Islands and Farms

Islands and Farms covers the northwestern corner of Vermont, the Lake Champlain Islands and the dairy country along the Quebec border. The terrain is gently rolling — the Champlain Valley’s clay-and-loam farmland stretching across Franklin County, and the chain of islands (Grand Isle, North Hero, South Hero, and Isle La Motte) extending into Lake Champlain. The region holds Vermont’s most productive dairy land. Franklin and Grand Isle counties cover the region. Franklin holds St. Albans (the largest city), Swanton, Enosburg Falls, and Richford; Grand Isle holds the four-island chain (Grand Isle, North Hero, South Hero, and Isle La Motte). Lake Champlain dominates the western edge; the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge protects a 6,700-acre Lake Champlain wetland in northwestern Franklin County; Isle La Motte holds the oldest fossil reef in the world (the Chazy Reef) and St. Anne’s Shrine. Most trips here run lake-and-cycle focused. The Champlain Islands run a popular bicycle route (the Lake Champlain Bikeways), with farm stands and small ferries connecting the islands; St. Anne’s Shrine on Isle La Motte draws Catholic pilgrims; St. Albans’s Maple Festival each April anchors the cultural side; the Missisquoi Refuge handles birding and paddling.