East Dover in Winter

Last night’s starry blue sky, sandwiched between evening and morning pink. Yesterday, a sunset stroll to catch the last of the daylight. Bare shrubbery poking through thinning snow-cover, a few dried out leaves rustling in the slight breeze. Dusk descending, the quieting of the woods interrupted by loud snorts, my steps on the crunchy snow alarming the deer grazing on the hillside, barely visible in the distance.

A couple of days ago, a drive on the Dover Road, clear blue sky, sun bright, riverbanks and river boulders of the Rock River draped in fresh snow. A curvy, scenic drive, an east-west connector between Route 30 and Route 100 in southern Vermont. A brief photo-stop turned into a lunch break at the new East Dover Country Store, recently opened in the historic building that shares space with the Post Office. Dover covers an area of thirty-five square miles, with two active villages. West Dover is home to Mount Snow, and is the larger commercial center, a busy winter sport destination. East Dover, no longer the most active of the two, sits at a quiet crossroad, an iconic Vermont village with a volunteer Fire Department, a post office, a church, a general store, and a community willing to work hard to keep the small-town center vital. A welcome break, a small detour, on a familiar road, in the course of the work-day – a reminder of Vermont’s beauty – so close at hand.