Winter in a Town That Doesn't Empty Out

The tourists come in autumn for the leaves and in winter for the slopes, but between the crowds, a small Vermont village settles into its truest self. When the snow piles up along Main Street and the visitors go home, the town belongs once again to the people who actually live there.

Winter is when a community's real character shows. Neighbors dig each other out after storms, gather at the general store and the tavern for warmth and company, and look out for the elderly and the isolated through the long dark months. The season demands a certain interdependence, and small towns, out of necessity and habit, provide it.

There's a hardiness and a quiet joy to this winter life that the seasonal visitor never sees. Kids sled the hill behind the church, the plow driver becomes a local hero, and the short days are brightened by potlucks, church suppers, and the simple pleasure of shared endurance. A Vermont village in deep winter isn't the postcard version, but it may be the real one — a small, snowbound community, thrown back on itself and its neighbors, and mostly the better for it.