Fifty miles north of White River Junction, MONTPELIER is the smallest state capital in the nation, with about eight thousand inhabitants. Surrounded by leafy gardens, the golden domed capitol is well worth a free tour for its marble-floored and mural-lined hallways. Copious information on accommodation, here and throughout the state, is available from the Vermont Travel Division at 134 State St (Mon-Fri 7.45am-4.30pm; tel 1-800/VERMONT). Budget rooms can be had at the central Montpelier Guest Home , 22 North St (tel 802/229-0878; $35-50), which has a relaxing deck and gardens, or the Vermonter Hotel (tel 802/479-9014; $50-75), southeast on US-302. There's also the HI/AYH-affiliated Capitol Home Hostel , out on RD1 (phone for directions: tel 802/223-2104 before 9pm), with beds for $14.

For food , students from the local New England Culinary Institute run both the Main St Grill & Bar at 118 Main St (tel 802/223-3188) and the more upmarket Chef's Table at the same address (tel 802/229-9202), serving excellent and inexpensive - if experimental - dishes from all over the world. Julio's , 54 State St (tel 802/229-9348), cooks up delicious Mexican specialties, and the Mountain Café , 7 Langdon St (tel 802/223-0888), dishes up good organic breakfasts, lunches and Sunday brunches.

The immigrant stoneworkers of the adjacent town of BARRE (pronounced BA-rie ) were famed for their union militancy at the start of the twentieth-century. Their most enduring legacy is the gravestones they carved themselves, in Mount Hope Cemetery on Hwy-14, though the Scots among them did also erect a rather incongruous statue of Robert Burns downtown. Southeast of town, you can watch workers cut huge blocks out of the earth at the world's biggest granite quarry, the Rock of Ages (May-Oct Mon-Sat 8.30am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; free; guided tours June to mid-Oct Mon-Fri 9.15am-3pm; $4). The Hollow Inn & Motel at 278 S Main St (tel 802/479-9313 or 1-800/998-9444, ; $75-100) has rooms with TV, VCR and mini-kitchens. It also has a fitness center and provides complimentary continental breakfast. For other meals , the Country House , at 276 N Main St (tel 802/476-4282), serves affordable pasta and fish dishes.

Montpelier and Barre

• Montpelier and Barre

Vermont cities


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