Yes, it's set largely in Maine, but Irving is a part-time Vermonter and this will always be one of my very favorite novels. Few writers offer us characters as idiosyncratic, eccentric, and downright human as Irving.

Though the band hails from Vermont, their sound has echoes of gospel and blues, and Potter's powerful, sometimes gritty vocals remind me of Bonnie Raitt. Will this band follow Phish from the Green Mountains onto the world stage? I hope so.

Paterson is a Vermont treasure: She plumbs the world's grayness and moral ambiguity in ways that few other writers for children and young adults dare. This novel is no exception. Read it before you see the new film.

Starring Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette. The Massachusetts-set novel was filmed in and around Peacham, Vermont, and the state has seldom looked so lovely - or, in some scenes, so lonely.

Thanks to Frost, I see stonewalls and cellar holes very differently than I once did. I hear the woods more precisely. And, perhaps, I strive to appreciate my neighbors just a little bit more.