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Why travelers still flock to Vermont’s oldest hotel after 250 years

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Why travelers still flock to Vermont’s oldest hotel after 250 years


10 best eco-friendly hotels

Explore the best eco-friendly hotels in the United States, as chosen by USA TODAY readers. Discover where you can stay green during your travels.

Planning a vacation to Vermont? Whether it’s a charming small-town inn or a top-rated ski resort, there are plenty of highly-regarded hotels in the state to choose from.

If you want historical New England vibes, there are also lots of Vermont hotels with colonial ties. In fact, the state’s very first hotel opened in Manchester over 250 years ago. While it has undergone many changes in ownership and name, The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa has been a staple in Vermont lodging for thousands of visitors since it opened in 1769.

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Here’s everything to know about the history and lodging at the state’s oldest inn.

History of The Equinox

The Equinox first opened as The Marsh Tavern under owner William Marsh in 1769, according to the hotel’s website. The original inn played an important role in the country’s revolutionary history, hosting the meeting of the Council of Safety where Ira Allen proposed confiscating Torie property to raise money for the Green Mountain Boys during the Revolutionary War.

The hotel continued to attract historical figures in the years that followed, hosting former presidents William Taft, Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt, along with the family of Abraham Lincoln.

Marsh Tavern changed owners and names multiple times until 1853, when the Orvis brothers established the hotel as The Equinox. In 1972, The Equinox closed for 13 years, re-opening as the restored resort hotel it is known as today in the 1980s.

Today, the 200-room Equinox provides a resort experience for all four seasons, offering activities like tennis, pickleball, golf, ice skating and shuttles to nearby ski slopes, as well as amenities like a spa, a fitness center, live music and four on-site restaurants.

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How to stay at The Equinox

Guests at The Equinox can choose between elegant, historical rooms in the Main Inn and rustic rooms in the Orvis Inn, with accommodations ranging one-bed rooms to multi-room suites.

Reservations can be made online, and the hotel is located at 3567 Main St. in Manchester Village.



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Vermont

Noah Kahan, Vermont consumers and venues voice support for ticket resale limits

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A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month. “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate. “Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers. In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.”We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time. The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap. The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill. “I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state. “When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.

A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.

Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month.

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“This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.

The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate.

“Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers.

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In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.

“We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time.

The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap.

The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill.

“I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”

Advertisement

Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state.

“When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.



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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her

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Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her


BURLINGTON, Vt. (InvestigateTV) — For 28 years, Hilda White has shown up at the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium to do a job most people have never heard of: mounting plants.

Now 95 years old, White has carefully preserved more than 50,000 plant specimens — pressing and affixing them to archival paper so they can be studied and referenced for generations to come.

“If I mount the plants, the plants will be around for hundreds of years, barring any unforeseen accidents or anything,” White said.

Birthday gift unlike any other

For her 95th birthday, the herbarium gave her a gift unlike any other: a newly discovered fern, found in Colombia in 2023, was officially named for her.

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The plant — a Christmas fern — was discovered by Wes Testo, now the director of the Pringle Herbarium collection, during a research trip to South America.

“I was walking through the forest there, and I saw this just spectacular fern,” Testo said. “I knew immediately it was something I hadn’t seen before.”

After further research confirmed it was a species new to science, Testo and his colleagues decided to name it for White: Polystichum hildae.

“Oh, I was absolutely blown away,” White said when she learned of the honor.

“You can’t imagine, I cried all afternoon.”

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‘Library for plants’

White’s work at the herbarium is kind of a library for plants.

“I can’t draw, but this is my artistic outlet,” she said.

Testo said White’s contributions have been essential to the research conducted in the collection, which now houses 400,000 plant specimens in a single room.

“Hilda mounted a huge amount of the specimens you see here,” Testo said. “Her contributions are absolutely essential to the research we do here.”

The collection’s survival is not something White or Testo take for granted. In 2017, a fire broke out at Torrey Hall, where the collection was housed at the time. Testo was in South America doing research when he received word.

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“All I could see from an email in Colombia — the roof on fire. I thought my whole Ph.D. was going up in flames along with the whole collection here,” Testo said.

White was on her way into work when the fire broke out. Staff and volunteers, including White, worked to restore and remount the damaged plants. The collection has since been relocated to the Jeffords Building.

No plans to stop

White says she has no plans to stop.

“Oh no! I’ll be here as long as I can,” she said.

And when asked what she planned to give Testo for his birthday in return for the honor of having a plant named after her, White kept it simple.

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“He just got good wishes!”

Read the full story.



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Swanton honors WWI soldier with new historic marker

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Swanton honors WWI soldier with new historic marker


A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.

A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.

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Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.

After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.

Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.

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U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.

“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”

The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.



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