I had stayed up later than Bob the night before watching the TV pilot episode of Newhart on my laptop after Bob had already fallen asleep. The reason why is that I was sleeping inside the Waybury Inn, in East Middlebury, Vermont – which was used as the establishing shot of the Stratford Inn on one of my all-time favorite sitcoms Newhart. Mind you they never actually filmed anything here other than shots of the inn. Bob Newhart had never even been at the inn. But in watching the show, you see it two or three times per episode, so it had become ingrained in my mind, so since the beginning of this trip’s inception, staying here was a must.
I woke up the morning of Friday, July 13, 2012, not feeling at all unlucky. I had had a good night’s sleep in the Statford…er, Waybury inn, not having been bothered by heiress maids or a handyman who missed the point of everything. It had been a good night’s rest. Bob and I retired to the dining area of the inn to claim our breakfast, which had been included in the stay. I went simple and had the Vermont Country Classic, which included eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and toast.
The inn was much, much bigger than it looked on Newhart – with the interior not even coming close to resembling that of the show’s set. But the Waybury did have two items that had been given to them by the show: the Stratford Inn sign that had been sometimes displayed on the show, and the Minuteman Cafe sign that had been used in establishing shots of the restaurant where first Kirk, then Larry, Daryl, and Daryl had worked. I got photos with those, as well as plenty of pictures of the inn, and then Bob and I hit the road about 8:30am.
The Stratford as seen in Newhart – with the sign hanging in the front yard
The inn today, now with a handicap accessible ramp
The dining room that is on the left side of the inn, the front windows of which can be seen in the exterior shots of the Stratford
Bob and I enjoy some delightful New England breakfast
The original Minuteman Cafe sign, hanging over the front windows in the dining room
The original Stratford Inn sign used in the show
With desk clerk Hillary, the closest I could get to a modern-day Stephanie Vanderkellen. The signed Bob Newhart photo says “Take care of my inn!”
The lobby of the inn, no way resembling the one on the show
Indicating the room in which we stayed on the right
Under the Waybury sign
The left side of the gigantic inn
The right side of the inn, and the place we entered
Our first stop of the day was in the city of Waterbury. Here was the Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour that we had added to our itinerary late in the game. We got there a little before 10am and were able to jump on the 10am tour. It was a very brief tour which included a short film, an overview of the factory (literally looking down from above at the machinery and workers – where no photos were permitted), and then finally the sampling room where we were able to try one of the ice cream flavors that was currently in testing: Strawberry Bliss. It was okay, but it was nothing to rave about.
Bob and I get ready to tour Ben & Jerry’s
Seeing what an official spokesperson might feel like
Bob tries out the new stuff
Enjoying some ice cream with out tour guide Julie
The Hall of Flavors
We were out of the factory by 10:30, and then checking out the Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard, a makeshift fake cemetery with headstones indicating the ice cream flavors that had been ‘retired’. I walked back to the car and then drove back to get Bob and we pressed on to the more historical portion of the day.
A sad visit to yet another graveyard
Next up was the Vermont State Capitol building in Montpelier. Unfortunately, the rental car had been displaying a ‘change oil’ message, so Bob decided to find a place and go have it changed. He ended up skipping the capitol tour and just dropped me off. I was the only person on the tour, but my guide Lucy took good care of me. Not only did she take me around to see the Senate Chamber, the Representatives Hall, and the ceremonial Governor’s office, but she also was charged of taking the pictures that you see of me inside the building. This particular structure was the third capitol building to stand on the location, following the 1857 fire of the ‘Second State House’, and his been here since 1859.
The Vermont State House in Montpelier: this was my my fifth Capitol building of the year, 26th total
Face in the cannon on the front porch of the State House
Ethan Allen, leader of the Green Moutain Boys, long before he got into the furniture business
Portrait of Vermont native Calvin Coolidge in the Entrance Hall
Portrait of Vermont native Calvin Coolidge in the Entrance Hall
Bust of President Lincoln, who has nothing to do with Vermont
Where the President of the Senate sits
The peanut gallery in the Senate Gallery
Representative Hall, the George Washington painting being the only item to survive the fire of the second Capitol building
The ceremonial Governor’s office
With my guide Lucy
Outside the State House, a statue of Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor of Vermont
I got out of the tour around 11:45 and Bob picked me up around noon. We then headed to next Presidential sites of the trip – those pertaining to Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth, where we arrived just before 1:30. This was a pretty major one as Bob and I toured the Coolidge Homestead, which included a Museum & Education Center, Coolidge’s birthplace, the General Store where his father worked, the church the family attended, various horse stables, the Plymouth Cheese Company his father founded, and the home of his parents where Coolidge was administered the Oath of Office upon the death of President Warren G. Harding. All of these locations can be explored in depth in my Coolidge Presidential posting.
The General Store at the Calvin Coolidge homestead
The house behind the General Store, where future President Coolidge was born
Bob and I summon our Moxie
Bob in the cheese factory
Nearly an hour and a half had passed by the time we stopped exploring the homestead and decided to eat in the Wilder House Restaurant. The restaurant was the former home of President Coolidge’s mother Victoria Josephine Moor. I had a chili dog, potato chips, and bread pudding, as well as some maple syrup candy and a Moxie beverage that I had purchased at the General Store. I had always wanted to try Moxie and this was the first chance I’d ever gotten. More on that later. I also had a good laugh when Bob asked about the black and blue cobbler and asked what made it ‘black and blue’. The waitress told Bob to “think!”
Ready to enjoy my maple syrup candy before lunch
Bob and me in the Wilder House Restaurant
After we ate, we browsed the Coolidge Museum & Education Center on the grounds and saw a few cool Coolidge artifacts. Those too can be seen at the Coolidge posting. We left the homestead at around 3:45 and within about two minutes we found ourselves just up and across the street at the Plymouth Notch Cemetery, where President Coolidge and his family are buried. As you may have guessed, these can be seen in more detail here.
Bob snaps a photo of the Coolidge Homestead sign
We left Plymouth around 4pm and began our departure from Vermont. We had skipped several things on our list, but there was simply no choice at this point with our time on the road quickly running out. To wit, we didn’t get to the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, the Maple Syrup Museum in Pittsfield, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Rutland, or the Brownsville Cemetery where Charles Bronson is buried in West Windsor.
It was now on to New Hampshire, a state I’d never visited before, and another round of Presidential quests. Since Franklin Pierce is the only President from this state, you can bet that they all revolved around that feller.
We arrived in the town of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, at a little before 6pm. Through a fault of some weirdness in the naming of streets which stopped and continued elsewhere, and a GPS that couldn’t understand this, it took us more than a half-hour to actually locate our destination, the Franklin Pierce Homestead. Tradition is that this is his birthplace, although widely refuted. Either way, it wasn’t open, so we couldn’t even see if we could pick up any Pierce birth vibes inside. Bob and I got our exterior shots and then moved on to Pierce Lake, which is now sitting atop a more likely location of the Pierce family cabin where he may have been born. Check out all of these early Pierce sites here.
The lake under which Franklin Pierce was likely born. Yes, I’m die hard.
We then moved on to his location of Pierce’s grave in Concord at the Old North Cemetery. It was a little bit bittersweet as this was the last of seven Presidential graves on this journey. It was the largest chunk of these I had ever gotten on one trip and put me eight away from completing that quest. We also checked out the location of the Pierce home where he died (which no longer stands) and the Pierce Manse, both also in Concord. Again, all of these locations can be seen in the Pierce Presidential posting found here.
At the grave of Franklin Pierce, my last Presidential grave of the trip…my 30th overall
Bob and President Pierce
It had been a most brief stay in New Hampshire but Bob was anxious to travel further eastward so that we could pick up some very important locations in Maine. We left Concord at around 8pm and drove until 10pm, passing into Maine for my first time, and staying at a place in York called the Mic Mac Motel. It was crummy, but I slept fine nonetheless. We hadn’t eaten dinner, so we had left room for some extra meals in our future the next day.
The New England road trip will continue in Maine…
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