Explore Southern Vermont’s historic sites, museums and landscape, during your stay at The Inn at Ormsby Hill. The listings below will help you begin to plan the itinerary for your visit.
Hildene The Lincoln Family Home
Manchester Center, Vermont
Open year-round – except Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas 24,25 and 26. Open daily – currently closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Literally just outside our back door – Hildene is adjacent to the Inn at Ormsby Hill – in fact a portion of Hildene’s property was formerly owned by Edward Isham who owned Ormsby Hill. Hildene is an historic home built in 1905 by President Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s son, Robert as a summer residence. Robert and Edward Isham were also law partners in Chicago. The Welcome Center, The Museum Store, Pullman car, farms, house and exhibits are open year-round 9:30 to 4:30. In the winter months, Hildene’s approximately 12 miles of walking trails on the estate become ski trails with varying levels of difficulty and ski and snowshoe rentals are available.
As lodging partners with Hildene-we offer discounted admission tickets.
Backroad Discovery Tour
We offer 4 seasons of tours, routes vary with each season
Backroad Discovery Tours are designed for those having only a couple of days in the area and who want to explore the region’s best-kept secrets. Travel in a comfortable 10-passenger tour vehicle with local guide who will present a delightful overview and who will offer intriguing facts, history and stories along the way. See sweeping vistas and discover why Vermont is called “The State of Mind!” You will have an opportunity to sample and purchase Vermont made maple syrup and cheeses.
Revolutionary/Civil War tour from 9:30 AM – noon and the Southern Vermont Sampler Tour & Fall Foliage Tour from 1 – 4 PM. $35 PP. Advance reservations necessary via email or phone. For complete description of tours, please visit website. email: bckrddisc@aol.com 802-362-4997
The American Museum of Fly Fishing
Manchester Village, Vermont 802.362.3300
The American Museum of Fly Fishing is the steward of the world’s largest collection of angling and angling-related artifacts, including the 7,000-volume Gardner L. Grant Library. Exhibition gallery and gift shop are open 10-4, Tuesday through Saturday (Nov. – May) and Tuesday through Sunday (Jun. – Oct.)
Saratoga Automoblie Museum
Saratoga Springs, New York
The Saratoga Automobile Museum was chartered in 1999 and officially opened to the public in June 2002. The Museum’s mission is to preserve, interpret and exhibit automobiles and automotive artifacts. We celebrate the automobile and educate the general public, students and enthusiasts to the role of the automobile in New York State and the wider world. In addition to technical and design aspects, our educational focus is on the past, present and future social and economic impacts of the automobile.
In keeping with the Museum’s exhibits and educational programs, including the Distracted Driving Safety Initiative and various automobile restoration programs for local youth, the Museum also organizes the Saratoga Motorcar Auction, a nationally acclaimed vintage and collector car auction held each September. The Auction is the Museum’s largest annual fundraising effort.
The Museum is located within the 2,500-acre Saratoga Spa State Park, in the heart of historic Saratoga Springs, New York, world famous for its legendary one-mile thoroughbred track. The Museum’s facility is the fully restored and renovated New York State Bottling Plant, a beautiful neoclassical structure completed in 1935. The Museum sits adjacent to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and the lavish Hall of Springs event facility. Within walking distance; the National Museum of Dance, the Spa Little Theatre, and the Gideon Putnam Hotel.
Hemmings Motor News Car Lover’s
Bennington, Vermont
Unfortunately, we have learned that the museum is permanently closed.
Visit the Car Lover’s store, cafe and old-fashioned Sunoco Station where you’ll see first-hand our huge collection of automotive items. Experience a full-service fill-up at their Sunoco station, where they’ll wash your windows and check your oil! Tour the FREE Vehicle Display and see 25 collector vehicles.
Dorset Historical Society at Bley House Museum
Dorset, Vermont 802.867.0331
Through rotating exhibits Bley House Museum shares the history of Dorset from its marble quarries, Bennington Pottery and art by local artists to its extensive artifacts, documents and maps. It also houses primary genealogy records recorded by Rev. Parsons S. Pratt from 1856-1896.
Vermont Marble Museum
Proctor, Vermont 800.427.1396
The Vermont Marble Museum is the largest marble exhibit in the world, and a great source of pride for generations of Vermonters. Through our displays, exhibits, galleries, gift shop and grounds, the Vermont Marble Museum tells a unique story of the people and places that made up Vermont’s marble industry, linking historical, artistic and cultural traditions, and connecting the past with the present. We hope you’ll visit us soon in Proctor, Vermont. The Vermont Marble Museum is a partnership of the Preservation Trust of Vermont and Vermont Marble Museum Inc.
Robert Frost Stone House Museum
Shaftsbury, Vermont 802.447.6200
The home of American poet Robert Frost in the 1920s, where he wrote “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” on a hot June morning. Literary, historical and educational exhibits about Robert Frost. Occasional readings, lectures, concerts, and special events Located 10 minutes from Frosts gravesite in Bennington. Open May thru October.
Bennington Museum
Bennington, Vermont 802.447.1571
Bennington Museum is home to the largest public collection of Grandma Moses paintings in the world. A selection of her works is always on view. With the museum’s introduction of “Creative Collisions,” visitors discover works by Grandma Moses side-by-side with galleries of Military History and Contemporary Art, while Gilded Age Vermont and Early Vermont Galleries can be found near the ongoing Bennington Modernism exhibition. Art, History, and Innovation from the early days of Vermont to the present in the quintessential New England town of Bennington, Vermont.
American Precision Museum
Windsor, Vermont 802.674.5781
This unique museum is housed in the original Robbins & Lawrence Armory where the American System of Manufacturing was developed and formed the foundations of modern industry around the world. You’ll find the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the nation that made mass production possible. Discover how interchangeable parts came into being, how mass production of rifles, carbine and pistols supplied the union army during the civil war, and how after the War, these tools were adapted to make consumer goods. A working machine shop in operation, and a Learning Lab for kids shape baguettes, bake sticky buns, and create the perfect cake.
Calvin Coolidge Museum
Plymouth, Vermont 802.672.3389
The 30th President of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont. As a Coolidge biographer wrote: “He embodied the spirit and hopes of the middle class, could interpret their longings and express their opinions. That he did represent the genius of the average is the most convincing proof of his strength”.
Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Route 183 Stockbridge, MA 413.298.4100
Founded in 1969 with the help of Norman and Molly Rockwell, Norman Rockwell Museum is dedicated to the enjoyment and study of Rockwell’s work and his contributions to society, popular culture, and social commentary. The Museum, which is accredited by the American Association of Museums, is the most popular year-round cultural attraction in the Berkshires.
The Museum houses the world’s largest and most significant collection of Rockwell’s work, including 998 original paintings and drawings. Rockwell lived in Stockbridge for the last 25 years of his life. Rockwell’s Stockbridge studio, moved to the Museum site, is open to the public from May through October, and features original art materials, his library, furnishings, and personal items. The Museum also houses the Norman Rockwell Archives, a collection of more than 100,000 items, including working photographs, letters, personal calendars, fan mail, and business documents.
