A patchwork of corn fields and apple orchards intersected by a lacy network of rivers and streams, Addison County is still primarily an agricultural region in which Holsteins number almost as many as residents.

With its fertile rolling plains spanning the valley between the Green Mountains and the shores of Lake Champlain, Addison County has a long history of agricultural successes. It was once a key sheep farming center with more than 41,000 sheep; today, Shoreham is the state's largest orchard town.

Yet the county's claim to fame in the wider world outside Vermont comes from a poet and a college. Robert Frost made Ripton his summer home for 39 years, and the area, with its summer cottages and quiet Green Mountain National Forest woodlands, has become known as Robert Frost country. To the northwest is Middlebury, the county's primary population and shopping center and home to one of the region's largest employers, Middlebury College. This college town is known as one of the liveliest and welcoming in the state, offering a rich cultural heritage and strong support of the arts.

Other employers include the defense contractor BFGoodrich Aerospace, the county's largest employer, and Standard Register. Like the town of Middlebury, the Basin Harbor Club resort, nestled on the shores of Lake Champlain, boosts tourism -- another important element of the county's economy.

Addison County also boasts the nation's smallest city: Vergennes. This compact little community lies a few miles south of the Chittenden County line and has a wide main street fronted by buildings from the last century. Here, in the community's numerous small bakeries, local farmers in overalls and boots pass a friendly hour with each other once the rigors of morning milking are through.

The state's longest river, Otter Creek, runs through the county and provides numerous recreational opportunities and a churning backdrop to the main shopping district in Middlebury. To the west, another creek is home to one the state's richest natural reserve for birds: the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area. Every spring and fall the skies above this area -- known as the Champlain Valley Flyway -- are speckled with thousands of migratory birds, including large hawks. As foliage leaves turn crimson, soaring hawks can often be seen hunting close to Vermont 17. For about two weeks in late October, waves of snow geese alight by the thousands to feed on the stubble of harvested corn fields at twilight, creating a kind of poetry in motion. The sight draws spectators to the fields along Vermont 17 every year.

These beautiful natural resources keep Addison County prominent in guidebooks and in the memories of those who have visited. It is a county that has balanced the beauty of an agricultural lifestyle with the business of a growing tourist economy.