Places of Interest
Auctions
Our area has many wonderful auctions each weekend, usually on Sundays. Our favorite is Degre Auction House in Westfield, Vermont, just over the mountain from us. We even have reserved seats for any guests of the Phineas Swann since we are such good customers of theirs. It is owned by Richard Degre, one of the area’s most reputable auctioneers of fine antiques and collectibles, as well as a lot of fun junk, and is an absolutely wonderful auction service to go to for low prices, and great fun. They even serve lunch!!
Antiques & Collectibles
Visit the shops in yown (we have three) and, after you do the rounds in Montgomery, ask for our map of antique shops in the area – our map lists close to a dozen shops – most within 30 to 40 minutes of our front door.
Nothing’s as delicious as fresh-picked blueberries. Head to North Troy to pick your own blueberries in season (July – September) at Blueberry Ridge. 3382 River Road, North Troy – (802) 988-4702. If you bring them back, we’ll throw them in some pancakes for breakfast for you.July 4th Parade
The essence of smalltown America. Every July 4th 10 a.m. the town of Montgomery puts on parade which goes right by the front of our inn. Come see our local floats in a town with pride!
Montgomery Adventures is the region’s premier adventure guide service, offering dogsledding, snowshoeing, hiking, dog cart rides, canoeing, kayaking, camping, ice fishing, fishing and more. Their friendly, knowledgeable guides will help you experience the mountains, rivers, and forests of this pristine and authentic region of Vermont. Located in Montgomery Center, only a few miles from the Phineas Swann. Visit their website,www.montgomeryadventures.com, or allow us to help you arrange an adventure during your stay with us.Bowling
The Dairy Center, just 10 minutes away, has a great bowling facility and lots of virtual reality games. Call (802) 933-2030 to reserve a lane.
Mountain Fiber Folk Cooperative
Mountain Fiber Folk Cooperative are purveyors of specialty materials to fiber artists, spinners, weavers, knitters, and crocheters. These women raise their own sheep, shear them, spin the wool, and use local flowers and shrubs for the dyes. They are a real Vermont Cultural Heritage find and they are literally across the street from us! They have handspun and hand dyed yarns, quilts, fiber dolls, clay buttons and pottery, needle felted pieces, luxury knitwear, pastoral art, mixed media art papers and hangings – both materials and finished goods. Visit the Mountain Fiber Folk Website for more information.
Godfrey’s Sugarhouse
The Godfreys go back generations and believe in the traditional approach to doing business with your neighbors. If they are not there – just pick up your syrup and leave what you owe them in jar on the counter. This where we buy the syrup we serve with our breakfasts at the Phineas Swann.
FirstTrax Sporting Shop
FirstTrax offers skis, ski boards, mountain bikes, road bikes, fishing gear, and much, much more. Firsttrax is known as the best ski, board and bike tuning service in the Jay Peak area, and, in addition to supplying the gear you might need to make the most out of the outdoors during your trip to the area, Donny Ellis, the owner, offers private guided tours for biking, cross country skiing and fishing expeditions.
Sylvester’s Market
We wouldn’t normally think a grocery store would warrant much attention, but in this case, it is nice to know that this particular market is only a few feet from the front door our River House Suites which are equipped with a full kitchen and dining area along with all the pots, pans and utensils you might need if you decided to “veg out” and have a meal “at home” away from home.
Montgomery Properties
A wonderful local real estate company that specializes in vacation homes in and around our area. Once you visit us here, there is a good chance you will fall in love with this small town just as we have, and these are the folks to go see if you want to buy a place of your own! Our great consolation, of course, is that we have gained just as many friends! Visit their website.
Within driving distance of the Phineas Swann, Northern Vermont and Canada offer a wide variety of museums, theaters, and art galleries for your enjoyment. Visit our page on 
The Huneck home is furnished with Stephen’s artwork. Huneck is known for his whimsical hand-carved furniture, sculpture, and woodcut prints. The artist is author of “My Dog’s Brain,” “Sally Goes to the Beach,” and “Sally Goes to the Mountains.”
Huneck continues, “I built that chapel on Dog Mountain, our mountain-top farm in St. Johnsbury … and styled it in the manner of a small village church built in Vermont around 1820. It is important to me that the chapel looks like it belongs with its setting of rolling mountains and pasture. The white steeple points up to the heavens and on the top is a Lab with wings that turns in the wind and proclaims this place has a special affinity with dogs.”Country Fairs
Although we do have a semiannual flower show, and Maple Festival, most of the fairs and festivals of Vermont center on the diary industry. Fair season runs from January through mid October and serves as an annual reminder of Vermont’s long and proud agricultural heritage providing a critical link between our farm heritage and the food on our tables. Vermont’s dairy industry generates over a billion dollars annually. Our dairy farmers produce more milk per capita than any other state in the U.S. except Idaho and account for 58% of all milk produced in New England.
Our dairy farmers help preserve the working landscape and give Vermont an international reputation for scenic vistas and rural splendor.
Bread and Puppet Theater
Many hundreds of puppets and masks, ranging in size from miniature cut-outs to towering giants, arranged in groupings by size, colors, and themes, often reenacting past Bread and Puppet Theater productions are housed on 2 floors of a 130 year old barn. Activities in July and August include paper-maché workshops, woodcut printing, bread making, and outdoor performances in the summer on Sunday afternoons. They have a variety of posters, books, and booklets.
PLEASE NOTE: We have received feedback from our guests that although Bread and Puppet remains a fascinating Vermont attraction, it is best to see them in performance. The barn that houses their collection has become rickety and less guest-friendly over time.
Bread & Puppet Theater
753 Heights Road
Glover, VT 05839
Ph: 802-525-3031 or 802-525-1271
Fax: 802-525-3618
Email: breadpup@together.net
Web: www.breadandpuppet.org
Sunday Services
Following is a list of our local churches and hours of worship:
- Methodist – located on the town green in Montgomery Village. Services are held at 9 am on Sunday mornings
- Catholic – St. Isidore’s – located on Rt. 242 in Montgomery Center (Towards Jay Peak). Mass on Saturdays at 5 pm
- Episcopal –St. Matthews Episcopal Church, 323 Church Street, Enosburg Falls, a 15-minute drive. Services Sundays at 10 am.
Lakes End Cheeses
Alton and Joanne James
212 West Shore Road
Alburg, VT 05440
802-796-3730
Website: www.lakesendcheeses.com
email: info@lakesendcheeses.com
Nestled at the very northwestern part of the Green Mountain state is Lakes End Cheeses, a family owned and operated farm since the fall of 1999. Joanne James is the owner and artist who creates all of the cheeses currently available at the dairy’s retail store, Shoreline Chocoloates.
The seraphic combination of chocolates and cheeses is well known throughout the Islands and draws a familiar crowd of locals and tourists year round. Every round of cheese is hand crafted by Joanne, who bestows a special quality to each cheese that is sold. All natural ingredients and raw milk ensures a healthy, home-made taste that is unforgettable once it is savored by that first bite.
Green Mountain Blue Cheese
Dawn Morin-Boucher and Daniel Boucher
2183 Gore Road, Highgate Center, VT 05459
Phone: 802-868-4193
Email: boucherfarm@hughes.net
Blog: http://boucherfamilyfarm.blogspot.com
Produced by grandsons of Rene Boucher, a direct descendent of one of the founding families of French Quebec. Rene Boucher moved his family to Vermont to farm in the 1940’s. His son Gilbert, the youngest of eleven brothers and sisters, took over all responsibilities at age 14; he increased the milk herd from 16 to 180 cows and the land base from 45 to 1,000 acres. Today, two of Gilbert’s four sons, Daniel and Denis, perform the daily operations, raise the calves, and grow the crops – and they now milk 110 animals.
Doe’s Leap
Kristan Doolan and George Van Vlaanderen
1703 Route 108 South
East Fairfield, VT 05448
Telephone (802) 827-3046
Fax (501) 325-8818
email: doesleap@pshift.com
Does’ Leap produces fresh Chevre, Feta, and two aged cheeses: Caprella, soft-ripened with a bloomy white rind ages 3-4 weeks, and Does’ Leap Tomme ages 2 to 6 months (7 lb. wheel). They are a certified organic dairy and graze their goats on pasture. Their seasonal cheeses are available at Burlington Farmers’ Market in City Hall Park during the summer and at select restaurants and retailers in the area.
Willow Hill Farm
Willow Smart/David Phinney
313 Hardscrabble Road
Milton, VT
phone: 802-893-2963
website: www.sheepcheese.com
A small organic diversified farm located 1200 feet above sea level in the foothills of the Green Mountains dedicated to using old world methods in making cheeses (and yogurt). All of their animals graze on the indigenous grasses and herbs of local hillside pastures, which in turn creates unique flavor profiles in the cheese-it is truly of the land. Each batch of cheese is handmade and then matured in our underground caves which are ventilated by the surrounding woodland on their farm.
Cabot Creamery
1 Home Farm Way, Montpelier, VT 05602, USA
Telephone 888-792-2268
Website: www.cabotcheese.com
email: info@cabotcheese.com
Famous for its award winning Vermont Cheddars and other fine dairy products, Cabot Creamery was founded in 1919 as a cooperative of 94 farmers in northern Vermont. Cabot’s world-class cheese making facilities now produce many types of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Cottage Cheese. The plant in Cabot, Vermont offers tours of its facility, has a retail shop and offers easy mail order of fine Cabot cheeses. Visitors will also find a Cabot store on Route 100 in Waterbury. All of Cabot’s cheeses are made naturally, without chemicals or preservatives and aged for specific flavor profiles.
Vermont Milk Co.
Hardwick, VT
(802) 472-5800
website: www.vermontmilkco.com
The Vermont Milk Company is farmer-owned and operated by Vermont farmers processing 100% rBST-free Vermont milk in their own Vermont plant. Vermont Milk prides itself on paying Vermont farmers a consistently fair price for their best milk Their position is to support locally produced foods, and “always put farmers first” believing that this policy ensures everyone wins: the farmers, the cows, their partners and the consumer. The Vermont Milk Company slogan is “By the farmers and for the farmers right here, right now.”
Jasper Hill Farm
Mateo and Andy Kehler
884 Garvin Hill Rd.
Greensboro, VT 05841
802-533-2566
Email: info@jasperhillfarm.com
Web: www.jasperhillfarm.com
Jasper Hill Farm farmstead cheeses are made with fresh milk from their herd of registered Ayrshire cows in Vermont’s beautiful Northeast Kingdom. Throughout the spring, summer and fall, their cows rotate through their pastures feasting fresh grass after each milking. Each batch of their handcrafted cheeses is therefore unique.
Bonnieview Farm
2228 South Albany Road
Craftsbury Common, VT 05827
802-755-6878
Email: bonnieview@earthlink.com
Bonnieview Farm is a sheep dairy in the soul of the Northeast Kingdom., specializing in raw milk cheeses and pasture raised lambs. On a 470-acre hilltop farm, Neil Urie makes sheep’s-milk cheese: subtly tangy natural-rind Ben Nevis, named for the highest mountain in Scotland, and Mossend Blue (named after Moss End, his family’s ancestral farm in Scotland), and more. Tours available for a minimal fee.
Franklin Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 486,
68 East Street, Enosburg Falls, VT 05450
Phone: (800) 933-6114 or (802) 933-4338
Fax: (802) 933-2300
Web: www.franklinfoods.com
Nestled in Enosburg Falls, Vermont, the state’s dairy capital, Franklin Foods began producing cheese in 1899 using fresh milk and cream from nearby farms. We continue the tradition today, supplying retail, food service and club store customers throughout the country with Cream Cheese, Flavored Cream Cheese Dips and Spreads, Baker’s Cheese, Mascarpone and Organic Cream Cheese. All of our products still start with fresh milk from Vermont farms, where cows are not treated with growth-stimulating hormones (rBGH). They are produced under strict HACCP guidelines, providing product safety and batch-to-batch consistency, and are kosher certified (as permitted).
Lazy Lady Farm
Laini Fondiller
973 Snyderbrook Rd
Westfield, VT 05874 USA
Telephone 802-744-6365
email: laini@sover.net
Lazy Lady Farm is a small organic goat dairy with 25 registered alpines on the premise. The goats are the true Lazy Ladies since they have the humans running around catering to their every need.
Cheese is made about every day in small batches. The cheese is ripened in a cave for that extra natural flavor. Classes for the curious and for the future cheese makers are offered in the winter months, and they welcome interested parties to write to find out when classes take place.
Hope Farm
Barbara and Harvey Levin
P.O. Box 164
1984 Hudson Rd.
East Charleston, VT 05833
(802) 723-4283
Email: hopefarm@surfglobal.net
Hope Farm, originally located in southern New Hampshire, is now located in Clyde River valley in East Charleston, Vermont where the sheep and lambs are able to take advantage of the rich pastures from spring through fall. All Hope Farm cheese is made from raw milk and aged at least 60 days. Good cheese begins with fresh milk from healthy animals. The sheep at Hope Farm are milked from late spring to early fall while the river valley pastures are at their peak. The owners are intimately involved in the whole process from milking through the final months of aging. Cheese is available on a seasonal basis in August. Please contact Hope Farm for availability and shipping information.
Shelburne Farms
Shelburne Farms is a 1,400-acre working farm, national historic site and nonprofit environmental education center located on the shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont. Its mission is to cultivate a conservation ethic by teaching and demonstrating the stewardship of natural and agricultural resources. Walking trails, a Children’s Farmyard and historic Inn are open to the public mid-May to mid-October. Farmhouse cheddar cheese is made on the property from the milk of purebred Brown Swiss cows and is available on-line and through mail order. Shelburne Farms was founded in 1886 as the agricultural estate of William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb.
Cow Products include:
Six-month Cheddar – farmhouse, raw milk
One-year Cheddar- farmhouse, raw milk
Two-year Cheddar- farmhouse, raw milk
Smoked Cheddar- farmhouse, raw milk