Last month's answer
Only Michael McCarthy of Georgia (i.e., not the country in the Caucasus whose national anthem is Tavisupleba) knew that citizens at the September 3, 1793, Barre town meeting prudently decided that “swine must not be allowed to run about.” Jolly bona spektaklo!
Meanwhile, if you’re weary of marshaling all those leaves underneath the backyard baobab tree, then hang up that rake and join me on a little autumnal road trip. Begin in the town that claims the oldest charter in Vermont. Drive 17 miles to a place whose name is the same as a consumer product once advertised to be “as mild as May.” Now proceed another 19 serpentine miles to a town that contains a village named in the late 19th century for a bucket and pail factory, its primary industry. Push on 24 scenic miles on a road that features more turns than prima ballerina Carlotta Grisi made in the 1842 premiere of Giselle to a town that contains a hamlet known as “The Island” due to the nearby presence of an old mill. Got gas? Good. Go 30 miles to a municipality with the same name as a big American investment management firm founded in 1975. It’s another 33 up-hill-and-down-dale miles to your next stop, a town with the same name as the first African American character to appear regularly on a nationwide radio program. Now urge your vehicle 19 miles further to a town whose name also means a maze of passageways. The next stop is a 29-mile-away burg whose homophonic name is what you do with your carry-on luggage once you’ve claimed your seat at the rear of a Scoot Airlines propjet. Assuming you didn’t really board that aircraft, continue 15 miles to a town with the same name as a county in the southern U.S. that was created by a state legislature on February 15, 1866 (it was a Thursday) and which features 13 properties and districts listed on the National Register. Twenty-one additional miles deposits you and your trusty vehicle in another community whose homophonic sister community, first mentioned in a document dated 985, was founded under a local feudal dynasty who combined two hamlets and built a castle and wall not paid for by Mexico around the united settlement. Today’s penultimate destination is a mere 19 miles away where, later this fall if construction goes according to plan, you’ll be able to quaff a “sip o’ sunshine.” Your final leg of the journey– excluding femur, tibia, and fibula – is a 37-mile one, depositing you in an urban center with the same name as another in the U.S. that features a professional sports team whose colors are purple, teal, gray, and white. That’s it! Now name the dozen municipalities you just cruised through. I mean, name them, please, in an email to dgunn@vlct.org. My answers will appear in the notoriously new November issue.