Vermont's Sacred Acre: Contemplation Welcome

by Kathryn Bonnez

From the Wayfarer Archive, Autumn 2013

Photo by Dylan Taylor

Across the avenue from the inn, the Old First Church and its adjacent burying ground sit on the hill that dominates the original village above present-day downtown Bennington to the east. Built in 1806, the church is considered one of the most beautiful in the state. For all those entering Vermont along Route 9 in Bennington, it rises suddenly into view from the very heart of the old village and is clearly its main jewel. Today the pristine white of its three-tiered wedding-cake steeple dazzles amid the fiery maples surrounding it. Along the front of the cemetery, a white wooden swag fence follows the uneven terrain of the hill, rising and dipping like a hung garland. At regularly spaced intervals, its posts are crowned with urn-shaped finials. A sidewalk of large marble slabs parallels the length of the fence, tiny specks of the smooth stone sparkling in the late afternoon light. Again, just as when viewing the village and ba…