Date Visited: July 9, 2016
There seems to be only one town of Royalton but when you visit there you may find yourself feeling that you’re in a place that’s mostly called South Royalton. In any case, we think it has one of the most beautiful town greens we’ve yet seen; and it has two bandstands. Adjacent to the green is a main street of neat little shops and eateries including a Co-op where Robyn finally found some organic All Purpose Flour. There are one or two restaurants there we hope to enjoy when we return.
Royalton is the home of Vermont Law School which contributes a certain elegance to the surroundings. The campus is beautiful and we can understand why someone might want to study the law here. The setting is magnificent.
We also remarked on the unusual number of covered bridges we encountered. I learned later that Royalton has 5 covered bridges, all on the Historic register.
We also found the grave of a very famous horse and a marker for it’s very famous owner as well. A horse originally named Figure and later called Lippitt Mandale was considered to be the horse by which all Morgan horses are measured. I guess you could consider him the prototype of this famous breed. At one point this horse was owned by a Randolph teacher and town clerk named Justin Morgan for whom the breed was named.
We were motivated to seek out these memorials by a book we recently acquired called ‘Off the Beaten Path Vermont’ by Cindi D. Pietrzyk. Can’t wait to see what other hidden jewels this fine book will lead us to.
