Simon Pearce Mill
Industrial Heritage · Quechee, Vermont
A brick mill on the falls of the Ottauquechee at Quechee, built as a gristmill in 1778 and worked as a textile mill for nearly a century, which the Irish glassblower Simon Pearce bought derelict in 1980 and turned into a glassworks. The building still generates its own power from the river, which is the part people miss. Downstairs the furnaces run and you can stand and watch glassblowers work; upstairs is a showroom and a restaurant that serves on the glass and pottery made underneath it. Outside there is a covered bridge and a platform over the water going over the dam.
1760 Quechee Main Street, Quechee, Vermont, 05059, United States
FREE to walk in, open SEVEN DAYS A WEEK and YEAR ROUND - the glassblowing workshop viewing, the showroom, the covered bridge and the platform over the dam all cost nothing and need no ticket. Free parking on site. ⚠ RING AHEAD IF THE GLASSBLOWING IS WHY YOU ARE COMING: the glassblowers work to a PRODUCTION schedule rather than a visitor one, and on a quiet day or outside working hours the furnaces may be idle, which is the one real disappointment here. Weekday mornings are the safest bet. ⚠ THE RESTAURANT IS THE ONE THING TO BOOK - it sits over the falls, serves on the glass and pottery made downstairs, and fills completely in the first half of October. ⚠ MOLTEN GLASS AND OPEN FURNACES: stay behind the barriers, keep children close, and NEVER USE FLASH near someone handling molten material. The workshop area is hot. ⚠ THE MILL STILL GENERATES ITS OWN ELECTRICITY FROM THE OTTAUQUECHEE, as it was powered in 1778.
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