Brave Little State

Spooky season is upon us – witches, werewolves … Wampahoofuses? Gather ‘round the campfire with us as we explore some of the creepy, mysterious and otherworldly questions our listeners have asked us over the years.  For the full experience, we recommend listening to this episode with headphones. Thanks to today’s question-askers: Zachary West, Lauren Huffman and Mischa Tourin.  Click here for phot...

Election Day is less than a month away. You’ve probably thought about the big races on your ballot. But what about the ones near the bottom of the page? And what about all those obscure positions appointed after Town Meeting Day? Today, we’re answering your questions about some of Vermont’s more under-the-radar positions in town and county government: high bailiffs, justices of the peace, fence vi...

Wesley Davis grew up in the woods of Mount Holly. But there was always one place where he could get high above the trees: the fire tower on top of nearby Ludlow Mountain. He’s been curious to learn more about the history of these remote towers scattered across Vermont peaks ever since. In this episode from 2023, reporter Sabine Poux searches for answers and arrives at the doorstep of a couple that...

McKayla Baker has two dogs, Casey and Nettles, who for years she took to the same local veterinary clinic — until a few years ago, when she noticed changes like extra fees and recommendations for expensive treatments.  She found out that the clinic she thought was still independently owned had been acquired by a big corporation backed by private equity. That got her wondering: To what extent has p...

Vermont is home to tons of peculiar road names. Every year, you nominate your favorites — and we crisscross the state looking for answers. Dive right into our exploration of Green Dolphin Drive in South Burlington. Wade into the origin story of Butternut Gutter in Arlington. And crack open our investigation of Old Shincracker Lane in Baltimore (and, yes, that’s Baltimore, Vermont ).  If you’re cra...

Today, instead of chasing down leads and crisscrossing the state to satisfy your curiosity about one Vermont story or another, we’re going to indulge your curiosity about the show itself.  A few months ago, the BLS team welcomed friends and fans to Northern Stage in White River Junction for an event we called “Behind the Mic with Brave Little State.”  We lifted the hood on how we make the show, di...

Bethel, Vermont is home to a rare geological treasure: a brilliant granite that’s often described as the whitest in the world. The stone has been quarried there for generations and sent as far as Paris and Abu Dhabi. Two local residents want to know: Why is this stone found in Bethel, of all places? And is it found anywhere else? Thanks to Bennett Law and Owen Daniel-McCarter for the great questio...

Last year, a listener question inspired us to spend 12 whole hours at a park-and-ride lot in Richmond . This year, we posted up at another Vermont mainstay – a popular ice cream shop near the beaches of Lake Champlain, in Colchester.  The Village Scoop is the kind of place where, if you stay put long enough, you can watch a whole Vermont summer unfold in one day. So, we arrived hours before the sh...

You might have heard that the U.S. turns 250 this year. It’s a big, corporate to-do — the phrase “America 250” is plastered all over baseball hats and bags of potato chips.  But what do Americans really make of this anniversary? The historian Jill Lepore and audiomaker Sophie Crane wanted to find out. They sent reporters all across the country, from California to Louisiana to Vermont, to listen to...

Right now, there are around 150 Vermonters behind bars in Tutwiler, Mississippi.  Question-asker Devon Kurtz is wondering: Why does the state send these men to a private prison more than a thousand miles away — especially since there's a vacant prison in Windsor, Vermont?  Click here for the web version of this episode, including photos and a full transcript. And read an in-depth dispatch from Lia...

There’s a saying that twins are “in the water” in the town of Sheldon. Our journey to get to the bottom of this curious bit of local lore takes us from a dairy farm in Franklin County to a university in Amsterdam and back. Thanks to the amateur investigators who aided us along the way, and to Ellen Stanley, our winning question-asker. She’s wondering: “I live next to a community — Sheldon, Vermont...

Inside a cavernous redemption warehouse in the Upper Valley, customers come to exchange bottles and cans for coins — and to see bottle-sorter Teera “Sweet T” Paye.  We visited thanks to a question from Kevin Donohue of Thetford. He asked,“Who redeems bottles and cans in Vermont? Why are there so few places to do so?” Click here for photos and a full episode transcript. And here to sign up for the...

People love to highlight Vermont “firsts” — like, how we’re the first state to ban billboards and to approve civil unions. Or how we’re first in the nation in maple syrup production and number of craft breweries per capita.  Gary Gulka, of Cabot, wants to know: Where is Vermont ranked dead last? As we waded through a sea of last-place statistics, one stood out to us more than any other. Satisfy yo...

We all accumulate lots of … stuff. Increasingly, we’re cramming more of that stuff into self-storage facilities: those fields of metal lockers, arranged in neat, industrial rows.  Join us as we explore the stuff — and stories — we usually keep stored away. Thanks to Chris Robbins of Middlebury for the great question. JOIN US! We’re headed to Northern Stage in White River Junction to give fans a be...

This is a tale about what happens when a toxic industry booms and busts, the mess that’s left behind and the fight over how to clean it up. Thanks to Morgan Pratt, Ann Fano and Carol Fano for the great questions. You can find the web version of this story here .  JUST ANNOUNCED: Join us in April in White River Junction for a behind-the-scenes look at the show! This episode was reported by Burgess...

Fire departments across the country are struggling to find volunteers. But in Norwich, new recruits are lining up.  We spent a weekend at the firehouse to find out why. You can find the web version of this story here . This episode was reported by Josh Crane. Additional editing and production from Burgess Brown and Sabine Poux. Angela Evancie is our executive producer. Ty Gibbons composed our them...

Ice is unavoidable during winter on the Champlain Islands. Surrounded on all sides by an icy expanse, islanders embrace this seasonal terrain — as a place to walk the dog, to skate and to fish.  One North Hero resident sees trucks of ice fishermen driving out onto the lake and wants to know: How do they know when it's safe?  You can find the web version of this story here . For ice fishing guidanc...

Vermont has among the weakest forms of county government in the United States, placing a big burden on towns. Is there a better way forward? You can find the web version of this story here . Thanks to everyone who submitted questions about counties, including Gary Novosel of Addison County, Paul Hochanadel of Chittenden County and Michael Moser of Lamoille County. This episode was reported by Howa...

The Vermont National Guard usually takes orders from the state. But at the end of 2025, President Trump deployed the Vermont guard to the Caribbean — and Gov. Scott said he had no control over the president’s orders. It gave this question from a listener newfound relevance:  “Who controls the deployment of the Vermont National Guard if orders from the federal government and the state are in confli...

Today, the origin story of the Appalachian Trail, which stretches more than 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia. But it was a peak in southern Vermont that inspired the idea of the trail in the first place.  Thanks to one of our favorite podcasts, Off the Path , for sharing this story with us. Here’s a link to the original web post. For more stories from the trail, check out our episodes, “ What’s i...

A few years ago, John Haffner was digging in his White River Junction backyard when his shovel hit a glass bottle buried underground. Then he found another, and another — all with words like “remedy,” “tonic” and “quick cure” embossed on them. John wants to know why there are so many of these old bottles around and, more importantly, what was in them?  Local historian and independent reporter Kelb...

Question-asker Manny recently got out of prison. He wants to learn about his options for transitional housing — a place where he could stay sober while readjusting to life outside a prison cell.  It turns out, those options look very different today than they would have even a few years ago. To see photos from our reporting, check out the web version of this story here .  This episode was reported...

Rutland — or, “RutVegas” — gets a pretty bad rap outside the city’s limits. But some of Rutland’s most passionate cheerleaders say there’s a side of the city people are missing. Thanks to Linda Mullin of Rutland for the great question. If you want to be part of a future BLS live voting round, join us in Jeffersonville on Dec. 3 at Lot 6 Brewing. Reserve your ticket and find more information here ....

Leave your grocery store apples at home and join our search for this most unusual Vermont fruit. For photos from our journey, check out the web version of our story here . And if you want to read up on apples, here are three books that were helpful in our research: Apples of Uncommon Character by Rowan Jacobsen (2014) The Illustrated History of Apples in the US and Canada by Daniel J. Bussey (2017...

For the 200th episode of the show, we set ourselves a challenge: take on 20 listener questions in a single episode. We went back to the very beginning of our archive — combing through thousands of questions — and picked out some of our favorites that we’ve never answered before: about apple pie, nudity laws, haunted houses and Subarus. Laughter ensues. Find the web version of this story here . Thi...