12 Things You Only Understand If You Grew Up In Underhill And Jericho, VT
Even true Vermonters think Underhill and Jericho are the same thing, but that isn’t so! Read on to relate to the 12 things only people who grew up in Underhill and Jericho, VT would understand.
1. While totally different towns, other Vermonters refer to them as the same area.
Though they are listed as different towns on a map, only locals seem to refer to their respective town individually. Other vermonters tend to refer to it as the Underhill / Jericho area. What is really funny about this is that the area they refer to is really 4 towns! Underhill, Underhill Center, Jericho, & Jericho Center. Don’t even get me started on helping flatlanders figure this all out. If you grew up in Underhill and Jericho, VT, you know the difference between these towns.
2. Country Stores are a way of life!
Country Stores, also known as General Stores, are not just for tourists. They are a way of life! This is where you go to get a snack or lunch for your hike, where you stop to buy candy for your kids, wine for date night, grab milk and eggs, or some homemade soup or pastries. Chances are that the store has been in the family for years, and that your family knows that family or the original family who owned the store first. While some have had to close their doors in recent years, there are still a couple around contributing to the towns charm. Check out the Jericho Country Store.
3. Clarks Truck Center is social media.
Clarks Truck Center has one of those big electric message boards out front that tells you the time and temperature. At some point they got pretty creative and started showing graphics and had cool animations on the sign. Now, you can often find something referencing town happenings, an inspirational quote, a congratulations message, or even a happy birthday message for someone who lives in town! Everyday it says something different. Who needs facebook when you have Clarks Truck Center to remind you of Sarahs Birthday? Read the story behind Clarks message board.
4. Summer is for Trail Ride’n & Head’n to the Crik!
Many people who grew up in Underhill and Jericho, VT have horses. Summer is prime trail riding time! If you grew up here, you know how to find all the best riding trails and you might even have access to some special ones on a neighbors private property. Of course, you can’t enjoy a Vermont summer without taking a dip in the crik. That would be “a dip in the creek” for you flatlanders. No one misses out on this favorite summer activity, not even the horses! You might visit Browns River, but more often than not the crik you visit is a stream that runs through your own back yard or a neighbors wooded property.
5. Fall is Leaf Peeper season.
Leaf Peepers are what anyone who grew up in Underhill and Jericho, VT call the droves of tourists. They come through town to specifically checkout the beautiful color changing foliage in the fall. We may be the green mountain state, but we take pride in our fall landscape. As the leaves change bright orange, yellow, red, making the rolling hills look like a painting Bob Ross would be envious of! Leaf Peeper season comes with mixed feelings about support for local businesses and town being overrun with tourists.
6. The World’s Best Corn Roast.
Fall here comes along with so many activities! A family favorite is Chamberlin Farm’s Colossal Corn Roast! We don’t actually know if its the best in the world, but chances are it’s pretty high on the list. Think COLOSSAL bon fire in a field and tons of roasted corn and other goodies!
7. Harvest Market is basically a scene from Gilmore Girls.
The Old Fashioned Harvest Market is a huge fall celebration that takes up the better part of Underhill & Jericho for an entire weekend. There are roads blocked off, neighbors selling their home made items or personally grown produce in their front yards, many yard sales, fried dough, hay rides, and of course games and music. This is an event no one misses each year.
8. Paid in produce.
If you ever house sat or pet sat for someone when you were a youngster, you probably got paid in produce from their garden. If it wasn’t produce, it was a homemade pie, or cookies, or eggs from their chickens. In fact this is common if you help an elderly person shovel out their driveway in the snowy months! This isn’t something to sneeze at as produce is valuable and anything homemade is a million times better than what you could get in a grocery store.
9. Everyone breathes or has a local business.
Ok, this might just be a general Vermont thing, but everyone loves buying local, down to the very town you live in. Some great local businesses in Underhill & Jericho include the Jericho Tavern, Poorhouse Pies, Snowflake Chocolates, and anything you can buy from your neighbors garden! Not only does everyone buy local, but it seems that everyone also has something they make or sell of their own, even the kids! Checkout The Knitted Noya!
10. The Toil of Sugaring Season.
Sugaring Season is when we make the stuff Vermont is famous for, Maple Syrup! The process however is a lot of work! If you do it the old fashion way you have tap a million maple trees and collect the buckets when they are full and constantly be boiling sap. The more efficient way to do it is to run sap lines, but even the most efficient way takes a lot of physical labor and many many hours to complete. If you grew up in a sugaring family you probably wish schools had off during this time of year. But hey, all the blood, sweat, and tears, are worth it when you get to eat that sweet maple goodness on everything!
11. Snowflake Bentley.
Snowflake Bentley is a household name if you grew up in Underhill and Jericho, VT. You learned all about him and his work when you were in elementary school, and probably visited his old house and the red mill exhibit in middle school. Its Jericho’s claim to fame, and Underhill’s by association.
12. You know weather better than a meteorologist.
The weather in the area is its own sort of thing. Its a challenge, a surprise, a joy, and typically more snow than anywhere else. You learned long ago never to trust the weatherman, and by your teen years you were able to estimate the weather to a T. Not only did you know your own forecast, but you knew that it would be at least a 10-15 degree difference from Burlington, generally colder. Something about the towns under the mountain makes them have their own little weather, kind of like a snow globe!
