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Waterbury (map)
Waterbury lies 10 miles south of Stowe and has a population of about 5,000 people. The first permanent settler arrived here in 1783. Interestingly, many of the early settlers came from Waterbury in Connecticut and named their new town after their old hometown.
The Central Vermont Railroad came to town in 1849 and in 1875 a passenger station was built. In the early days, the most important industries in Waterbury were lumber and finished wood products, sheep and later dairy.
Today, hordes of tourists flock to Waterbury to visit the Ben & Jerry's Factory.
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Ben & Jerry's Factory (map)
Founded in 1978 and sold to Unilever in 2000, Ben & Jerry's is one of the most well-known ice cream brands in the US. The headquarters are in South Burlington and the main factory in Waterbury, VT.
The original founders of the company do not hold any board or management position and are not involved in the day-to-day management of the company anymore.
Ben & Jerry’s are active in their community and known for political and societal statements and some of their ice creams feature celebrities or are named relating to them like “Yes Pecan” for Barack Obama’s election in 2008 or “The Tonight Dough” after Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show or "Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream" after the Colbert Report.
Through the Ben & Jerry's Foundation, which was established in 1985, the company contributes 7.5% of their annual pre-tax profits to fund community-oriented projects.
Ben & Jerry’s offer a short but informative factory tour which ends with a tasting of a small portion of ice cream that they are producing that day.
Cold Hollow Cider Mill (map)
Cold Hollow Cider Mill is a producer of apple cider, other apple products and a popular tourist attraction. The rack and cloth press is walled-off with glass and you can watch it operate when it is apple season. Besides fresh apple cider, their store sells apple jellies, mustards, pies and souvenirs. Some of the products are up for free tasting. We bought some apple jelly.
