★ 4.0The gateway to the Northeast Kingdom — a 19th-century Fairbanks Scale fortune left the town a museum, an athenaeum, and a genuinely eccentric downtown.
The gateway to the Northeast Kingdom — a 19th-century Fairbanks Scale fortune left the town a museum, an athenaeum, and a genuinely eccentric downtown.
Where to stay in St. Johnsbury
Base yourself in or just off downtown, around Main Street and Eastern Avenue, if you want to walk to the Athenaeum, the Fairbanks Museum and somewhere to eat in the evening; it is the only part of the Kingdom where that is realistic. The cluster near the I-91 and US-5 exits is plainer and less atmospheric, but it is easy to park at, easy to leave early and usually the cheaper end of town. Mountain bikers heading for Kingdom Trails often skip St. Johnsbury entirely and stay in East Burke or Lyndonville, twenty minutes north, to be able to ride from the door — the trade is that you lose the supermarkets and the restaurant choice. If you are here for the quiet rather than the services, the villages west on US-2 toward Danville and Peacham are the prettiest place to sleep and about half an hour from anywhere useful.
Hand-checked stays
Stays in St. Johnsbury
★ 4.0
★ 4.0
★ 4.0
★ 4.0On the ground
Things to do in St. Johnsbury
- Visit the Fairbanks Museum and PlanetariumA red sandstone Victorian hall with a barrel-vaulted gallery crammed with taxidermy, minerals and nineteenth-century curiosities, plus the only public planetarium in Vermont. The Eye on the Sky weather forecasts heard across the region are broadcast from the building.
- See the Bierstadt at the AthenaeumThe 1871 St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is a working library with an original art gallery attached, still lit and hung as it was built. Albert Bierstadt’s enormous Domes of the Yosemite hangs at the far end, in the room designed for it.
- Walk up to Dog MountainStephen Huneck’s hilltop chapel and its walls papered with notes to lost dogs is free to visit, with ponds and open meadows where dogs run off lead. It is odd, sincere and unlike anything else in the state.
- Ride Kingdom Trails at East BurkeTwenty minutes north, one of the best mountain-bike networks in North America runs across private land stitched together by landowner agreements. Buy a day pass at the welcome centre and respect posted closures, which is what keeps the whole system open.
- Get on the Lamoille Valley Rail TrailThe 93-mile crushed-stone corridor across northern Vermont has its eastern terminus in St. Johnsbury, so you can start riding or walking from town. In winter it becomes a snowmobile and fat-bike route.
- Time a visit for sugaring seasonMaple Grove Farms on US-2 runs a maple museum and shop year-round, but the sap flows roughly from early March into early April when the nights freeze and the days thaw. Many local sugarhouses open their doors for a weekend during that stretch.
Getting around & the essentials
Transport
St. Johnsbury sits where I-91 and the northern end of I-93 meet, which makes it about three hours from Boston and seventy-five minutes from Burlington on US-2. There is no passenger rail service to the town, and no airport closer than Burlington International, so a car is essential; winter tyres are strongly advised from December through March.
Good to know
Common questions
What exactly is the Northeast Kingdom?
It is the three northeastern counties, Essex, Orleans and Caledonia, named by Senator George Aiken in 1949 and never officially anything else. It is the least populated, most forested and coldest part of Vermont, and St. Johnsbury is its largest town and effective gateway.
Is St. Johnsbury a good base?
For the southern Kingdom, yes. Burke Mountain and Kingdom Trails are twenty minutes north, Peacham and Cabot half an hour west, and Lake Willoughby’s cliffs about forty-five minutes north. It also has the supermarkets, fuel and restaurants that the villages beyond it do not.
When does the foliage peak here?
Earlier than the rest of Vermont. The Kingdom usually turns from around the third week of September and peaks in the last days of September or the first week of October. If you are travelling in mid-October, look south rather than north.
How cold does it get in winter?
Genuinely cold. Nights well below zero Fahrenheit are normal in January and February, and the town sits in a valley where the cold pools. Pack properly, keep the car fuelled, and expect snow on the roads from December into March.
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