Things to Do in Woodstock, Vermont

This is Vermont’s only national park unit apart from the Appalachian Trail, and it tells the story of American conservation. It was the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh, then the estate of Frederick Billings, and the Rockefellers gave it to the public. The Mount Tom forest here is the oldest professionally managed forest in the United States, with more than 20 miles of carriage roads and trails.

★ Good to know The trails are open daily, dawn to dusk. Mansion tours run late May through October and sell out, so reserve on Recreation.gov up to 60 days ahead.

Across Route 12 from the national park, this is a working Jersey dairy farm and museum. You can visit the cow, horse and small-animal barns, walk through the restored 1890 Farm Manager’s House, and see exhibits on farm life in the 1890s. The Farmhouse Scoop Shop serves Vermont ice cream in season.

★ Good to know Plan about three hours. It’s a separate nonprofit, so National Park passes don’t apply, but parking is free and shared with the park.

Woodstock’s long Green is lined with restored Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival houses, with the courthouse and churches set at its edges. Shops and banks sit on the streets just off it. In 2011 the American Planning Association named North and South Park Street and a block of Elm Street a great street.

★ Good to know Market on the Green runs Wednesday afternoons into October with local produce, crafts and live music.

Frank Henry Gillingham opened this general store in 1886, and it still runs in its original building at 16 Elm Street. It’s one of the oldest general stores run by the same family. Expect maple syrup, local foods, wine and more kitchen gadgets than you’d guess from outside.

Woodstock has three covered bridges. Middle Bridge, built in 1969, crosses the Ottauquechee River in the village. Lincoln Covered Bridge dates to 1877, and Taftsville Covered Bridge, in the hamlet of Taftsville, to 1836.

Vermont’s deepest gorge sits east of Woodstock on US Route 4, in Quechee State Park. Glaciers carved it about 13,000 years ago, and the Ottauquechee River runs 165 feet below the Route 4 viewpoints. A hiking trail follows the gorge, and the remains of the old Dewey woolen mill and dam are still visible at its head.

★ Good to know The viewpoints along Route 4 are open year-round; the park’s day-use and camping season runs Memorial Day weekend through the second Monday in October.