Exploring Vermont’s Material Culture in the Champlain Valley

Beyond Vermont’s rolling green hills lies a distinct and influential material culture with standout decorative arts, architecture, and design. Decorative Arts Trust members explored the Lake Champlain region’s history through the study of its built environment and important museum collections during a Summer Sojourn in July 2025. 

Burlington, Barre, and Montpelier

The Sojourn began as any exploration along Lake Champlain should: on the water! Members mingled during a narrated Lake Champlain cruise on the suitably named Spirit of Ethan Allen. We then enjoyed a lively lecture about the region’s unique material culture by Phil Zea, noted historian and Historic Deerfield’s President Emeritus, before retiring to our headquarters at the Hotel Vermont.

The first full day of the program began in nearby Barre (pronounced like the name “Barry”!) with a visit to the Vermont History Center. Participants enjoyed the Center’s unique open-storage gallery as well as a special visit to view collections housed within the 1891 Spaulding School building, a sprawling Richardsonian Romanesque schoolhouse. A presentation at the Vermont Granite Museum showcased the state’s unique stone carving history. The museum is housed in the former Jones Brothers Granite Shed, built in 1895, the same year Hope Cemetery opened. The cemtery features hundreds of masterful memorials attesting to the town’s fascinating history of stone carving, which drew a uniquely skilled immigrant work force, bolstering Barre’s reputation as the “Granite Capital of the World.”

Heading to Montpelier, we were thrilled to step inside the Vermont State House, a glittering gem of 19th-century Greek Revival architecture. Completed in 1859 under the direction of architect Thomas Silloway, the House and Senate chambers are the oldest active legislative halls in the United States that have preserved their historic interiors. On a smaller scale but also notable is the Old Round Church on the outskirts of historic Richmond. Architect William Rhodes’s 1812 design featured a 16-sided, two-story structure with an eight-sided bell tower and cupola, executed in the crisp simplicity of the Neoclassical style. The interior of the meetinghouse has 32 sides, which allowed Rhodes to hide the building’s 16 corner posts.

After returning to Burlington, we experienced a part of Vermont culture that is not necessarily related to decorative arts but that we all looked forward to nonetheless: an ice cream social! 

Middlebury

Upon reaching the charming late-18th-century town of Middlebury we started on a strong note with tours at the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History. The Museum occupies the 1829 Judd-Harris House and has welcomed visitors and researchers since 1884. The collection is particularly strong in furniture, textiles, and paintings, and their archival collection uniquely documents Middlebury’s history.

The striking Congregational Church of Middlebury was built in 1809 by architect and adopted Vermonter Lavius Fillmore, who took inspiration for his design from a familiar site for many Trust members: the First Baptist Church in Providence, RI. The Congregational Church’s magnificent five-tiered spire, soaring 135 feet high, was designed with a flexible frame enabling it to withstand the gale-force winds that occasionally buffet Vermont.

Following a scrumptious lunch at the 1827 Middlebury Inn, participants visited the Middlebury College Museum of Art’s distinguished collections of Asian art, photography, 19th-century European and American sculpture, and contemporary prints.

Continuing to Ferrisburgh, the group visited the Rokeby Museum, which interprets the history of four generations of the Robinson family, who resided on the property from 1793 to 1961. Fierce abolitionists, their home was also a stop on the Underground Railroad, an inspirational story which the museum tells beautifully.

Shelburne

The final day of the program began with a trip to the renowned Shelburne Museum. Founded in 1947 by Electra Havemeyer Webb, the Museum showcases a breathtaking collection of more than 100,000 objects, and the campus comprises 39 structures set among 22 gardens. Members enjoyed curator-led tours of the Vermont furniture, folk art, fine art, and decoy collections, and, after lunch, we had the privilege of a special object study of works by craftswoman Marie Zimmermann, hosted by Kristin Miskavage and Kim Ahara.

An afternoon visit to Shelburne Farms included a tour of the Shelburne Farms Inn, built between the 1890s and early 1900s, when Lila Vanderbilt and William Webb’s Shingle style cottage was expanded into a sprawling Queen Anne mansion of more than one hundred rooms. Cocktails and conversation on the North Porch with views of Lake Champlain was followed by dinner in the historic Inn, ending a lovely day and capping off a memorable Sojourn!

Learn about the Decorative Arts Trust’s upcoming Sojourns and other programs on our Calendar of Events. We invite those interested in Sojourns to become a member at the Ambassador or Champion level, as these levels receive early registration benefits, and our programs fill quickly!