Eclectic Brattleboro

For the past 10 days we have driven to, through, and around the small town of Brattleboro, Vermont. During those trips we have made several observations. Brattleboro has many faces. At first glance, the town doesn’t really strike me has having a distinct character.

Coffee at Common Loaf Bakery

It is an old town, but doesn’t retain that “vintage colonial” look. Sure, there are old buildings, but most have been renovated rather than restored. Some of the older structures were restored, remodeled, re-something or other so many years ago that they now look rundown—derelict as opposed to stately in need of paint. However, the building next door may present itself as it did a 100 years ago with the brass door handles polished to a high gloss. Among the old are the more modern from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Apparently, there were no zoning restrictions so the downtown area is a real hodge-podge of architectures.

And the people are as diverse as the town they live in. They come in every shape, color (some multicolored from the tattoo shop), and size and it almost seems like from every decade since the 50s. There does seem to be more than usual the number who favor the 60s. Based on the number of coffee shops in town, these folks like to drink coffee, probably iced with lots of raw sugar. They are metropolitan in their dining, as well. There are Indian, Thai and Chinese restaurants along side grills serving standard American and a hotdog stand on the corner. There are bagel shops and delis, but if you want a Big Mac you gotta get out of downtown. The town is not very big so there are a lot of people living very near the downtown area and they walk to the food co-op to stock up on their organic groceries. We have been in there a couple times and it is really nice with a lot of prepared foods in the deli area. As with most groceries of this type, there are a lot of bulk foods—everything from flours to nuts to candies and even oils and honey.

This morning we made what will probably be our last trip into downtown Brattleboro. We wanted another loaf of the fantastic bread from the Common Loaf Bakery. Their breads are made from spelt which they grow on their farm. We had never heard of such a thing, but were very impressed with the taste. While there we got a cup of coffee and sat outside to soak up this fine Vermont day. From our perch we could see another coffee shop and two used bookstores. What a great place. The bakery owner decided we needed to sample a just made cookie. I can’t say it came right out of the oven because it was cream-filled—2 oatmeal cookies with a maple (that’d be Vermont maple) cream filling. I wonder how many miles I’m going to have to walk to get rid of that.

We think Brattleboro is a fun town and it seems to fit perfectly with the rest of Vermont.