Vintage Buying in VT-NH [Thrift Stores & Flea Markets]

Hi there! We’ve been blessed this summer to escape for a few short days-away and have been having a ball. Over Father’s Day weekend, we visited my sweet daughter who’s working at Story Land Park & Aquarium. Today I’m going to fill you in on the vintage shopping we did on our Vermont-New Hampshire vacation.

We decided to start out in southern Vermont and make our way north, taking time for sightseeing and shopping.

Vintage Shopping at the Wilmington Antique & Flea Market

We drove straight from our home in Albany (NY) to the Wilmington Antique & Flea market, just on the eastern edge of town. They are open from May to October, Saturdays and Sundays, 8 am – 4 pm.

While I shopped, my poor sweet husband stayed back in the van because he felt poorly. He slept happily in the shade with plenty of water and his phone.

All together about 50 or 60 vendors displayed their wares that day. I made purchases from seven or eight of them.

Enjoy this short video of the market along with some of my finds:

The Nutmeg

We spent two nights at an absolutely lovely B & B, The Nutmeg, kept immaculate by Shelly (the owner), who served the best French toast I’ve ever had with pure Vermont-made maple syrup.

Unfortunately, it would take another night and day of napping for Mr. Adirondack to feel up to eating, or anything else for that matter. As a result, I initially explored the quaint town solo.

Wilmington

Watch this short video (above) of our Wilmington visit and/or read about it below:

You can find Wilmington about an hour and a half due east of Albany (NY), quite near the MA and NH borders in the southern Vermont.

While a bit sleepy (at least during our visit in June), it is nonetheless a sweet, walkable town with plenty to look at and several nice shops to peruse. You can see what I mean in the video (above).

Vintage Shopping at Twice Blessed Community Thrift Shop

On our second day in Wilmington, we drove one town over to West Dover to check out the interesting looking Twice Blessed Community Thrift Shop.

It was huge!! Such a wonderful surprise and a great way for me to spend a couple of hours while my sweet husband, once again slept the afternoon away in the van. 

Jelly Mills Falls

Whenever I’m in a new area, I always look for nearby waterfalls. I learned about a couple, but we decided to try Jelly Mills Falls about 30 minutes northeast of Wilmington.

It contained a series of small waterfalls and pools of water with visitors scattered about. We easily found places to dip our toes in and enjoy the roar of the falls and the natural beauty around us. 

Green Mountains

Driving to and from the falls gave us multiple views of Vermont’s Green Mountains. You all know from my website name that I’m a mountain-lover, so this girl was very happy 🙂

Harriman Reservoir

Located just southwest of town you can find the beautiful Harriman Reservoir. We stumbled on an area with shaded picnic tables and just sat and enjoyed the view for a while. So deeply peaceful and calming.

Story Land & Aquarium

As I mentioned, my sweet daughter Grace has a summer job at Story Land Park & Aquarium in Bartlett, New Hampshire.

We spent the afternoon with her getting a tour of the aquarium, where she works. It allows visitors to actually touch the sea creatures (with two fingers, please!), which was a new experience for us.

Fish nibbled on our fingers and manta rays let us feel their smooth backs. In the bird area, parakeets perched on visitor shoulders, and everyone enjoyed watching otter antics, as Grace shared interesting facts and anecdotes.

She had the following day off so we spent the entire day together exploring the local area.

Bartlett Covered Bridge

We drove a few miles outside of town to see the Bartlett covered bridge–unique in that it contains a gift shop inside(!). It dates to 1851.

Diana Baths

Since I firmly believe you can never see enough waterfalls on one vacation, we decided to visit the nearby Diana Baths (how could we not!). Yes, we joked about it being “my” falls since it’s clearly named after me, LOL.

Made up of a series of falls and small “pools” of water, the Baths draw large numbers of visitors, but not so many on this day that we couldn’t find spots here and there free from people. 

I found the site heavenly and enjoyed every second of our visit, including the half mile forest walk leading to the falls themselves.

Random Old House

While out and about with our daughter in nearby Conway (NH), we randomly drove by this amazing old house. 

As I took photos, a fellow who rents an apartment on the third floor (the first two are empty) strolled out into the yard. 

He chattered away while I snapped my photos.

If you like photos of old buildings, I post them pretty regularly on my Instagram account, and I’d love to be friends with you over there 🙂

Listen Thrift Stores

New Hampshire contains two Listen Thrift Stores, and we accidentally ran into both of them. Literally, I saw them and I ran in, LOL.

This one in Lebanon, was particularly large, but both had reasonable and sometimes low prices–my favorite kind, of course! The second is located in Canaan and you can find a third in White River Junction, VT.

To see some of the vintage and antiques I purchased at various thrift stores in Vermont and New Hampshire, watch this video: 

White Mountains of New Hampshire

We thoroughly enjoyed our backcountry trip through New Hampshire’s beautiful White Mountains on our drive home. Stopping at a few thrift stores and an estate sale along the way broke up the 6 hour trip nicely(!).

I hope you enjoyed travelling with us in Vermont and New Hampshire–we had such a rewarding trip, both in time together as a family and in vintage shopping adventures 🙂

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