3/8/2014. Below is my continuation towards developing an area literary tour of Addison County and surrounding area. I’ll update it as I can and will include links to the various landmarks as well as photos, maps and contact info.  Right now it is a ‘work in progress’.  I’m open to suggestions so please forward them to me. Thanks!

Literary Landmarks:

Ferrisburgh: Rokeby Museum Home of Rowland E. Robinson. A popular illustrator and interpreter of nature and Yankee dialect. The home was also a station on the Underground Rail Road. Route 7.

• Middlebury: Emma Willard Monument. Pioneer educator. She gave the earliest collegiate instruction for women in America at a Seminary in her home, during 1814-1819.  State Historic Marker, and monument. Route 7.
• Middlebury:  Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History Most displays are connected to history of the town and community with maps, notebooks, letters, newspapers, photographs of Middlebury’s history. The Fletcher Community History Center offers changing art and local history exhibits. Park Street.
• Middlebury: Ilsley Public Library Aside from books, CDs, and DVDs available as well as local history and genealogy, first Saturday of month book sales, and various lecture series. Main Street.
• Middlebury: Middlebury College Library The college boasts two libraries on campus – Davis Family Library and The Armstrong Science Library. Collections in the Davis Family Library includes college archives, Vermont Collection and various special collections including rare books and manuscripts. Route 125.
• Middlebury: Middlebury College Museum of Art Offers 6-8 temporary exhibitions each year and displays of works from the permanent collection. Objects range from antiquities to contemporary art, and includes illuminated manuscripts. Route 30.
• Middlebury: Public Art on Campus, Middlebury College. 20 works of art found around the campus. Includes Hieroglyphics for the Ear, 1997, by Kate Owen, Matt Mullican’s, L’Art d’Ecrire (The Art of Writing) 2004-2005, and Selections from Truisms: As Sense of Timing… 1977-1979 by Jenny Holzer.
• Middlebury: Vermont Folklife Center Preserving and presenting the cultural traditions of Vermont and surrounding region. To document and conserve cultural heritage, bringing recognition to the skills, talents and traditions of Vermonters, past and present. Preservation of the spoken word is the core of its endeavors. Main Street. 802-388-4964
• Ripton: Robert Frost Interpretative Trail and Robert Frost Wayside American poet and Vermont Poet Laureate.  The 1.2 mile trail is within the Green Mountain National Forest winding through woodland with plaques along the trail boasting quotations from his poems. The Wayside, across the road from the Trail, offers a kiosk highlighting Frost’s life and located  underneath pines he planted. Route 125.
• Ripton: Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference. Held ten days in mid-August. Readings and lectures happen every day. Free and open to the public. Writers who participated in years past include Robert Frost, Ralph Ellison, Ellen Bryant Voigt,  Richard Ford, Julia Alvarez and many more. Bread Loaf campus of Middlebury College, Route 125.

Bookshops nearby:

• Monroe Street Books 80,000+ volumes. Specialties: illustrated & children’s collectibles, mystery, fiction, graphic arts, photography, American history, Vermontiana. Open year round.  Route 7, Middlebury. Mon-Sat 9-6, Sun 11-6. Route 7, Middlebury. 802-398-2200 Member of Vermont Antiquarian Booksellers Association.
• Otter Creek Used Books (me!) Offering an eclectic mix of books, both paperback and hard cover, used and antiquarian. Open year round. Mon- Sat 10-5. Sun by chance. Historic Marble Works, Maple Street, Middlebury. 802-388-3241 Member of Vermont Antiquarian Booksellers Association.
• Vermont Book Shop Full-service indie bookstore in the town center selling new books. Includes staff picks, local bestsellers, and online ordering and other cool book-related items. Hosts a monthly VBS Book Discussion group. Main Street, Middlebury. 802-388-2061, 800-287-2061