Northeast Kingdom

‘To which we must return’

Muddy dirt road during mud season in Maine

— Photo by Jared C. Benedict 

“It is mud season. God’s yearly reminder to us of the clay from which we rose and to which we must return, hill people and Commoners alike.’’

Howard Frank Mosher (1942-1917), novelist, in Where the Rivers Flow North. Virtually everything he wrote for publication was set in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, where he lived in Irasburg.

Panoramic view of Willoughby Notch and Mount Pisgah, in the Northeast Kingdom

— Photo by Patmac13 

Ebb and flow

“Each Piece is Different’’ (acrylic on canvas), by Charlie Bluett, at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt.Charlie Bluett’s studio is in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. He was born in England and educated at Eton College there, and has exhibited exte…

“Each Piece is Different’’ (acrylic on canvas), by Charlie Bluett, at Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, Vt.

Charlie Bluett’s studio is in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. He was born in England and educated at Eton College there, and has exhibited extensively in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The gallery says:

“Bluett is an abstract painter who is inspired by the ebb and flow of the natural processes of the earth. Using this as his reference, his interest is then in the process of building form, color, and surface texture into large scale compositions that are bold and dynamic, but also subtle in their shifting shapes and tones. His works contain elements that pay homage to the techniques of the old masters, blended with abstract expressionism and the colorfield painting of the contemporary names of our time.’’

Panoramic view of Willoughby Notch and Mount Pisgah, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.— Photo by Patmac13 

Panoramic view of Willoughby Notch and Mount Pisgah, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

— Photo by Patmac13 

'Exotic wayfarers' from 'away'

Panoramic view of Willoughby Notch and Mount Pisgah, on the "Northeast Kingdom''.-  Photo by Patmac13

Panoramic view of Willoughby Notch and Mount Pisgah, on the "Northeast Kingdom''.

-  Photo by Patmac13

"During the years that I lived with my grandparents in Lost Nation Hollow , a number of itinerant specialists could be counted on to visit Kingdom County {Vermont's "Northeast Kingdom''} each year. I had no idea where most of these exotic wayfarers hailed from. "Away,'' most of us called anywhere more than five miles beyond the county line. Or' the other side of the hills.' All I knew for certain is that since we could not go to them, the mind readers and barnstorming four-man baseball teams and one-elephant family circuses came to us.''

-- Howard Frank Mosher, in Northern Borders