Hogback Mountain Gift Shop

The joy of any New England road trip is an encounter with unexpected attractions and rest steps. Drive too quickly and you miss road side Americana, drive too slowly and the other caravans of tourists from NY state will start beeping as they bring their fuhgettabouttit attitude with them wherever they go.
Route 9 during July 4^th weekend was a pleasure to drive but I could imagine that during leaf peeping and ski season the conditions change dramatically. As we made our way from Brattleboro to Bennington along the Molly Stark Trail, I spotted this gift shop on the other side of the road and decided to pull over.
You’ll look out onto a 100 mile view of neighboring states and mountain ranges. For the agnostic or atheists out there, it’s hard not to consider this God’s country. And in the summer the concentration of greens is enough to channel your inner Bob Ross and take up amateur landscape painting.
The gift shop sells various bric-​à-​brac and items that we feel compelled to buy that contain the name of where we visited to preserve the memory and share with family and friends. I think they’re called souvenirs. Since Vermont is such an edible destination you’ll see plenty of maple syrup and cheese related products. It’s with high levels of confidence that these farm products are not made in China (unlike the majority of souvenirs anywhere) but come from places you may very well drive around during your vacation.
A small nature museum is accessible through a flight of stairs leading downstairs. There are also toilets, also welcome when stopping on the road and nature calls.
Perhaps it was a combination of the great outdoors and the view but the pre-​packaged slice of Cabot cheese was one of the most fulfilling bites I’ve had in awhile.
Be careful when exiting the small parking area, especially if you backing out.

Hogback Mt, Vermont. We stopped twice, once on our trip to Maine and again on our way back home. I would stop again. The 100 mile view is beautiful. The little store had all kinds of souvenirs, t-​shirts, sweatshirts, fudge, drinks, preserves, cheese and best of all maple syrup.

Cute shop to get all your souvenirs. Great place as well to check out the view.

My favorite gift shop.
The grocery items and novelty food products will Give any foodie something to remember.
The beef jerky is my favorite I’ve had in the north east, the maple syrup and seasons are great, and even the liquor selection is unique. Plus there’s a beautiful view. What more can ya ask for?

The maple sundae was delicious. Maple sugar + maple syrup + locally-​Vermont made ice cream, pitched over the views of the Smoky Mountains = quite literal heaven.
We are not sure how we ended up here, but knew that when we came to the overlook with dozens of mountain peaks that we had to make a stop. The Hogback Mountain Gift Shop was next door, so we grabbed a maple sundae to share as we basked in the awesome views with our own binoculars.
This was a perfectly rejuvenating rest stop on our way up to Portland, ME.

This is a great scenic stoping point if your in the area. This location offers a gift shop that will keep you occupied for at least an hour if your like me. Yes, I love to browse. They also offer snacks if your hungry. Feel free to ask anyone who’s enjoying the view to take your pic. They are all friendly.
I’ve always passed through this place around noon, but it has to be beautiful during sunset. Check this place out, it’s worth the trip just for the view.

Gift shop is your typical Vermont souvenir shop with a little bit more flare. Good selection, only a hair premium location markup, lots of selection! Oh, good fudge too. The views are amazing, however!
Come for the view, visit the gift shop

Did most of my souvenir shopping here. Ended up finding things for all different family members and loved the view. Great location on route 9. Thought about stopping in the natural history museum, but it didn’t look that great so we passed.

Extensive gift shop with lots of Vermont memorabilia and food. The hidden gem of this place is the museum. It is a museum of taxidermy stuffed animals. Old fashioned, kind of odd, but very interesting. My two sons were fascinated by it.

This was my favorite place to go as a little kid. The view is amazing and I really liked viewfinders as a child. Big country store type gift shop, there was a deli that sold lunch at one point but i’m unsure if it’s still there. Delicious Ice cream & creepy but awesome little museum around back filled with stuffed animals. We always used to go after eating at the Chelsea Royal which is equally awesome.

Incredible views from the outside patio areas of this store, which is filled with every variety of local tourist junque you could ever desire. Food and ice cream, sweatshirts, magnets, really anything you can think of to take to the kids back home (or rather grandkids, because who besides retired people can afford to drive around just for the views and buy trinkets which will gather dust for years in many happy homes?)

I can’t take my drive through VT on route 9 without stopping here. In the past I would always try some of the wine (the winery that had the tasting table has since closed, how sad) or have my mom try it and buy some. Now they have a small selection of local wines that I like to explore. Also, plenty of maple sugar candies, syrups, butters, etc. The prices are pretty decent (considering it’s expensive maple syrup) and you can also find all sorts of random knick knacks here.
The view is pretty awesome, and generally this is just a nice spot to rest with some ice cream or whatever (just don’t ask for any tap water, apparently it’s not treated here) before getting on with your drive.

The viewpoint was the highlight of a long twisty drive.

Good store.
I stop off here quite a bit when I’m on my way back and forth between VT and Mass. I usually pick up a bunch of cheese here — kinda pricey but it’s wicked good.
This store recently expanded to include restrooms (yay!) and more floor space for knick-​knacks they sell.
In this store you’ll find, snacks, cheese, bacon, drinks, maple sugar candy and maple syrup products, fruit wine (avoid), a fudge station, penny candy, cheesy jewelry, magnets, mugs, real cheesy décor, lots of tshirts and sweatshirts with VERMONT on them, stuffed animals, and miscelaneous toys for the kids.
Mainly, I’m there for the cheese.
The view is nice — when it’s clear, man you can see forever…

When I think of Hogback Mountain, it’s the mountain overlook (large bend) on Route 9 between Brattleboro and Wilmington where I have to slow down considerably because the roadway along this section can get very slippery during wet and cold/​snowy/​icy weather (I’ve had some close calls) and there’s also quite a bit of vehicular and pedestrian activity, so be careful. Hogback Mountain was a fully functional ski area back in the day and closed in the mid 1980s.
The Hogback Mountain Gift Shop is located along the outer curve of Route 9, overlooking the scenic landscape and mountains to the south & east towards Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It’s a very popular place for tourists to stop for a breather and to enjoy the great views. There are Bausch & Lomb coin-​operated binoculars with dial to see various scenic places far away. On a good clear day, you can see the Holyoke Range (MA), Mt. Monadnock (NH) and the White Mountains (NH).
The Gift Shop offers tourist information, food (plastic wrapped sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream, snacks, baked goods), coffee, cold beverages, cheese, VT maple products, jar goods, wine, fresh fudge counter, souvenirs, gifts, apparel (VT shirts & more), toys, Webkinz collection, and more. If you have time, be sure to take a visit to the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum located next door to the Gift Shop. (
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