Day Trip #2: Shelburne Museum

Have an early breakfast, then take Route 30 north about two miles past Pawlet. Turn right on North Pawlet Road. In Wells, turn right and rejoin Route 30, continuing to Poultney. In Poultney, go north on Route 31 for one block to the traffic light, and turn left. At the Green Mountain College campus, turn right and continue to York Street, bearing left. Continue to Route 22-A and turn right. Proceed north through Fair Haven, Orwell, Shoreham, Bridport and Addison to Vergennes. North of Vergennes, turn left on Route 7 and continue north through Charlotte. The Shelburne Museum is on the left. The drive takes about one hour forty-five minutes.

This museum is by far the finest collection of American folk art and other American art forms in the country. There are amazing categories of collections within the collection.

Do not miss the circus collection, the horse-drawn vehicles collection, the Ogden Pleisner studio or the Webb apartment. There is much more. Allow time, if possible, to visit Shelburne Farms, a superb 3000-acre property with the former summer home of the Webb family. Landscaping was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Note the barn, designed to resemble a Norman castle.

On your return to Dorset, have dinner at Starry Night Cafe in Ferrisburgh, or Christophe's in Vergennes, or the Fairhaven Inn.