Brattleboro

Brattleboro is a town of 12,000 people in southern Vermont. From points south, it will most likely be the place for travelers to begin their exploration of Vermont.

Understand
As a Connecticut River town in southern Vermont, Brattleboro benefited greatly from the easy availability of water and water power, and thus has been a prosperous town since the 18th and 19th centuries, as shown by the extraordinary collection of beautiful buildings in various styles that survive from those days and the first few decades of the 20th century. Only a very small selection of them are shown in this article.

By car

 * Route 91. The major highway running north-south with 3 exits in the town. 91 goes north all the way to Canada.  South it goes through Greenfield, Springfield and Hartford, terminating in New Haven.
 * Route 9. Runs east-west through town. Going west it hits Bennington, and to the east, Keene.

By bus

 * Greyhound, terminal at 1102 Putney Rd, near exit 3 on route 91.

By train

 * Route stopping at Brattleboro:
 * Vermonter operates daily between St. Albans and Washington, D.C. including stops in Essex Junction, Waterbury, Montpelier, White River Junction, Claremont, Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Greenfield, Northampton, Holyoke, Springfield, Windsor Locks, Hartford, Meriden, New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, and New Carrollton.
 * Vermonter operates daily between St. Albans and Washington, D.C. including stops in Essex Junction, Waterbury, Montpelier, White River Junction, Claremont, Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Greenfield, Northampton, Holyoke, Springfield, Windsor Locks, Hartford, Meriden, New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, and New Carrollton.

Get around
For getting around the center of town, all you should need are your feet. Amble around the streets, stop at some shops, and just take your time. For getting out the town, a car would be the best way to go. Be aware that traffic in downtown Brattleboro can resemble that found in cities orders of magnitude larger, in part due to a long term construction project on I-91 that causes people to leave the highway, but more due to all the major streets feeding into Main St in the center of town. Driving within the center should be avoided and parking all day is quite cheap (under $10). If you are in the mood, though, rent a bike at the Brattleboro Bicycle Shop located downtown at 165 Main St.

Drink




Sleep




Connect

 * The Brattleboro Reformer. The major local paper.

Go next
Keene, New Hampshire is about 40 minutes' drive via US Route 5 North and State Route 9 East, and has more pretty buildings for you to see.