Northeast Kingdom, VT Food Tour: Part 1
Our friend Jess sent us a link the local Seven Days paper did on food in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and says, “We want to do this, can you join us? And can Chris plan it?”
We responded, “Sure.”
And thus began the planning and implementation of our own version of the Northeast Kingdom Food Tour. Like many great adventures, they often start with a question. Who knows what’s out there or where that question will lead us. It’s our job to find out – or in this case Chris’.
The Northeast Kingdom is the region that encompasses Orleans, Essex and Caledonia counties that was first dubbed by VT Governor turned U.S. Senator George Aiken during a meeting at the Darling Inn in Lyndonville. According to his widow Lola Aiken she recalls, “He said it just came out of his mouth one day. After he thought about it, he thought the name was perfect for the area. The Northeast Kingdom was just one of his favorite places in the world. He always loved the people up there. He used to say that many of the people didn’t have much of anything, or have big jobs, but they were always happy. They didn’t complain as other people would complain in the same situation. They just made do with what they had. The people up there didn’t put on ‘airs’ and they always welcomed you.”
Our day together touring The Northeast Kingdom turned out to be better than we could have expected. So good that this has become a two part post. Here is a look at Part 1 of our version of the Northeast Kingdom Food Tour:
Oh boy, here we go. Everyone was really excited!
First stop the surprising and wonderful: Peacham Cafe.
Jess and Shannel reading the board.
Tell me you don’t wish you could be sitting by those cute little potted plants in this light and airy cafe?
One of the things I loved most was the salt and pepper shakers. They had different styles of shakers all over.
Just a little note to remember ‘kindness matters’ while you are buying some local chocolate.
Compostable straws – awesome.
I thought this little farmers’ market presentation inside was just picture perfect.
And what a good price for this bread!
Aside from the food, the people, the salt and pepper shakers and decor, one of the coolest things about the Peacham Cafe is its story. The building was an old abandoned barn from 1867. The creating of the cafe was a true community effort. Locals and other businesses donated money for the refurbishing of the building to turn into a community cafe. Mother and daughter, Crystal and Ariel own some of the kitchen equipment and the town owns some. Crystal and her daughter manage the cafe, but the cafe belongs to the community. Focusing on local and organic food, the atmosphere was so light, airy and delicious. The back story only made me want to go back as many times as I can.
Peacham was so lovely and the dog had to get the very last sniff she could before we left.
We arrived next to St Johnsbury and after drinking so much coffee from the cafe needed the bathroom rather badly. The library was not open so it lead us to Eastern Main Market Deli.
The ladies were very nice and let us use the bathroom. Although all that was bought was a tea, what a beautiful board! The woman said when she has to update the board she calls in a local artist girl. The girl might move out west and the lady was not too sure on that, because, I mean, who would update her beautiful board. Although I can’t say personally, it looked like a great place to grab a sandwich on the go.
We wanted to check out the library and had some time to kill before it opened so I asked the group if we could walk to this castle.
Everyone said, “Um, Tiff that is not a castle.”
I said, “I know, but I wanted to walk to it anyway and calling it a castle sounded way more exciting and it did look kinda like a castle.”
Everyone said, “Oh, well it’s still not a castle.”
I said, “I know.”
Then we walked in silence for a moment.
Then someone asked, “What actually makes a castle a castle?”
None of us knew.
Maybe when we go to a real castle I will be able to report back on what it takes to be called a castle.
On the way to the castle we passed this deserted lot.
Then we stumbled upon this bookshop.
Jess loved the round table and made sure I had a picture.
What a sign – but all the books are donated and the money helps support the library.
We did not plan to buy books, but everyone came out of there with a stack of books.
St Johnsbury was having what seemed like one of the most annoying and loud city road construction ever. The workers looked miserable and it was very loud all over the place. But we still noticed this officer trying to break into this poor woman’s car parked by the castle.
Ok, of course he was trying to let the poor woman who locked her keys out of her car back into her car. I felt like the paparazzi and then I got all nervous that I shouldn’t take the picture and got camera shake and got a blurry picture.
Remember that deserted lot? Basically across the street from this was:
These beautiful buildings. St. Johnsbury has some stunning architecture and also some not so stunning architecture.
We still had about ten minutes to wait, so we all sat outside and read our books.
It wasn’t really this happy because this loud truck, was spraying road chemicals while driving back and forth, back and forth in front of us the entire time.
But it was worth the wait!
Look at this place!
(Side note: we didn’t know it at the time, but later in the day we will meet the artist of the print on the right in Part 2.)
One of the things I loved most was globes placed all around the building.
Just seeing that desk made me want to sit there and write and read all day with towers of papers and books all around me. Libraries are just awesome!
The architecture was stunning.
You were allowed to go up these spiral stairs to get a better view of the gallery.
The library had an impressive gallery –
– including this massive painting by Albert Bierstadt of the Domes of Yosemite. To emphasize this, Chris has a six foot wing span and the painting is bigger than that. Now that is a big painting.
Go ahead – it’s ok to drool a little over these architectural lines.
As I went to walk down the stairs, there was this portrait which I interpreted that the girl was telling the dog he had better not eat that baby. I laughed out loud and liked it so much I unfortunately never looked at which artist created the piece.
Little book case on wheels.
Everyone was having such a great time in the library.
It was all just beautiful.
And upstairs was row after row with more books. A readers paradise.
And this is where our tour will pause until Part 2! There was just too much goodness from the day to put it in one post. Details are below for Part 1. Until next time…eat well and wonder where next on the tour this yoda picture was taken.
* * *
If you go:
Peacham Cafe – 643 Bayley Hazen Road, Peacham, VT 05862, 802-357-4040, www.peachamcafe.org
Hours currently: M/T 6-2, W/TH closed, F 6-2, S/S 9-2
Eastern Main Market Deli – 1194 Main Street, Saint Johnsbury, VT, 802-751-1171
Hours: Weekdays 7 am – 10 pm, Sat 8 am – 10 pm, Sun 8 am – 8 pm
Secondhand Prose – 1222 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT, 802-748-9222
Hours: M/T/Th/Sa 11-3, Wed 1-5, Fri 11-5
St. Johnsbury Athenaeum 1171 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819, 802-748-8291, www.stjathenaeum.org
Hours: M-F 10 am – 5:30 pm, Sat 10 am – 3 pm (4 pm in the summer)
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A food tour sounds like a great idea and WOW,what a library!!! Nice to see a ‘hands on’ place that’s that gorgeous.
I was so glad our friends thought up the idea for the food tour. It was great. And for the library, the Fairbanks family had a role in inventing a scale early on which provided their family with great wealth. They shared and gifted much of that wealth back into the community – hence the library is free and open for all to enjoy. Living here for a couple of years off an on, we had heard about the St. Johnsbury Library, but until we saw it with our own eyes, just never realized what a gem it is. You know, and part of the whole reason we even found it was because when we got out of the car we had to decide to go left, up the hill, or right, down the hill. You just never know what you will find when you’re out exploring! 🙂
What a lovely excursion! we too enjoyed St. Johnsbury. As an artist you would have especially loved Dog Mountain http://WWW.DOGMT.COM the late artist, Stephen Huneck, is world renown for his art and books and to have this gallery right in your back yard is quite a gem. The “castle” church in the above pictures is another piece of St. Johnsbury’s unique history and worth an inside visit. Their pastor just happened to be passing by while we were outside admiring the structure and she was so kind to take us on a tour and while inside we were fortunate enough to enjoy the music of a choir practicing there.
Thank you for sharing your love of Vermont and all it has to offer, so often we overlook the wonders that are right outside our doors, gladly you do not! Thank you for reminding us to always look with curiosity like that of a child!
We were joking that we weren’t going to get out of St. Johnsbury! We still wanted to go to Dog Mountain and the Planetarium at the Fairbanks Museum. Glover. Oh so much more!!! Always keep exploring.
Hey, a castle was built like a fortress to protect the people and town. There is usually a moat with a pull up bridge, high stone walls that both spot for enemies and attack. Inside there is huge tables 20 feet long, large tapestry , family portraits, a lot of large dead animals on the walls, tons of fireplaces and servants, and so on. Nice place to visit but you would not want to live there! In Cork Ireland, there is the Blarney Castle
and if you “kiss the stone” one becomes “gifted with blarney” kinda like bull shoes (spelling) if you get my “blarney” and I am sure there is Polish Shamrocks in Cork Ireland as well as Argentina ….. Now that you can travel on!
Keep up the good work
Wow, well it sounds like you have seen some castles! I am jealous. Will have to get over to Ireland. Based on your description the church was probably not a castle. I don’t know if it had any dead animals on the walls. Thanks for the info!
Yummmm…. what a wonderful post and looks like a lovely place to see. I love the circle of books.
Thanks Laura! That circle of books was a big hit! 😉 We saw so many nice things that day with more to come!
loved yoda and the lego guy in the one picture I was never one for librarys but the wood work was fantastic and awesome loved the picture looking down the spiral stairs would not want to adventure down them after a couple glasses of wine the wheat bread looked like a big moon rock also whos dog was that is it yours thanks again for the great stuff
Thanks Deb! Lego guy and yoda are from a very hip coffee shop soon to be revealed. 😉 The dog, Loki, belongs to the Jess and Shanell family. With all the traveling we don’t own any pets – it’s enough to take on keeping the lodge plants and composting worms alive when we are in VT. The stairs were so cool! I love spiral staircases. If you asked permission from the librarian, they would take the rope down and you were allowed to walk up the other staircases as well. Thanks for the comment.
Have you been to Newport? There’s a whole ‘nother food experience awaiting you in the northern Northeast Kingdom. Best sushi around on Thursdays at Le Belvedere. Best angus burgers at Roasters in Derby. Everything fun and great drinks at Le Bistro. Yummy natural foods at Montgomery’s Market.Fine chocolates at Sugar Mountain on Main Street and La Trattoria is fine, too. Then there are oodles of diners.
Worth the trip.
Hi Barbara, That was our first trip to Newport and we got there at dark. All we really saw was the NEK Tasting Center and Brown Dog Bistro – so we will definitely have to go back! We will check out the suggestions you gave. Thanks! 🙂
Oh, you have to go see this when you are exploring around:
http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/gregorie.htm
This couple actually built a castle in Irasburg, VT!
Oh wow – thanks Cheryl! This looks awesome! Plus any place that says they serve afternoon tea in a castle, count me in! I can’t wait to visit. Thanks for the comment.
Come see us at Parson’s Corner! Just off exit 25 in Barton- 14 Glover Rd. Open Wed-Mon, 5 am – 2:30. Say hi and ask for the specials!
Also, don’t miss Parker Pie in Glover if you’ve never been.
Best,
chef-owner Dave
Thanks for the comment and info Dave. We will definitely check out Parson’s Corner next time we are up that way! We have been to Parker Pie before and will go that way at some point in the future and get photos for another Northeast Kingdom Food post! So much to see, do and eat so little time. We will see you then! 🙂
Hey Y’all. We are closed for the season..but if you adventure in the spring..come to Glover and take a tour of Red Sky Trading..sit by the Barton river with a homemade hand-cut old fashioned Donut!
We would love to meet you!
It’s a quirky, fun spot in town..a stones throw from Curriers Market!Check us out online!
Hi Cheri, We have been and love the Red Sky Trading! It was one of the first shops we wandered through years ago when we first went to Glover. We recommend people to stop in there all time. Hopefully we will get a chance to meet you in the spring! Thanks and take care.
Thank you for visiting Peacham and The Peacham Cafe. It is truly a community effort. We hope people from near and far drop in and enjoy the great food and the feeling of friendliness.
Our pleasure Jerry! We just had a fabulous time and have already been back. Businesses that exist like this are one of the reasons we love Vermont so much. The cafe is so unique and pleasant. We’ll see you again! And I just love the artist display of produce. I take a picture of it every time.