Rock of Ages Quarry, Graniteville, VT

 
 
 

Our second day of vacation started with a tour of the Rock of Ages Quarry. We were shuttled by bus to the top of the quarry to look down the 600 feet into what they claim to be the world's largest quarry hole. We had an informative tour guide who explained the process. It is impressive to see the cut blocks and the depth of the quarry.

John Hampson's Bug Art

 
 
 
 

This was quite an unique display. The Fairbanks Museum hosts the complete collection of the nine Bug Art creations by John Hampson. Born in England in 1836, he came to America at the age of 26. He was a mechanical genius, inventor and entomologist. He worked in 13 different states and at one time worked with Thomas Edison. It is said he left that job when he learned that he had to milk a cow.

He ended up in Newark, NJ in the 1870's. He had a passion for collecting insects and saw the aesthetic potential of the many colors and shapes which led him to start creating bug art. Each one of these pictures is made up of 6,000-13,000 common insects, mostly butterflies and beetles, and took him years to complete each one painstakingly with pins and glue. He was a machinist by day and created these artworks in his spare time.

When you first look at these pictures, you don't think much of it, but when you look closely and realize those shiny things are beetles, the first reaction is "eeewww"!
Then you look again and you realize the years of work that had to go into each image. It is amazing. I feel sorry for the butterflies. Yes, I'm the type who wouldn't harm a fly and wish I could say, "no insects were harmed in the making of this artwork."

John Hampson collected and exchanged bugs with people from foreign countries amassing such a great collection that it is now at the Smithsonian. After his death, his daughter searched for a museum to take his artwork and found that the Fairbanks Museum would take it. It is said that people have travelled from all around to see this display--it's one of those things that makes one say, "And now I've seen everything."

An interesting antidote is that when he was 73 years old in December 1906, he fell from a trolley and tried to sue the North Jersey Street Railroad for $10,000 because he could no longer pursue his favorite hobby of butterfly and insect collecting. He claimed before the accident that he could travel 40-50 miles a day. And we thought outrageous lawsuits were new to our century!

Fairbanks Museum, St. Johnsbury, Vermont

 
 
 

I will have to admit that I read there was a museum in St. Johnsbury and I wasn't sure that I was going to include it on our trip. It turned out we could squeeze it in as our last stop on our first day. We're glad we did.

The Fairbanks Museum has a planetarium which we did not go to, however, there was plenty for us to see and to amaze us. There were animal and bird displays. It was fascinating to see the many types of birds. There was a foreign section with all kinds of hand made items from different countries. This small museum packed a big punch of a large variety of things on 3 floors. It doesn't look that big from the outside. The downstairs has a weather gallery. Anyone interested in weather can find plenty of resources here.

More in the next blog, so I can post pictures...

More to see in St. Johnsbury, VT

 
 
 

While we were in St. Johnsbury, we happened across the Farmer's Daughter's gift barn. What an interesting collection of unusual gifts and novelties. We had fun looking at everything and even picked up an oddity.

After that we went to Maple Groves Farm. They no longer give tours, however, there is a barn set up describing the maple sugaring process. The store has every maple syrup product you could want including maple ice cream, which we sampled. This was the first of many stops on our vacation that we encountered senior bus tours resulting in lines.

Dog Chapel--Making it Personal

 
 
 

Now if you look closely at the walls of this chapel, you will see that people are encouraged to post pictures in memory of their beloved dogs. There are notes and pictures covering almost every inch. I knew about this ahead of time and came prepared with a picture of our dear friend, Patches. It was our honor to post his picture in this beautiful chapel. Stepen thought of everything--even a box of kleenex, which was needed. I encourage any dog lover to visit here. It is an amazing tribute to dogs and to a wonderful artist.

The Dog Chapel

 
 
 
 

Throughout the chapel and on the grounds are statues of dogs. Next to the chapel is an art gallery with Stepeh Huneck's artwork for sale in various forms. He had a special eye and often a sense of humor and warmth in his work. I say "had" because unfortunately he passed away too young, this past January.

The Dog Chapel

 
 
 
 

These are pictures of the beautiful stained glass windows in the Dog Chapel designed by Stephen Huneck.