Hope Cemetery
This region supplies much of the headstone granite for the United States. Unsurprisingly, its Victorian-era stone cutters and artisans memorialized each other in high style. Thirty miles southeast of Stowe, this 85-acre graveyard sports lavish memorial sculptures, including a biplane and a giant soccer ball.
Mount Mansfield
The state’s highest peak shelters almost 200 acres of alpine tundra and resembles a human profile, hence features named the Forehead, the Nose, and the Chin (tallest!). Drivers can switchback up the historic Toll Road, which unfurls jaw-dropping views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks (open June to mid-October, weather permitting). Hikers gravitate to the classic 3.3-mile Sunset Ridge route and the more sheltered 2.3-mile Long Trail. Also popular: the Wampahoofus Trail, named for a cryptid deer-boar hybrid with uneven legs, so it could only move in one direction around the mountain.
Ricker Basin
This abandoned farming community stands 15 miles southwest of Stowe in Little River State Park, part of Mount Mansfield State Forest. Established in 1816, the town thrived briefly before its steep hills and poor soil drove residents out. Today visitors can wander among its orchards, stone walls, cemetery, and a lone remaining house. Miles of trails lace this haunting landscape. To stay oriented, grab a History Hike brochure from the visitor center. And consider lingering to boat or fish in the Waterbury Reservoir.