This is a great little spot in the Green Mountains just off Route 9 between Brattleboro and Bennington behind Prospect Mountain Ski Area. There’s only 40 sites and you can choose your site from those available when you arrive. The terrain isn’t flat but a lot of work has been done to make the gravel pads quite level. As the name might imply, this really isn’t a campground. It is a collection of campsites, some close to bathrooms, some wide open pull-throughs for larger rigs and some smaller sites nestled into the trees for those with smaller rigs and those who want to be out of the sun. Campers can use the canoes to paddle around and there are several paths through the property offering alpine-like views like the one below.
Electrical system (at least on our site) was brand new. Wi-Fi was quite good. No cell service or OTA TV at all. Given that we were at 2200 feet with mountains all around us that wasn’t a surprise. However, temperatures were about 10-12 degrees cooler than downtown Brattleboro and Burlington and that made it worth the effort to get here.
Bathrooms were what you’d expect from the ski-lodge feel, a little tight but spotless and plenty of hot water.
This is a friendly, family run place with plenty of evidence that everyone goes out of their way to take care of their guests. They don’t accept credit cards so bring cash or a check.
We ran across an interesting little spot in Brattleboro called the Estey Organ Museum. The Estey Organ Company produced more than 300,000 reed organs, or pump organs as they were also known, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Relatives of these organs today would be the accordion and the harmonica. In the later years the company also made pipe organs. At one time Estey was the largest employer in the state of Vermont.
Although small in size, the museum doesn’t just a show a collection of old organs. All of the organs on display have been restored by volunteers and are playable. Most importantly, visitors are encouraged to bring in their own music and play them. For those that don’t play, there’s also an Estey pipe organ that has been dissected not only so you can see exactly how it works but so you can walk through it as it is being played.
We only made one quick stop in Bennington at the Apple Barn for some sharp cheddar cheese. Outside we got up close and personal with a moose, one of many in Bennington, that were part of Moosefest!
