Windham County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Windham County

Twenty-three operational covered bridges still carrying scheduled vehicle traffic — that is the count Windham County maintains on its town-highway inventory, the highest concentration of in-service covered bridges of any US county per the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges' 2024 published roster, and a function of the county's 19th-century pattern of small mill towns each requiring a Connecticut River tributary crossing that the local timber economy could economically build in covered Town-truss or Burr-arch designs. The West Dummerston Bridge (built 1872 across the West River, 280 ft total length, Town lattice truss, restored 2009) is the longest of the surviving structures and the only one rated for full modern truck loads under VT Agency of Transportation's Bridge Load Posting Database — most of the others restrict to 4-6 tons single-axle and quietly exclude any Class A motorhome or fifth-wheel rig.

VT-100 through the county's western half is the canonical Vermont fall-foliage scenic spine, a two-lane state route that the Vermont Agency of Transportation maintains rig-friendly to 40 ft length the full 215-mile run from the Massachusetts line at Stamford north through Wardsboro, Weston, Plymouth, and Waitsfield to the Canadian border. The Molly Stark Trail (VT-9) crosses east-west between Bennington and Brattleboro through Wilmington and Searsburg in a 40-mile sequence of 8-12% sustained grades that turn the corridor into the most cited engine-temperature warning route in southern Vermont per the Vermont Mountaineer RV Club forum. Brattleboro (population 11,490) at the Connecticut River and the I-91 / VT-9 interchange is the Vermont gateway city for any rig entering from Massachusetts and the only town in the county with a full-service big-box grocery, propane, and 24-hour diesel. Green Mountain National Forest's Manchester Ranger District permits 14-day dispersed camping under standard USFS Region 9 regulations, with rigs to 35 ft accommodated on the East Branch West River and Stratton Pond forest-road networks. Wilmington's Mount Snow ski-resort base anchors winter overflow RV demand.