Appreciation of "Vermont...Who Knew?"

Robert Wilson's Vermont...Who Knew? is a quirky guide to some of the usual and many of the unusual attractions, history, and characters that make Vermont what it is today. Think of the book as offering an idiosyncratic tour of Vermont with a chatty, indefatigable guide who has learned a lot about Vermont and is willing to learn more. The book is organized south-to-north, by region, and after a few statewide entries, including Vermont's short history as an independent republic ("Vermont was born original," Wilson declares.) -- we join the author as he roams through most of the state, selecting unusual events, museums, and individuals to profile, or at least mention. In southeastern Vermont, for example, he presents the familiar story of Rudyard Kipling's troubled years in Vermont -- and a profile of a decidedly unfamiliar Vermonter -- Darrell Ward, inventor of the bedpan banjo. Wilson's choices of items to feature are completely his own, often charming, and sometimes perplexing. He mentions the Hubbardton Battlefield, but skips any mention of the Bennington Battle Monument --possibly because the towering stone obelisk commemorates a battle that actually took place a few miles away in Hoosick Falls, New York. There's a mention of the wonderful Calvin Coolidge Homestead in the tiny village of Plymouth Notch, but not a word about the equally wonderful Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in nearby Woodstock. But guidebook inclusiveness is not the point of this author's peregrinations. His entries are clearly people and places in Vermont that appealed to him, and several of his most appealing choices are individuals that the average tourist would miss. Sprinkled throughout the book are profiles of colorful local Vermonters. There's Valari Freeborne, who runs an old-fashioned ("Headquarters for Men") barbershop in Springfield, cartoonist Ed Koren in Brookfield, and Patrick Palmer's horse-and-wagon trash service in Bristol, among others. It's an interesting mix -- historic sites and events, a wide variety of museums, personal interviews with local people, and a few plain old good stories. They combine to make this book as entertaining and oddball as the state it surveys. --Tom Slayton