Vermont - Day 23 - Arlington

Country Village Campground
Saturday, 23 June 2018

today's route

"There's a crazy little shack beyond the track, and everybody calls it the Sugar Shack."  Remember this from the 1960s?  Well, it keeps running through my head because today I drove down to a place called The Sugar Shack in Arlington, VT.

Arlington was the first capital of Vermont and today the Lions Club was holding its Redneck Warrior Challenge (it has its own web page at redneckwarrior.wtf) that included at least a sack race, because I saw it.  Too bad it started raining hard enough to make it tough for the warriors.

Anyway, I was in Arlington because Norman Rockwell used to live here and most of the faces he put in his illustrations came from people who lived here - and some still live here.  The Sugar Shack is part bakery (great cider doughnuts!), part store selling Vermont-made products (including the best jam I've ever eaten, made by Sidehill Farm in Brattleboro), and part Rockwell exhibit.  I don't think they have many originals, but they've got the majority of his Saturday Evening Post covers and explanations on many of them by the people who posed.

The locals said he took photos of them and then painted from the photos, figuring he could get an image closer to life that way than if he'd have them pose long enough to do the painting.  He paid them $5 for each sitting.  They all said that.  And apparently they all liked him very much and he was very much a part of the life of the town.

You can find the covers online SEPost.  My favorites were "Homecoming Marine" from 10-13-1945 and "Breaking Home Ties" from 9-25-1954.

While I was on the road, I heard a story on Vermont Public Radio about Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here. VPR  Very interesting story.