In 1886 William Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb built themselves a magnificent country estate on the shores of Lake Champlain. The 1400-acre farm, designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed New York's Central and Park and Boston's Emerald Necklace), was both a country house for the Webbs and a working farm, with stunning lakefront perspectives. The grand, 24-bedroom English-style country manor (completed in 1899), now an inn, is surrounded by working farm buildings inspired by European romanticism.
Today, visitors to Shelburne Farms can buy some of the cheese, maple syrup, mustard and other items produced here, hike miles of walking trails, visit the animals in the children's farmyard or take a guided 1½-hour tour from a truck-pulled open wagon. The farm is 8 miles south of Burlington, off US 7.
