A very Vermont Halloween
Spooky season is upon us – witches, werewolves … Wampahoofuses? Gather ‘round the campfire with us as we explore some of the creepy, mysteri...
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Society & Culture
Brave Little State
What if you could decide what stories Vermont Public Radio should be covering, before they're even assigned? That's the idea behind Brave Little State.
Episodes
20 of 225 episodesWeighers of coal, high bailiffs and other oddities of local government
Election Day is less than a month away. You’ve probably thought about the big races on your ballot. But what about the ones near the bottom...
What’s the deal with Vermont’s fire towers? (Encore)
Wesley Davis grew up in the woods of Mount Holly. But there was always one place where he could get high above the trees: the fire tower on...
Is private equity taking over Vermont’s veterinary market?
McKayla Baker has two dogs, Casey and Nettles, who for years she took to the same local veterinary clinic — until a few years ago, when she...
Our 9th Annual Brief History of Vermont Road Names
Vermont is home to tons of peculiar road names. Every year, you nominate your favorites — and we crisscross the state looking for answers. D...
Behind the mic
Today, instead of chasing down leads and crisscrossing the state to satisfy your curiosity about one Vermont story or another, we’re going t...
What’s the story behind Bethel’s famous white granite?
Bethel, Vermont is home to a rare geological treasure: a brilliant granite that’s often described as the whitest in the world. The stone has...
Twelve hours at the Village Scoop
Last year, a listener question inspired us to spend 12 whole hours at a park-and-ride lot in Richmond . This year, we posted up at another V...
The Birthday Party: America at 250
You might have heard that the U.S. turns 250 this year. It’s a big, corporate to-do — the phrase “America 250” is plastered all over basebal...
Why does Vermont send people to an out-of-state prison?
Right now, there are around 150 Vermonters behind bars in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Question-asker Devon Kurtz is wondering: Why does the state...
Why are there so many twins in Sheldon?
There’s a saying that twins are “in the water” in the town of Sheldon. Our journey to get to the bottom of this curious bit of local lore ta...
A day with Bradford’s bottle-sorting wiz
Inside a cavernous redemption warehouse in the Upper Valley, customers come to exchange bottles and cans for coins — and to see bottle-sorte...
Vermont’s love-hate relationship with fast food
People love to highlight Vermont “firsts” — like, how we’re the first state to ban billboards and to approve civil unions. Or how we’re firs...
Why are self-storage facilities popping up all over Vermont?
We all accumulate lots of … stuff. Increasingly, we’re cramming more of that stuff into self-storage facilities: those fields of metal locke...
What's the story behind the asbestos mine in Eden?
This is a tale about what happens when a toxic industry booms and busts, the mess that’s left behind and the fight over how to clean it up....
Who are Vermont’s volunteer firefighters, and why do they do it?
Fire departments across the country are struggling to find volunteers. But in Norwich, new recruits are lining up. We spent a weekend at the...
When is it safe to go ice fishing on Lake Champlain?
Ice is unavoidable during winter on the Champlain Islands. Surrounded on all sides by an icy expanse, islanders embrace this seasonal terrai...
What do Vermont counties actually do?
Vermont has among the weakest forms of county government in the United States, placing a big burden on towns. Is there a better way forward?...
Who controls the deployment of the Vermont National Guard?
The Vermont National Guard usually takes orders from the state. But at the end of 2025, President Trump deployed the Vermont guard to the Ca...
Off the Path: Where the Appalachian Trail began
Today, the origin story of the Appalachian Trail, which stretches more than 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia. But it was a peak in southern...