Crafted by a true local
Your Guide to Vermont’s Best Food, Adventures and Places to Stay
Fresh off the feed
This Week Across Vermont
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Reel: I found a real-life Theo of Golden in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, and I just love this story. ❤️🎨
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Reel: Could this be one of the best restaurants in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom? 🍷🍽️
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Reel: Someone tell Belle I found her library in Vermont. 📚♥️
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Reel: 🎉 GIVEAWAY CLOSED 🎉 Win a two-night stay at in East Burke, Vermont, where time on the trails can end with a long soak in the hot tub.
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Reel: Have you ever visited a museum that feels like everything might come to life after the doors close? 👀
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Reel: 🎃 More than 700 glowing jack-o’-lanterns stacked into one enormous pumpkin pyramid? This might be one of Vermont’s most impressive Halloween displays!
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Reel: 🐅 Princeton, New Jersey has long been one of my favorite college towns to visit outside of Vermont (and my birth town!). And with the addition of by right dow…
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Reel: 🍁 One of my favorite ways to spend a beautiful fall day in Vermont? Wandering through the historic buildings, gardens and galleries of Shelburne Museum, where…
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Reel: 🍩 Does Vermont have a cult-favorite donut? Because if you’ve ever had the Churro Cruller from Twisted Halo in Essex, you know exactly what I’m talking about!
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Reel: 🎉 GIVEAWAY CLOSED! 🎉 Win a two-night stay at one of Vermont’s most historic and charming inns, complete with their world-famous breakfast!
Shop small & local this holiday season
2026 Vermont Gift Guide
Travel like a Local®: Vermont's curated 2026 guide to Vermont-made gifts, local experiences and favorite small shops, all curated by Erin and organized by category to make shopping small simpler this holiday season.
Open the guide 133 local picks
Vermont spotlight
Where to Choose-and-Cut Your Own Vermont Christmas Tree
Experiences
There’s something utterly special about the experience of cutting your own Christmas tree… ’Tis the season to support a Vermont tree farm! Bundle up and head…
Meet Your Vermont Tour Guide
Hi, I’m Erin.
I started Travel Like a Local® back in 2014 (before influencing was a thing!) to showcase my travels around my beloved state that shaped me into who I am today. I’m an innate story teller, coming from a long-line of writers. I’m also a marketer by trade, business consultant and coach, former COO, and current Vermont Realtor.
I’m a sucker for simple pleasures: the smell of wood smoke, lazy days on the lake, finding new hidden gems, picking berries, golden hour sun, the quiet that comes from the first snowfall of the year, chasing foliage, cider donuts, and maple creemees—I could go on and on. My big why is collecting as many life experiences as possible and helping you do the same in the Green Mountain state.
Experience the real Vermont
Don’t miss a single experience—let a local create a custom itinerary just for you.
Recent finds
Green Mountain State Gems
Find Bigfoot at This Quirky Southern Vermont Coffee Stand
Southern Vermont, VT
See Olympic-Style Ski Jumping at Harris Hill in Vermont
Brattleboro, VT
Step Inside One of Vermont’s Oldest One-Room Schoolhouses
Historic Landmarks
Drive Across Vermont’s Famous Floating Bridge in Brookfield
Roadside Attractions
Postcard from the road
Wish you were here
It feels like every day brings another closure announcement in Vermont’s food scene. And lately, so many have been places I love. 💔
@saltandbubbleswine in Essex, home to wine flights and charcuterie board lunches with girlfriends. @leoandcovt, with its grab-and-go sandwiches and one of the best chocolate chip cookies in the state. @vtpubandbrew, one of the OGs of Vermont’s craft beer movement.
@bluebirdbbq in Burlington, with its BBQ platters and crispy wings. @greyjayvt, one of Burlington’s most creative brunch spots. Southern Pie Company in Chester, the sweetest little pie café. And Ray’s Seafood in Essex, known for some of the best chowdah and fried seafood in Vermont.
And these are just a handful of the recent announcements. 😢
Being a human is hard right now. Being an entrepreneur and small business owner? Even harder. Everything is tight, costs keep climbing, and running a business in Vermont has never been easy.
But if we want to preserve Vermont’s fiercely independent, shop-local, support-small identity, we have to actively choose to support the businesses that make our communities what they are.
It doesn’t have to be a big purchase. A drip coffee. A chocolate chip cookie. Sharing a post or telling a friend about a place you love. A like, a comment, a share.
And for me, I’m making a commitment to shine more light on our old standbys. The businesses that have been part of the fabric of our Vermont communities for decades. The places we take for granted because they’ve always been there, without considering that someday they might not be.
I love telling the stories of new businesses and entrepreneurs bringing fresh ideas to Vermont. But the ones that have been showing up for our communities year after year deserve that same attention…
Because I don’t want us to wait until a closure announcement to realize how much a place meant to us. ❤️
So tell me: What’s a tried-and-true Vermont business you’d love to see me feature? Let’s give these places their flowers while they’re still here. 🌻
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🍃 Erin McCormick 🍃
Capturing Vermont travels | Eats, adventures, simple pleasures, new experiences
✨Vermont Realtor at KW
🌀[email protected]
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