Vermont State Parks

Muckross State Park was established in July 2016 when the estate of the late State Senator, Edgar May donated his former home property to the State of Vermont. Mr. May, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and local politician, made Muckross his home for over 50 years. It was his desire to see his home become a state park open for all for recreation and learning. In keeping with Mr. May's wishes, planning is underway to incorporate nature education and dispersed recreation on the property. The newly established Muckross State Park opens up tremendous opportunities to the State of Vermont and the local community and we want your input at the outset of the planning process to help envision the future of the park. A Public Open House and Site Tour is scheduled for 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, May 6th, 2017. Light refreshments and transportation to and from the park will be provided. The first part of the meeting- the Open House- will occur at the Community Room in the Springfield Pol...

In honor of Wilgus State Park (our first to open, May 1st,) here is a suggested itinerary of things to do in the park and surrounding area. This was a featured blog on out website a couple of years back, and does a great job of covering all you need to know about Wilgus.  Weekend Itinerary: Friday evening: arrive, unpack, and unwind in the natural peace and quiet of Wilgus State Park . Saturday morning: Early breakfast! You’ll need to fuel up for your day. Adventure by land: Hike to the Mt. Ascutney Observation Tower! The 24.5 foot tower provides hikers with a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside and is located near the summit on the Windsor and Brownsville Trails. The tower was constructed from sections of the original Mt. Ascutney fire tower, which was used for fire surveillance until 1952. The park and auto road open May 22. How to get there: from the upper parking lot on the Mt. Ascutney Parkway, visitors can hike to the summit of Mt....

See below: Summer 2017 REQUESTS FOR FOOD TRUCK VENDORS The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation is seeking food trucks operators for busy summer weekends at Sand Bar State Park. Introduction and Background Sand Bar State Park hosts between 40,000-50,000 visitors each season. On peak weekend days, the park often has several hundred people sunbathing on the beach. Food concessions have historically operated 7 days a week from a building in the park or a seasonal trailer parked all summer in one location for the duration of the summer season.  This model has worked reasonably well, however vendors have struggled to maximize profitability on slower weekdays when visitation is slower.  The State is looking to change its operating model to improve park aesthetics, reduce infrastructure demands and better serve the public, while maximizing profitability of food vendors by focusing on weekends between June 24th and August 20th.  How it will...

We have the best customers!  Adventurous, kind and very funny!  In an email we received today, Emily writes, "Over Labor Day Weekend our family stayed at the Tall Timbers cottage at Half Moon Pond State Park. We thought it would be funny to try to pose as the "model" family from the photos on your website. Plus, I thought the dad looked like my husband." She shared these with us and gave us permission to share them with you: Photo from our website Photo from Emily's family Photo from our website     Photo from Emily's family And, as an interesting side note, the "models" in our photos from the website are a real Vermont family -- Patrick's family, my favorite outdoor family. Patrick used to work at the Vermont Department of Tourism and we worked frequently with him.