Grafton
Heritage Village · Grafton, Vermont
A village of a few hundred people in southern Vermont that looks the way it does because somebody paid for it to. Grafton was a wool and soapstone town that emptied out over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and from the 1960s the Windham Foundation - a private nonprofit set up to preserve the vitality of Vermont's rural communities - bought and restored much of it: the inn, the cheese company, the store, a good many houses. The result is a white clapboard village with no overhead wires on its main street and very little sign of the present century, which is either the most charming place in Vermont or slightly unreal, depending on the visitor.
92 Main Street, Grafton, Vermont, 05146, United States
The village street is public, FREE and open at all times, with free parking. ⚠ THE PRACTICAL CONSTRAINT IS NOT HOURS BUT SCALE AND SUPPLY: Grafton is a village of a few hundred people, the whole main street is about a twenty-minute walk, and there are very few businesses - ARRIVE IN THE MORNING, because it winds down early and turning up at five expecting dinner and open doors is the classic disappointment. ⚠ PLAN FOOD DELIBERATELY: THE GRAFTON INN, open for over two hundred years, is essentially the option in the village, so check its serving times and whether it is open to non-residents; otherwise eat in Chester or Bellows Falls, or bring a picnic. ⚠ GRAFTON VILLAGE CHEESE WAS SOLD IN 2025 to Vermont Farmstead Cheese - cheesemaking continues in Grafton but the packing, shipping, smoking and RETAIL operation is at Proctorsville, so do not travel here expecting a large cheese shop. THE GRAFTON TRAILS & OUTDOOR CENTER carries walking, mountain biking and cross-country skiing on a trail fee. ⚠ WINTER IS BEAUTIFUL AND ALMOST EVERYTHING IS CLOSED.