WALDEN, Vt. -- The yellow school bus bumped and lurched over rutted dirt roads lined with puddles.
Inside, a dozen tourists from Massachusetts, Texas, Florida and beyond sat on lumpy vinyl seats, craning their necks for a glimpse of the brilliant red, orange and yellow leaves feathering the birches and maples around Joe's Pond.
It was no use. A drenching rain had been falling since dawn; now thick fog swallowed the pond, and condensation blanketed the bus windows.
They had flown hundreds of miles to Boston and Burlington, rented cars and driven a couple of hundred more down two-lane roads to the Walden United Methodist Church for the Northeast Kingdom Fall Foliage Festival. They had parked their cars in a muddy field, paid $5 each and boarded a school bus for what was billed as a scenic tour of this village of 825 people.
Now they couldn't even see the leaves.
No one seemed to mind. It was enough to know the foliage was out there somewhere on the back roads of Walden, along with the images of Vermont we've come to expect from so many postcards -- red barns, rolling hills, white church steeples.
"I don't come for the foliage -- I have that at home," confessed Ann Marcy, a Hopkinton, Mass., data-entry clerk who has come to the festival, which features events in eight towns over as many days, for the past four years. "I like being in a small town and seeing what's on the back roads," she said. "You'd never get this if you were just driving through."
In 1993, when the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Vermont on its endangered list, it was towns like Walden they were worried about. All over the state, family farms were shutting down. Wal-Marts and outlet malls were blossoming in fields where Holsteins once grazed. Vermont was starting to look like everywhere else.
But the rural Vermont of yesterday is still alive in the Northeast Kingdom. Comprising Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties, the Northeast Kingdom is the most rural part of one of the most rural states in the country. It is a place as noted for its poverty as its beauty, a region largely too poor for development. So its village centers, 18th-century homes and acres of open land have remained the same for more than 200 years.
"We've been poor, so we've been lucky," said Lorna Quimby, a historian who lives in the picturesque town of Peacham, which was settled in 1776. "Other parts of Vermont have been destrooyed by commercial elements, but we still have the charming villages we've always had."
Every autumn since 1958, residents of a handful of Northeast Kingdom towns have opened their doors to strangers and invited them into their homes, their churches and their schools. The money they raise goes to buy Little League uniforms, send students abroad and help finance volunteer rescue squads and civic groups.
Money doesn't drive the festival, community spirit does.
"You go back to the way things used to be," explained Diane Kreis, who coordinates the Groton town festival. "The festival is all about the town and the people who live here and how we work together. Everyone in the community helps."
Each day during the final week of September, a different town gets the limelight. If it's Tuesday, it's Cabot and a tour of the Cabot Creamery. On Thursday, it's Peacham for sugar on snow ' hot maple syrup over shaved ice. And on Saturday, it's off to Groton for a tour of the Peter Paul Historical House, guided by 92-year-old Norma Hosmer, who dresses for the occasion in the 19th-century gown that's been in her family for generations.
But this is Monday, and we're in Walden.
Only six miles square, Walden has no town center. Instead of having a walking tour, the town coordinates a bus tour so visitors can see where people live and work.
"We apologize for the weather," Norm Moquin said gaily, as he waved throngs of silver-haired tourists dressed in windbreakers and sneakers across the street to the four buses idling outside the town's United Methodist Church. " 'Course it never rains here in Walden."
Once seated, the visitors took turns introducing themselves by geography. Illinois sat behind Rhode Island, and across from California, Florida and Texas for the one-minute ride to the Walden School. They toured the school with the help of a student, watched a square-dancing demonstration in the cafeteria and heard a little about how this gleaming new building replaced the town's four one-room schoolhouses three years back.
The rest of the day unfolded in a blur of trooping off and on the bus. After the school tour it was off to see Elwin Brown's gas engine collection, followed by a quick sandwich and a bowl of soup in the church basement and a hymn-sing upstairs. Back on the bus for the afternoon, tourists went from dairy farm to Christmas tree farm to llama farm, tromping through fields and dairy barns, petting llamas and cows, buying maple syrup when it was offered.
Although the towns all try to offer a variety of activities, food seems to figure prominently in all of them. There's no shortage of home-cooked, high-calorie breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Groton presents a Lumberjack Breakfast -- all you can eat eggs, sausage, oatmeal, home fries, homemade doughnuts and pies for $7. Barnet sponsors a European Coffee Hour of scones, apple tarts and other pastries. And the church suppers range from Cabot's chicken pie to Plainfield's baked beans and St. Johnsbury's Swiss steak. "If you last the week, you'll roll home," cracked 77-year-old Betty Hatch, who has been coordinating the Northeast Kingdom Fall Foliage festival since 1963.
And yes, there are leaves and the quest for the ever-elusive "peak color." When it doesn't rain or snow, when the nights aren't too cold or the days too hot, when the leaves don't fall too early from the trees, the foliage here is unlike what you'd find in Maine or Pennsylvania or West Virginia.
"Vermont trees are prettier," said Pauline Urie of Barnet. "They're brighter."
That may just sound like hometown pride, but she has a point. Vermont sugar maples, turn a bright scarlet as vivid and intense as lipstick. And then there's the landscape -- miles of hills and valleys punctuated by streams and ponds -- uncomplicated by skyscrapers, apartment buildings and factories. Next to the cool blue of Harvey's Lake in West Barnet or the stark white simplicity of Peacham's town center, the foliage makes the photo opportunities seem endless.
The autumn leaves are what draw newcomers in the first place. The people keep them coming back, year after year, even in the pouring rain.
"I'd go whether it was raining or shining," said Olive Cheney, a 30-year veteran of the foliage festival who grew up in Barnet, and now splits her year evenly between Peacham and Belleview, Fla. "If I didn't go ... I'd have the feeling that I missed something great."
At the end of the day, when the visitors are gathering their windbreakers and heading to their cars, Norm Moquin is still there at the church, clearing plates from the barbecued beef dinner and wishing everyone well. "We'll see you next year," he said.
"No," one woman replied, smiling. "We'll see you tomorrow. In Cabot."
When you go ...
Getting there: Although there are no major airports in the Northeast Kingdom, there is a variety of options. US Air flies from BWI to Burlington International Airport. From there it's a 90-minute drive down the foliage-laden U.S. 89 and U.S. 2. Take any of the major air carriers into Boston and drive U.S. 93 to U.S. 89 to U.S. 91. Or save your money for Chunky Monkey and fly into Manchester, N.H., via Southwest Airlines or Metrojet, then pick up U.S. 93 to U.S. 91. It's about a 75-minute trip. Another option is flying into Montreal's Durval Airport and driving two hours.
Tip: Auto rentals are especially hard to get in Vermont during foliage season. Reserve a car now if you know you're going to need one.
Must sees:
The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium on Main and Prospect Streets in St. Johnsbury, built in 1890, is home to the nation's oldest science-education building. Open daily, year-round. 802-748-2372.
Just down the street from the museum, you'll find the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, the oldest unaltered art gallery in the country, 802-748-8291.
Haskell Opera House: Stand with one foot in Canada and the other in the United States at this historic opera house, which also serves as the town's library, in Derby Line, 802-873-3022.
Ben & Jerry's Factory and Cold Hollow Cider Mill: Just a quick detour off U.S. 89 on Vermont 100 in Waterbury lie two factory tours that will get your stomachs primed for the food to come. Ben & Jerry's, 802-244-5641, tells the tale of how two high school buddies with a lot of butterfat and a dream came to be the kings of super-premium ice cream. At Cold Hollow, 802-244-8771, watch cider being made and grab a couple of dozen cider doughnuts fresh off the stove.
Cabot Creamery: Learn how award-winning Vermont Cheddar cheese is made, and buy some to take home too, 802-563-2231.
Scenic drives: One of the best drives in all of Vermont is Stannard Road, a 17-mile stretch of unpaved road that goes from Greensboro Bend to Lyndon and offers great views. Another drive, along the Bayley-Hazen Military Road, which goes through Craftsbury and Greensboro, is a favorite for locals and tourists alike.
Lodging: From rustic cabins and campgrounds to family-owned motels and historic bed and breakfasts, the Northeast Kingdom offers a variety of places to stay. Some ideas:
Marsh-Plain Motel, Plainfield, 802-426-3383 (Room rates from $55-$75)
Broadview B&B;, St. Johnsbury, 802-748-9902. (Room rates: $65)
Harvey's Lake Cabins & Campground, West Barnet, 802-633-2213. ($16 campsite -- $95 lakeside cabin)
Creamery Inn, Cabot, 802-563-2819. (Room rates: $55-$75)
About the name: "You know, this is such beautiful country up here. It ought to be called the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont," U.S. Senator George Aiken told a group of people in Lydonville, Vt. in 1949. Since then, Vermont's three northeastern counties -- Orleans, Caledonia and Essex ' have become known as a fairy-tale kingdom encompassing some 2,000 miles of lakes, woods, farmland and picturesque villages.
Famous connections: The films "Ethan Fromme," "A Stranger in the Kingdom" and "The Spitfire Grill," (which was actually set in Maine) were all filmed in the Northeast Kingdom.
Information: This year's Northeast Kingdom Fall Foliage Festival will be held Sept. 27-Oct. 4 in Marshfield, Walden, Cabot, Plainfield, Peacham, Barnet, Groton and St. Johnsbury, Vt. Charges for food and tours vary. Supper reservations are accepted until 6 p.m. the previous day. Many activities are free. For a list of events and accommodations, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Fall Festival Committee, Box 54, West Danville, Vt. 05873.
For information about dining, lodging and what to do in a 35-mile radius of St. Johnsbury, contact the Northeast Kingdom chamber of Commerce, 30 Western Ave., St. Johnsbury 05819. Call 800-639-6379 or check their Web site at: www.vermontnekchamber.org.
The Lyndon Area Chamber of Commerce, 802-626-9696, P.O. Box 886, Lyndonville, Vt. 05851, publishes a leaflet guide to its area and maintains a seasonal information booth.
An ideal day:
6 a.m. Sleep late ... by Vermont standards. Dairy farmers and their herds have already been up hours before you manage to roll out of bed. Lace up a pair of hiking boots, grab your camera and fleece pullover and set off on a roadside ramble in search of peak foliage and deer. Wonder why you don't live here.
6:30 a.m. Return to guest house for a traditional Vermont breakfast of apple pie with Cabot Cheddar, Chubby Hubby ice cream and crullers slathered with maple cream all procured at nearby country store.
7 a.m. Nap. The leaves will look better in the midday sun.
10 a.m. Report to the Groton Methodist Church for a second breakfast of pancakes, sausage, pie, eggs and maple syrup at the Lumberjack Breakfast. Tell yourself you'll need all the energy you can get for looking at leaves change color.
1:30 p.m. After a morning of visiting churches and historic houses, you plop down on the village green to watch the entire town parade by. Wonder again why you don't live here.
2 p.m. Return to room and consider taking a nature walk in search of deer, loon and moose. Decide against it because they all probably taste like chicken. Nap again.
4 p.m. Awaken to the late afternoon sunlight warming the russet leaves on the sugar maple tree outside your window. Shoot three rolls of film, telling yourself you should have been a Vermont Life photographer.
6 p.m. At the church chicken pie supper, exchange addresses with the two women sitting next to you who are planning an eating/wandering/leaf peeping trip through Vermont next fall.
8 p.m.: Wander into the Methodist Church for an old-fashioned hymn-sing. In between stanzas of "Amazing Grace," convince yourself that gluttony is not a sin and make plans to quit your job and move to Vermont.
Pub Date: 8/16/98