Day Trip to Brattleboro, VT

[kz1000ps]

So I Made a little trip up to Brattleboro during one of those rainy days last week. I lived here from my earliest memories on up to age eight and it's always nice to go back and see what long-buried childhood memories I can dig up; I don't do it nearly enough.

Immediately as we got off I-91 we were confronted by gridlock which never would've happened back in my day, and I commented to my girl something along the lines of "dang I guess my little city has grown up!" But as it turned out there was a standoff(!) in progress that we got to just drive by and gawk at:

Welcome to Brattleboro I guess! Anyway here's a bunch of decidedly less exciting scenic shots.

Main Street:

This building:

Looked like this after Hurricane Irene (Brattleboro was one of the harder hit areas):

More Irene damage...a bridge used to sit there:

 

[BostonUrbEx]

I'm a sucker for these dense little downtown blips dotting Vermont. Brattleboro is one city I hope to visit at some point, along with a slew of others. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Shepard]

I've always wondered - are the brick mid-rises in these small New England town centers ever actually occupied as apartments or condos? Or are these fairly dense-looking downtowns just essentially business districts?

 

[commuter guy]

Great pics - I really enjoyed visiting that town when I passed through there a few years back.

 

[czsz]

I've always wondered - are the brick mid-rises in these small New England town centers ever actually occupied as apartments or condos? Or are these fairly dense-looking downtowns just essentially business districts?

A lot of them are offices, I think, just like a big city downtown.

The most surreal thing about these pics are the dense streets where you can look up and see equally dense stands of trees on the hills/mountains ascending into fog.

 

[davem]

Hey I was just in Brattleboro a week or two ago. Great little city, although we were only there a few hours (most of which was spent at the architectural salvage place just outside the city). I really liked the new building they put up for the coop. I only got a couple of shots from the back because it started to rain.


The panorama function on my phone is kind of buggy...


It's incredible how much visible damage there still is up there after Irene. It seemed like half the bridges we crossed were brand new, not to mention the landslides and debris along the rivers.

 

[Brad Plaid]

Brattleboro is Cambridge in miniature. Lots of coffee shops, cafes, bookstores, and restaurants stuffed into a few blocks and a great location perched above the CT river. Sam's is an extensive outdoors store that is laid out like a rabbit warren with lots of levels, nooks, and crannies. I've stayed at the Latchis a couple of times, nice place.

The co-op is a good example (the parking lot is a little too big though) of new construction playing well with older buildings. It's modest modernism is just right and far more preferable than the 19th century caricature that could all too easily have been built instead.

 

[kz1000ps]

^ I like everything you wrote.

 

[Ron Newman]

I haven't been there in a few years, but I remember liking how all of the traditional elements of a downtown were right there, all a short walk from each other: a hotel, a movie theatre, at least one department store, lots of bookstores, restaurants, etc.

 

[kz1000ps]

Yes, it's managed to survive decentralization better than the vast majority of towns out there. Case in point, the only multiplex theatre just folded, leaving downtown's historic Latchis Theatre (the one you would've passed by, Ron) as the only show in town. It's a great little burg and the people there know it and stay active in keeping it that way.

 

[Ron Newman]

My recollection is that the Latchis is now a multiplex, though a small one (3 screens? maybe 4?)

 

[kz1000ps]

Yes you are correct, Ron. I don't think of it as one because back when I went there (1980s) it was a single screen, but it has branched out and it did add a fourth screen just a few years ago. Good for them for expanding within their footprint without doing any harm to the original auditorium space (which is a true atmospheric riot).

 

[czsz]

This seems to be happening in a lot of towns and small cities. Large corporations killing off suburban-style big box branches because they're not the most profitable or going belly-up thanks to internet competition; small bookstores and cinemas revitalizing in the town center. Call it organic sprawl repair.

 

[cozzyd]

What are the prices like at Gouger's Market and Deli?

 

[statler]

What are the prices like at Gouger's Market and Deli?

I appreciate this post.

 

[kz1000ps]

Hehehahahoho!