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Interesting Facts
- What do Shelburne Farm and New York's famed Central Park have in common aside from being incredible examples of 19th century landscaping? In point of fact, they share a creator, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., who was one of his era's most prominent landscape architects. His plan at Shelburne was to allow the area's natural beauty to prosper while affording residents all the amenities they required, including hiking paths, rolling green spaces, manicured garden areas, and beautiful vistas of Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks, and the Green Mountains. Visitors to the pristine farm will no doubt agree: Olmsted's plan was a success.
- With a land area of about 11 square miles, Burlington is not only Chittenden County's largest municipality, but the state of Vermont's as well. Some 40,000 people (about 25% of Vermont's total population) call Burlington home, but during peak tourist seasons, it sometimes seems like more. That's because Burlington gets about 4 million visitors annually.
- The Winooski River winds its way westward from the Green Mountains and eventually empties into Lake Champlain, just a few miles northwest of downtown Burlington. The river, long the lifeblood of this part of Vermont, earned its name from the Abenaki people who roamed the area before Europeans settlers arrived – Winooski translates as "onion," a reference to wild leeks that once grew on its riverbanks.
- While Burlington's strong cultural scene has made the town a haven of sorts for socialites, few recall that the city, back in the 1980s, was also one of the few bastions of socialism in the United States. At that time, now-Congressman Bernie Sanders won the mayoral election running on the independent Progressive ticket.
- The Unversity of Vermont has a rich history and is, subsequently, a great source for trivia. Among the most famous alums, for example, are Nobel laureate Jody Williams and John Dewey, the oft-quoted educator and philospher. Then there's the school name – the university is known locally as UVM, which translates as "Universitas Vinidis Montis," or the "University of the Green Mountains."
- Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen has strong ties to the state of Vermont and, specifically, to Burlington. Indeed, the legendary leader of the Green Mountain Boys settled on the banks of the Winooski River in 1787. His life was one marked by great accomplishments: statesman, writer, philosopher, conqueror of Fort Ticonderoga, and nemesis of Tories and Redcoats.
- Located just south of Burlington, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company is the largest producer of teddy bears in the United States. Founded in 1983 by John Sortino, the company has grown from a small operation that once peddled its teddies from a stall in Burlington's open-air market to one that maintains a 60,000-square-foot facility, receives more than 150,000 visitors per year, and presently produces over a 1/4 million of its famously cuddly bears.
- Hippie ties? Well, maybe, man. Thanks to an eclectic student population and close proximity to the beauty of the Green Mountains, Burlington is a favorite stomping ground of the Birkenstock- and hemp-wearing crowd. Of course, no town is safe from brushes with the mainstream, and Burlington isn't excepted, as evidenced by the extraordinary popularity of the band Phish and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
- While you might think Burlington is difficult to get to, it's actually no more so than any other US city. Burlington International Airport has flights from all major cities, and the state of Vermont has a great highway system. In fact, you can drive to Burlington from New York City in about 5 1/2 hours, and from Boston in about four hours.
- Since its beginning, Burlington has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with Lake Champlain, the country's sixth largest freshwater lake. In recent years, the city has rekindled its love affair with the lake, investing substantial private and public capital to reinvigorate eight miles of coastline. A major component of lakefront reclamation is the Burlington Bike Path, which winds its way along the Winooski River and then runs alongside Lake Champlain and through Ethan Allen Park, offering, on clear days, spectacular views of New York's Adirondack Mountains.
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