VT-251: Whitingham, Jacksonville, Wilmington, Halifax
- donnaramadishes
- Oct 24, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 17
In September of 2021, southern Windham County was explored as part of my VT 251 exploration. Specifically, I visited WHITINGHAM, Jacksonville (a part of Whitingham and therefore not an official town), WILMINGTON, and HALIFAX (an official town without an official town we could find).
WHITINGHAM
What a surprise to learn that Whitingham, Vermont is the birthplace of Brigham Young (the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and founder of Salt Lake City, Utah). Who knew? The town is tiny (less than 1500 residents in 2020) and other than a couple historic buildings still there, one of which houses the Historical Society (aka Green Mountain Hall), there really isn't much of a town to see. That said, like most towns in the state of Vermont, there is a monument honoring its fallen heroes, across the road from the memorial to Brigham Young. While there weren't others there when we were, it is clearly a well-visited memorial.
Jacksonville, VT is an itty bitty village within Whitingham (pop around 200) which apparently has the town's general store, fire house, bakery, and AMAZING Sugarhouse (Sprague & Son Maple), rife with maple treats (and fresh eggs on the day we visited). Should you happen to be driving through Vermont on Route 100 (one of the primary north-south thoroughfares cutting through the Green Mountains), I highly recommend a stop at this sugarhouse; I will certainly be back when I'm in the area!
WILMINGTON
Wilmington, VT is a town of over 2,000 (2020), and a quintessential Vermont tourist destination. It's got a charming Main Street, good food, a great bookstore, other good shopping, and is especially popular due to its proximity to the ski area Mount Snow (less than 15 minutes away). While the town has endured several massive floods, it has built back and thrived. Aside from being a nice place to spend a day, it is home to my favorite covered bridge in the state -- the High Mowing Bridge, which is no small feat! It seems I am especially drawn to farm bridges (built so that animals can cross waterways), as another favorite of mine is the A.M. Foster Covered Bridge in Cabot, VT).
HALIFAX
And then there's Halifax. While the town was chartered in 1750 and is the second oldest in the state (after Bennington), there's not much to it today (pop. about 770 in 2020). In fact, it took a good chunk of time to find the town, and despite a memorial to its fallen soldiers, there was nothing else to indicate any actual town. I did get lost on lovely dirt roads where the map indicated a town, and I spoke to an inn keeper who sent us to West Halifax when we asked how to get to Halifax. West Halifax seemed to be an especially tired and downtrodden town, and I am of the opinion that it is actually the de facto town of Halifax. One thing that was notable about this town is that it was one of very few towns in the state (so far) to have Trump flags flying on more than one or two random homes.
Interesting how three "neighboring" towns can be so different, right?
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