Yesterday I celebrated my 67th birthday.
This means I have completed 67 years of this life’s journey and am, today, starting my 68th year! I did not spend a lot of time reflecting yesterday as we were having a fun filled day celebrating this anniversary of my birth. Plenty has been written and shared at other times, in other postings. This entry just celebrates a marvelous day of discovery in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont!
It had been my intent to prepare breakfast here before we headed out for our day as I knew Tom was taking me out to dinner. Tom had other plans and we went out for breakfast too. I chose Anthony’s Diner in St. Johnsbury, VT as that was where we would starting our day’s activities. It has been quite a while since we have gone out for breakfast so I was looking forward to a good, loaded omelet! I was not disappointed! Breakfast was delicious.
Our first stop was the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium – 1302 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT. I am embarrassed to admit that we have owned our Vermont home since 2003 and this is the first time we have visited this NEK landmark! Over the years we have heard great things and knew we should check it out for ourselves. We finally did and all I am still saying is WOW – WOW – WOW !!! A marvelous gem located just 10 miles north of us! A real positive for our guests when we finally have bedrooms renovated and ready! It is a special place that you have to see to believe!!
Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium – 1302 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT
“The Fairbanks Museum was founded in 1889 by St. Johnsbury industrialist Franklin Fairbanks.
Inside our classic Victorian building, you’ll find a dazzling array of animals and artifacts, dolls and tools, shells and fossils, and much more! Take a trip through the cosmos in Vermont’s only public planetarium.
When Franklin Fairbanks opened the doors to this Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont over a century ago, he invited all of New England to see beyond the horizon by bringing exquisite examples of natural science and beautiful artifacts from around the world to his home town. His “cabinet of curiosities” grew to include our National Historic Register building, a triumph of Victorian architecture, the cornerstone of St. Johnsbury’s Victorian Main Street. Inside, our collections include some 175,000 objects includes:
- 75,000 natural science specimens (mounted birds, mammals, reptiles and fish; insects; nests and eggs; shells; fossils; rocks and minerals; herbarium)
- 95,000 historical artifacts (tools; toys; dolls; textiles; weapons; archival photographs and documents)
- 5,000 ethnological items representing Oceania, the Near East, Africa, Egypt, Japan and native North America.”
We also included a show in the Planetarium so we could experience this portion of the Fairbanks Museum.
From the Museum we decided to walk over to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum stopping at the Secondhand Prose Book Shop on the way! “Secondhand Prose sells quality used books at 1222 Main Street in St. Johnsbury, VT. The shop opened in October 2006 as a fundraising effort by the Friends of the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, on behalf of the library and art gallery across the road.”
Of course, we never visit book shops without succumbing to temptation! We each found three books we felt we could not do without:):)
The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is another marvelous gem located just 10 miles north of us! For the Athenaeum we have another Fairbanks brother to thank! One brother is responsible for the Museum and another for the Anthenaeum! Both built in the latter half of the 19th century and well before the Depression made a terrible impact on the Fairbanks’ fortunes.
The Athenaeum is named one of the five best
small museums in New England by Yankee Magazine
“The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is a private, nonprofit public library and art gallery located in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The Athenaeum fills two roles: it serves the people of St. Johnsbury by enriching their lives, and it stands as a regional and national treasure – a monument to the nineteenth-century belief in learning. The Athenaeum is a legacy of the Fairbanks Family of St. Johnsbury, inventors and manufacturers of the world’s first platform scale, who gave the Athenaeum to the trustees of the institution in 1871. With his wealth Horace Fairbanks created a center of culture for the people of his town – a true “athenaeum.”
From here we journeyed north to Lyndonville, VT to visit another used book store. Green Mountain Books & Prints. I did some browsing and reading and Tom found a book.
As a wonderful day drew to a close we headed out for dinner at Saltwater Bar & Bistro in Woodsville, NH. STUFFED — after a great seafood feast! Started w/ Oysters on the half shell and steamed clams –Then: Fried whole belly clams & homemade onion rings (me) and Fried oysters & squash (Tom). We shared — and them we split a piece of freshly baked homemade coconut cake w/ cream cheese frosting w/ toasted coconut! OMG – still warm and delicious. Beer w/ ample head.
Today, we finally had a beautiful warm day! It was in the upper 60s !!! We took advantage of it and opened doors to the house and the Shop as we started cleaning and rearranging Shops At Fayrehale for this season. It is hard to believe that a year ago we were painting empty shelves and still had to stain the floor and stock!! This year, I am working hard to make everything fit!
Tom Cleaning Shops At Fayrehale
I do believe in having Handsome Help:) and it is a bonus to be married to him!!!
This week I hope to get the front of the shop and house raked and cleaned up. I am ready for green grass! I need to turn my efforts from expanding our online sales inventory to working in the physical shop.
I need to make this 68th year a productive year as we never know how many more birth anniversaries we will get to celebrate,
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