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National Geographic Recognizes the Northeast Kingdom
by Scott Wheeler
It’s amazing to think that the land I have called home my entire life has been chosen as one of the top U.S. travel destinations by National Geographic magazine for Geotourism program.
A view of Newport and the South Bay section of Lake Memphremagog
with Newport jutting out into it.
Although I’m a bit amazed by the honor bestowed upon the Northeast Kingdom by National Geographic, in other ways, it doesn’t surprise me. After all, the Kingdom with its working landscape is a beautiful, rural part of an otherwise urbanized section of the country. Talk to most people, longtime locals and newcomers, and many of them will tell you—many of them proudly, others in an obvious tone of disappointment—the Kingdom is in the middle of nowhere, or in other words, in the “sticks.”
I am proud to call the Northeast Kingdom my home. At times I might complain about the rather inclement weather and short seasons but I suspect that like my ancestors before me, in time my final resting place will probably be under six feet of Northeast Kingdom soil.
In reality, is the Kingdom really in the middle of nowhere? It really doesn’t take much more than a glance at a map to see that the idea of our being in the middle of a vast wilderness is but an illusion. Just to our north is a first class city—Montreal, Quebec. Also, much smaller, but very vibrant, is the community of Sherbrooke, Quebec. A three-plus hour drive south will take travelers to such major urban centers as Holyoke, Springfield, Cape Cod, and Boston, Massachusetts. A bit further is Hartford, Connecticut. New York City is less than a day’s drive. Even the Burlington, Vermont, region is becoming a metropolitan area, at least on a Vermont scale. I view the Northeast Kingdom as more of a forested hill-covered “island,” almost a world in its own, in the middle of an increasingly urbanized region of the country.
Although the Northeast Kingdom has its share of white steeple churches, the people who live here know that it is the people and the working landscape that makes people want to live and work here. This photo of East Charleston and the other photos in this article were taken in July 2006 by Scott Wheeler.
I often wonder why my ancestors chose to live in this area—the northernmost reaches of Vermont. The climate is far from ideal. The hilly landscape and short growing seasons aren’t the best for farming. But there was something here that attracted my ancestors—French, English, and Abenaki. My Abenaki ancestors were likely here because, after all, the region was at the heart of the Abenaki homeland. I doubt that I’ll ever know what the catalyst was for my European ancestors to move to a region where other people didn’t dare or want to venture. I suspect that like other European settlers, my ancestors settled here for several reasons. The power generated by the flowing streams provided industrial opportunities, and the forests were filled with a natural resource, trees. There was also open land for farming. Farms sprang up along the hillsides farmed by people who hoped to make a livelihood from the land. Many of these hillside farms have long ago fallen victim to time and their ruins are shrouded in a victorious forest. If my ancestors were anything like me, at least part of the reason they came here, and decided to stay, was because of the elbow room for privacy and freedom, a land where they could be themselves.
The Northeast Kingdom has dozens of bodies of water. This photo shows Little Salem, Big Salem, and Derby Pond, all that rest within the Town of Derby.
In recognizing the Northeast Kingdom, National Geographic will, I hope, show the Northeast Kingdom as I know it, and as my ancestors knew it, and as many other people—both generational Kingdomites and relatively new pioneers to the region—know and appreciate it: as a working landscape where people utilize the land and respect it at the same time. The Northeast Kingdom isn’t a boring picture book of stagnant photos of white steeple churches and white picket fences and quaint village commons.
There are the farmers and the loggers and other laborers who, many of them happily, continue to try to make a living off the land. Then there are the hunters and the fishermen who seek, yet respect, the bounty of the land. We are a melting pot of people who have not only learned to tolerate each other, but who have come to appreciate each other as long as we are allowed our similarities and differences.
Life is far from stagnant in the Kingdom. This photo shows the
continued growth along the Derby Road in Derby.
If the National Geographic destination brings more tourists to the region, I’ll do what I have always done when given an opportunity to meet a visitor to the region. I will welcome them and invite them to explore the Northeast Kingdom that I know and love—one that you probably won’t find in a book or calendar. I’ll show them the working landscape, and introduce them to what really makes the Kingdom what it is—the average man and woman just trying to do what he or she can to make a living while living on our forested hill-covered island.
Another view of the City of Newport.
All of the photos included in this article were taken by Scott Wheeler of Derby, Vermont. However, they could not have been made possible without the help of the good folks at Lakeview Aviation in Coventry. If you want to learn to fly, or just take a tour over the Northeast Kingdom, give them a call at (802) 334-5001. To buy 8 X 10 copies of any of the aerial photos in the article please contact Scott at the Northland Journal at northlandjournal@gmail.com
