at $3.75 ice cream cone we decided not to wait  just to spend money on something we could get once we were home! Instead, we opted for a free cup of Joe at the Visitor’s Center, compliments of none other that a representative from Green Mountain Coffee!

Perfect for a fall afternoon in the charming town of Waterbury, Vermont!

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He Had a Lover’s Quarrel With the World

Leaving Vermont reluctantly, we decided to stay off of the road most traveled, and take scenic country roads for our final drive south. Had we not, I would have never seen Robert Frost’s home/museum, and never known that this Poet extraordinaire  was buried in Bennington.

The Road Not Taken

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
                                                         —-   Robert Frost

We had already decided to stop at the Battlefield Monument on our way south and now we had a second stop before we left Vermont since a stop at his grave to pay my respects had become a necessity.

In the quintessential Vermont village, one of America’s most loved poets lies in eternal rest with his wife, Elinor, and others of his family who have passed from this world into the next. The First Congregational Church in Bennington has been a most gracious host to visitors who come from far and wide just to pay homage to this man, providing signs along a well kept path to his grave. Pennies, trinkets and pebbles tell of many past visitors, with a few colorful leaves tossed in by Mother Nature herself. The labor intensive grave marker is almost poetry itself, with carvings that were obviously done by a stone carver’s hand ~ a stone carver with artistic leanings. As I stood there, alone, reflecting on his contributions to America, I thought of his “Road Less Traveled” and how it fit into our choice that morning. Had we taken the other fork we would have sped by Bennington and missed a chance to stop and reflect.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

“Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”

                                  —- Robert Frost

Reflection over ~ reality before us.

After all, we had miles to go before we sleep, And miles to go before we sleep.

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