Little has happened in BENNINGTON in the past two hundred years to match the excitement of the days when Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys - known as the "Bennington Mob" - were based here. A 306ft hilltop obelisk (mid-April to Oct daily 9am-5pm; $2) commemorates the Battle of Bennington of 1777, in which they were a crucial factor in defeating the British under General Burgoyne (though the battle itself was fought just across the border in New York).

About a mile north of the sleepy intersection at the town center, three covered bridges span the Walloomsac River. Hikers set out from the southern end of the Long Trail roughly five miles east. Students from the small and exclusive arts-oriented Bennington College crowd into the Blue Benn   diner at 102 Hunt St (tel 802/442-5140). The Fife 'n' Drum   motel (tel 802/442-4074, ; $50-75) is one of many south of town on US-7. Eight miles east of town on Hwy-9, by the Prospect Ski Mountain, is the HI-Greenwood Lodge   hostel (open mid-May to mid-Oct; tel 802/442-2547, ), with beds for $18.

Bennington

• Bennington

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