jamaica

Milton Avery (1885–1965), Blue Trees, 1945. Oil on canvas, 28 × 36 inches. Neuberger Museum of Art, Gift of Roy R. Neuberger, Purchase College, State University of New York. © 2016 The Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

This is the last weekend to catch the Milton Avery exhibit at the Bennington Museum.The exhibition brings together dozens of the paintings, watercolors, and drawings Avery made on family visits to the West River Valley region of Vermont between 1935 and 1943. Read more at – https://www.incollect.com/articles/green-mountain-idylls-milton-avery-s-vermont.

Excerpt from article:
A humorous anecdote related by Sally Avery about her husband’s painting Blue Trees provides insight into the tension in Avery’s works between their formal qualities, their emotive power, and their dependence on subjects drawn from the real world. She related how a business tycoon, wanting to buy a painting, made a studio visit; nothing pleased him. Looking at one landscape, he exclaimed, “That tree is blue—I never saw a blue tree in Vermont.” To which Avery replied, “This was New Hampshire.” In fact, the painting, which the tycoon acquired, was based on studies executed in Jamaica, Vermont, looking south into the West River Valley from the slopes of Ball Mountain, into the area that is now largely occupied by Jamaica State Park. https://www.incollect.com/articles/green-mountain-idylls-milton-avery-s-vermont.

Photo credit: Milton Avery (1885–1965), Blue Trees, 1945. Oil on canvas, 28 × 36 inches. Neuberger Museum of Art, Gift of Roy R. Neuberger, Purchase College, State University of New York. © 2016 The Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Vermont State Parks and the Green Mountain Club recommends the West River Trail at the Jamaica State Park as a place to hike in early spring. Hurray for spring!

Here is an excerpt from the Green Mountain Club webpage: Click HERE for more info.
Plan spring hikes in hardwood forests at lower elevations. If a trail is so muddy that you need to walk on the vegetation beside it, turn back and find another place to hike. Avoid spruce-fir (conifer) forest at higher elevations and on north slopes before late May and from the end of October until frozen or snow-covered.
Some recommended places to hike this spring are:
Southeast Vermont:
• West River Trail , click HERE for details.
• Jamaica State Park Trails

Recreational Trails in Jamacia State Park: West River Trail, 2.0 miles from park entrance to Cobb Brook Bridge.
One of few converted rail beds in southern Vermont, the section in the park is universally-accessible and great for easy walking, jogging or biking. Open to all foot travel and bicycles. The trail meanders along the West River, following the old bed of the West River Railroad. Look for “The Dumplings,” a group of large boulders about one half mile up the trail. Follow the trail for another 1.5 miles to reach Cobb Brook. After crossing the brook, the trail continues to Ball Mountain Dam (another 0.5 mile on federal property). Completed in 1961 for flood control, the dam stands 265 feet high and is 915 feet long. The section of trail in the park is part of a rail trail that is managed by the Friends of the West River Trail.

With the trails in State Parks, check in with the VT Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation to see if the park and trails are open. Their phone number is (802) 241-3655.