The start of Vermont

Author: pjrmmr
Date of Trip: November 2007

My wife and I and two friends stayed at the Juniper Hill Inn in Vermont for 3 wonderful, and educational days, in November, 2007. The relatively new Inn Keepers are intensely interested in preserving the history of this Inn built in 1902 in Windsor, where the state of Vermont originated.

One of the “musts’ of this stay is an interesting tour of the Inn, conducted by Robert Dean, one of the enthusiastic owners, who explained the detailed history of various aspects of the Inn, including the fact that 5 US Presidents had not only visited, but stayed, many times at the Inn. We found out that our room was the room that President Wilson used almost as his summer whitehouse.

While giving the tour to our group and one other couple, the magnificent Victorian fireplace in the dining room was discussed, and, to the surprise of the Inn Keeper and the guest couple, it was determined that the fireplace had originally been in the ancestral home of the guest and moved to the Inn by the original wealthy owners! The couple had brought an album of their ancestral history, and the unique fireplace was pictured in their great grandfather’s home in Windsor. Robert’s tour included the history of the fireplace having been moved to the Inn, but the discovery of the link to the guest was purely accidental. It caused added enjoyment to our wonderful stay at this “much loved” Inn in a centrally located area of this lovely state. We all will be returning.