Midway through August, authors arrive at Middlebury College's Bread Loaf campus in Ripton for the annual, two-week Writers Conference. The “instructors” — published poets, novelists and memoirists — give nightly readings. It’s intimate, cultured and camp-like. And free, to listen.

People have been fighting over Lake Champlain as long as there have been personal flotation devices. The waterway’s strategic value is evidenced by the dozens of shipwrecks on the bottom. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has been discovering, researching and protecting those rusty relics, and the result is the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserve, a gallery of sunken ships accessible to divers. But there’s plenty to look at on land, too. The dry museum chronicles the maritime history of the area through exhibits, boat-building demonstrations, lectures and festivals.

People have been fighting over Lake Champlain as long as there have been personal flotation devices. The waterway’s strategic value is evidenced by the dozens of shipwrecks on the bottom. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has been discovering, researching and protecting those rusty relics, and the result is the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserve, a gallery of sunken ships accessible to divers. But there’s plenty to look at on land, too. The dry museum chronicles the maritime history of the area through exhibits, boat-building demonstrations, lectures and festivals.

A happy obsession is in evidence at the Birds of Vermont Museum — home to hundreds of life-sized wooden birds expertly carved by Bob Spear. The loon family alone took him 850 hours to carve and paint. Spear founded Vermont’s first chapter of the National Audubon Society in 1962, and is still carving birds today. Photo: Matthew Thorsen

A happy obsession is in evidence at the Birds of Vermont Museum — home to hundreds of life-sized wooden birds expertly carved by Bob Spear. The loon family alone took him 850 hours to carve and paint. Spear founded Vermont’s first chapter of the National Audubon Society in 1962, and is still carving birds today. Photo: Matthew Thorsen

The original Vermonters — Native American Abenaki — have a voice at the Vermont Folklife Center. So do the Vermont descendents of slaves. With an archive that consists of more than 3900 tapes, the organization aims to document and conserve the state’s cultural heritage, including groups making history today. A recent photo exhibit captured the lives of Mexican dairy farm workers in Addison County.

The original Vermonters — Native American Abenaki — have a voice at the Vermont Folklife Center. So do the Vermont descendents of slaves. With an archive that consists of more than 3900 tapes, the organization aims to document and conserve the state’s cultural heritage, including groups making history today. A recent photo exhibit captured the lives of Mexican dairy farm workers in Addison County.