The first of the South Hero Vermont Bike Tour...By Car!

This summer, as always, our long vacation was to Grand Isle County in the NorthWEST Kingdom of Vermont. Just before I left for vacation, i discovered digital scrapping, and although i already had hundreds of photos hanging about waiting to be scrapped, I wanted something new. So i took pictures everywhere i went, and actually scouted out places to go where i could take pictures of unusual things.

We have been going to North Hero Vermont for vacation since our son was 7. He is now 17. In all these years, i never heard of--or at least never paid attention to any mention of--the Stone Castles. There are 5 castles, although i could only find 4 near the road. So funny--everytime i started taking pictures of the castles, something would happen to the camera. I finally got pictures of 4 of them, along with a photo of a miniature play garden, AND a photo of a dinosaur in a swamp surrounded by birdhouses.

The castles were built by Harry Barber, a native of Switzerland, who built the castles and other structures between 1920 and 1966. Here is a brief story recalling their creation from the webpage of The Crescent Bay Farm Bed and Breakfast (i do have a nice picture of that castle as well, but that will be for another day):

Colonel Jackson's granddaughters, who enjoyed many summers at their Grandpa's farm, recently told us a story of their curious pony climbing the stairs to find them in the house. They also talked about Harry Barber who lived at the farm and built the stone castle in the garden for them.

Barber is famous for building many of the minature stone structures on the island. On the farm, it was his job to collect the cow's each day and he would bring along a bucket to pick up interesting stones. During the long winters he would make interesting structures, of which there are several on the property.

Today, I found the perfect (I think) quickpage for one of the castles, also located on West Shore Road, a little west of the Crescent Bay Farm, on private property in a quite lovely spot. Many thanks to LorieM for her Choco and Peach Mini Kit and for the sample QP (have i said that i love QPs?) LorieM, here's your love! Thanks you!