From the bottom of Green Mount in Montpelier, Vt., intriguing paths wind up and around, tempting you to climb and explore. As you reach the apex of the hill, you come upon a lovely monument to the woman who endowed the local library. Fannie M. Hubbard’s gift to literacy is forever commemorated in a statue of her reading a book to a child.

But Green Mount is not a park or even part of the library grounds. It is a cemetery. Throughout the Green Mountain State, such peaceful, fascinating spots filled with remembrances of individuals and families are visible from almost any country road. From the simple roadside village cemeteries where generations of rural families honored their dead, to the middle-class mercantile monuments of expansive city cemeteries like Green Mount, New Englanders have provided an enduring record of their lives.

The granite hills that made life so hard have been carved into loving monuments, some sentimental, some moving, some humorous. For example, the town of Barre (pronounced “berry”), famous for its granite works, contains some of the most fanciful gravestones you’ll see anywhere. Hope Cemetery is located off Exit 7 of I-89. Take 62 east to 14 north.

Here you will see a granite racing car, with which the wife of driver Armand J. Laguerre III honored his memory. You’ll also see a biplane, a maple leaf, a soccer ball and a husband and wife holding hands in bed. Now that’s eternal rest!  It’s amazing what these carvers could produce. As you can tell from the names here, many in this community were Italian immigrants.

One of the most touching remembrances is the granite carving in Green Mount of an 11-year-old girl. The sculptor of this work, following the parents’ wish, had reproduced a photograph. He re-created the beloved daughter in stone, down to the curls of her hair, the lace of her dress — and the undone shoe-button captured the day the photo was taken.

Ethan Allen, the early patriot who campaigned for independence and later statehood for Vermont, also rests here under an impressive obelisk.

To visit Green Mount in the state capital, Montpelier, walk or drive a mile past the State House on the continuation of State Street . Walkers will reach an entrance with a handrail leading uphill; it ends very near the statue of the little girl.

Drivers should go a bit further and enter Green Mount’s classical portal, then keep turning right and uphill until they see on the left a gravestone topped by a dog. It’s the burial place of Ned Stevens (“18 beautiful years”). Look to your right and you will see the little girl. Behind her, note the impressive view of the Winooski River and the golden dome of the State House.

In a state where even the smallest towns have multiple cemeteries, Vermonters seem to have lavished much care on their memorials. The Geographic Names Information System lists 1,781 cemeteries in Vermont with their GPS coordinates l. Go to Query, set the state (and county if desired) and for feature class pull down to “Cemetery.” In addition, the Vermont Old Cemetery Association offers folklore, Q&A’s, events and links.

Heading south through the Green Mountains, town after town offers these unexpected glimpses of the past. The website Political Graveyard lists where prominent figures are buried.

In Randolph, on Route 12, Randolph Center Cemetery has the grave of Justin Morgan. He is the man who brought to Vermont the sturdy colt from which all Morgan horses descended.

An actual horse is buried in Mendon, on the north side of Route 4 near the Sugar and Spice restaurant. It is Old John, the steed of Gen. Edward Ripley, who led Union forces in Richmond, Va., during the Civil War.

In Plymouth, on Route 100A, President Calvin Coolidge lies in Notch Cemetery. He has a modest gravestone near his modest birthplace.

Another spot that is moving for multiple reasons is found in Cuttingsville, six miles south of Rutland on Route 103. Here, John Bowman enshrined his deceased wife and daughters in an impressive mausoleum in Laurel Glen Cemetery. He laid stone pathways to the site and built a greenhouse to ensure year-round floral tributes. Across the street, he erected a Victorian mansion with perfect sightlines to his family’s resting place. Bowman spent his last 11 summers gazing across the road.

A sepulchral carving on the doorstep of the tomb depicts a well-dressed man — Bowman himself — calling with flowers and a wreath. He joined his family following his death in 1891, when he was carried into the same tomb. A wealthy industrialist, he left a trust worth $50,000 to provide perpetual upkeep of the residence and memorial.

If you visit Cuttingsville, you will see the latest sad note in this saga: how $50,000 has fared over a century. The furnishings were auctioned off in the 1950s to raise cash. The greenhouse has been given a tin roof and is used for storage. The marble statue on the porch of the tomb is covered in sheet metal for much of the year to protect it from the elements.

It’s amazing how much you can learn when you venture off the beaten path.

Happy Traveling!

Photos: 

1.  Eerie yet picturesque in any season, Vermont’s cemeteries brim with history lessons. 2. A deceased man’s racing car is just one of the fanciful gravestones in Barre, Vt. 3. Embedded in granite, this couple gives new meaning to “eternal rest.” 4. Margaret Pitkin’s grave marker was carved in touching detail from a photo. 5. John Bowman built his family’s mausoleum, left, and the nearby mansion from which he could watch over it. Photography by Thomas Simonet.