CARPENTER HILL ROAD: A must for your foliage trip! Thx ixl!!

[ctyanky]

Carpenter Hill Road: North Pownal, VT

Thanks to ixl from the forum we ventured onto Carpenter Hill Road. Upon his earlier suggestion, we took NY route 22 north off the Mass Pike instead of Route 7. And are we glad we did! First of all route 22 is lovely with lots of farms and nice hills. So many farmstands! It ought to be gorgeous in foliage season, especially from Petersburgh to North Petersburgh where we took route 346 east into Vermont. This was a beautiful drive! There was an interesting name to a road to our left called Indian Massacre Rd.! I would love to see what that was all about! Anyways, at this point we turned onto North Pownal Road even though it said road closed . I don't know what all the fuss was about.

Carpenter Hill Road is stunning. I can't tell you how incredible the views are. The first long view was to the left by the farm near a crest in the road and then as you head downhill, orchard after orchard after orchard with apples ready to pop! The views, wow. If it wasn't for ixl, we would never have taken this road to the Bennington Monument! Thank you so much ixl!

This ran into (sort of) Monument Road. Lots of wealth here. Stately and well-kept very old colonial homes and barns. What a street!

If you are in this area, be sure to put Carpenter Hill Road on your itinerary. You will need the Cartographic or Jimapco! Don't be afraid to venture off the beaten path. It has been the most rewarding part of my VT journeys.

P.S. ixl: if you read this post, please correct any errors I made in the directions.....

[ctyanky]

Hi Carol: Yes, I saw ixl's photo of Carpenter Hill Road. I think there are two of this road in there (ixl?). Both have orchards in them. As we were driving the road, we saw the Bennington Monument in the distance and I yelled out, "There's the monument where we're going!" (I can turn into a little kid at times.... )

It was exciting to relate the scene to his slideshow. You will love this road. It's one of those off the beaten path, winding VT roads with scenes to die for. I like the long views the best but the charm of the whole area is also worth the ride. And the orchards! Wow!

When I told one of the reenactors at the Bennington Battle Days we had just come off of Carpenter Hill he said that it was one of his favorite drives as well. His comment was, "Oh, well you must know someone in Vermont to have taken that road." I laughed. If he only knew!!!!

Anways, ixl's slideshow is a must see. Put the music up, relax in your chair and get ready to be mesmerized. Also, if you put your cursor to the top left of the photo you will get nice descriptions of the areas in which the photos were taken and/or a personal anecdote of his for the picture.

It's enough to put one in quite an enchanted AND excited mood for fall!!!

Take a look and see! ixl did one heck of a fine job! To have met Charles was delightful! What a funny guy!!!

[ixl]

Hey CT and Carol.. thanks for the kind words. And I'm really glad you had a good time up on Carpenter Hill...

Here's another shot, this time a wide scope showing the view looking north from the main orchard area (there's a huge apple orchard covering much of the hill.) Bennington is in the middle of the valley in this shot, with the Greens going from the right to the center, and the Tacs trailing from the left to the center. I think the tall bump way in the distance, center top, is Mount Equinox.

(Image quality is not the best -- this was just a quick process.)

[ixl]

And the orchard pond, which you can see a bit of in the middle of the shot above. I love this pond for reflection shots (which are a favorite of mine. )

[McClusky]

Great pics ixl! Can you tell me when these were taken? We're looking to go to Vermont the first week of Sep '09 and hope to see similar colors as you did.

[pwt54]

The colors at that time will be very early. Your best bet will be the northeast corner of VT. The trees in the wet swampy areas are starting to turn.

[ixl]

Those pictures were taken October 25, 2007. As pwt said, the first week of September is really too early for peak color...

[ctyanky]

Hi Carol: I'm soooo happy you will finally have the opportunity to travel this road! Kudos! I know you will love the long views as well. The monument is beautiful and the views out of the open windows are really nice as well. Don't forget to visit the church and that magnificent fenceline which I KNOW you will love to photograph! Bennington is indeed a wonderful town and if you are hungry, stop at the Blue Benn for a great meal and some fine folks. Better late than never!

[ixl]

Carol, the pond is right next to the road and easily accessible with a short walk. Technically it is on the private property of the orchard but I don't believe there are any signs, and as long as you leave the trees alone I doubt anyone would care. There's also a small dirt road that runs next to it but I don't remember if it is cordoned off or not.

First shot above is facing north, second south or southwest.

Map: http://g.co/maps/quxh