Cheese Run

One of the worst things about back country travel is small road signs. It’s easy to miss good places and interesting things. For example, take the arrow pointing left off Vermont Route 103 that marks the turn to the Crowley Cheese factory. Hard to spot… worth the effort.

Now where does cheese get its start? Cows!

And what is more Vermont than cows? Nothing!

And where did cheese making start in Vermont? At the Crowley Cheese factory in Healdville, just a couple of twisty turny miles off Route 103, five miles north of Ludlow. The sign is easy to miss.

The oldest continuously operating cheese factory in the United States dates back to 1824. All the cheeses are hand-made; cut, dipped, and packaged in the same barn building which is now designated a National Historic Place.

Not all cheese is the same. There is mild, medium sharp, sharp, and extra sharp which are either a Colby, if you buy the government classification, or a Cheddar according to Crowley. Cheese politics, it seems! There is also smoked cheese, a hot pepper, a garlic chive and a Muffaletta along with a sage cheese prepared just for Christmas. You can visit the factory weekdays from 8 am to 4 pm and choose your favorite. We didn’t walk away empty handed.

If you go, there won’t be a lot between you and the cheese makers. There are only three. ( although Crowley staffs up to five people around the holidays to handle all the mail orders.) Crowley cheese maintains a mailing list of some 35,000 names ands ships as many as 4000 packages a year. It will soon be available again in specialty shops too.

The e-mail contact is http://www.crowleycheese.com

A lot of good things can happen when you pay attention to road signs, even small ones.

Phil Johnson