Located at the gateway to the Northeast Kingdom, the Phineas Swann is ideally situated to offer easy driving distances to the unique museums of either the Northeast Kingdom or the lower lying valleys and rolling hills of Northwestern Vermont. You can find more listed at the St. Albans Chamber of Commerce.
Northern Vermont Museums, Theaters and Art Galleries
Northern Vermont is home to several museums, theaters and art galleries that you’ll want to visit during your upcoming vacation at the Phineas Swann Bed and Breakfast. Several have great historical significance for the Northeast Kingdom, such as the Railroad Museum in Island Pond and the Old Stone House Museum in Brownington, while others have broader regional and national importance, such as the art collection at the St. Johnsbury Atheneaum and the international touring company at the Bread & Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont.
The Bread & Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont, is one of the oldest non-commercial, self-supporting theaters in the country.
They have created politically and socially aware shows with commitment to community participation since 1963. Visitors to the Northeast Kingdom in the summertime will usually have a chance to see Bread & Puppet Theater perform at local festivals and parades.
The Bread & Puppet Museum is made up of a collection of puppets and puppet theater materials created by the Bread & Puppet Theater company. This collection is housed in a former dairy barn. www.breadandpuppet.org
The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is a public library and art gallery displaying a significant collection of 19th century American landscapes. The major part of the collection is by American and European artists from the late eighteenth century to the middle nineteenth century. The famous Hudson River School is strongly represented by such artists as Asher B. Durand (the father of American Landscape painting), Jasper Cropsey (known for autumn landscapes), Sanford Gifford (a Luminist painter), James and William Hart (pastoral landscapes with cattle), and western views by Samuel Colman and Worthington Whittredge. Dominating the gallery from its inception has been the magnificent canvas, ten feet by fifteen feet, of the Domes of Yosemite, by Albert Bierstadt. www.stjathenaeum.org
The Railroad Museum at the refurbished 1903 Railroad Station in Island Pond gives visitors an opportunity to explore the Railroad History of the Northeast Kingdom. Pictures and other artifacts relive the story of the Grand Trunk Railroad and how it opened the Northeast Kingdom to a new era of transport for logging, milling, mining and other commerce.
The Old Stone House Museum in Brownington, Vermont, features exhibits and artifacts depicting 19th century life in Vermont. The collection includes furniture, textiles, photographs, pottery, folk and fine art, and many of the tools and utensils of daily life. The main museum building is a monumental granite structure built in the 1830s by the Rev. Alexander Twilight, a Vermont state legislator and the world’s first African American college graduate. www.oldstonehousemuseum.org
The Haskell Free Library and Opera HouseHouse is as unique a place as they come. The United States - Canadian border runs right through the middle of this building. While attending an event at the Opera House, the audience sits in Vermont on the US side of the border while the actors perform on the stage in Canada. Many fine theatrical, musical and cultural events are held here throughout the year. www.haskellopera.org
The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium is a natural history and cultural museum featuring 18th and 19th century artifacts. It has been lauded as having the finest collection of native flora and fauna specimens in a museum north of Boston. The collections are housed in a landmark Victorian building which features a 30-foot high oak barrel-vault ceiling. The Planetarium is Vermont’s only public planetarium and offers shows daily in the summertime and on weekends throughout the rest of the year. www.fairbanksmuseum.org