Burlington Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• University of Vermont

  Founded in 1791, the University of Vermont was planned in the days of the Vermont Republic, and you're on its campus now. Feel the weight of its founding in 1791 — the same moment Vermont was stepping into statehood — and the unusual story that its plans began in the days of the Vermont Republic, making it unique among public universities for having been at least planned outside an admitted state.

• Champlain College

  Champlain College began in 1878 as Burlington Business School, here in Burlington, Vermont. Founded in 1878 by G.W. Thompson as Burlington Business School to prepare young men for "the business cares and responsibilities of life," this institution has transformed repeatedly.

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  Church Street Marketplace

  Picture a one-day street fair in 1971 drawing 15,000 people to what would become the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington. The idea here goes back to 1958, part of urban renewal discussions, and after an experimental one-day street fair in the summer of 1971 that drew about 15,000 people, the mall was built in 1980–81 to a design by Carr, Lynch Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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  ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center

  Your waterfront walk brings you to ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, on the Burlington waterfront. This hands-on museum invites you into interactive exhibits like Engineert It!

• 
  Cathedral of Saint Joseph

  Versailles inspired the design of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph. This is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

All 33 stops

• ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center (Burlington waterfront)

  Your waterfront walk brings you to ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, on the Burlington waterfront.

• Burlington Breakwater (Burlington Harbor)

  Look out at the zig-zag stone line that shelters Burlington's harbor from Lake Champlain.

• Battery Park (downtown Burlington)

  Notice the bronze General Wells and the carved Chief Gray Lock guarding this Vermont park above Lake Champlain.

• Battery Street Historic District (Battery Street Historic District)

  Picture 1790, when this stretch south of downtown became one of Burlington's first developed neighborhoods.

• Burlington Memorial Auditorium (downtown)

  Picture 2,500 seats filling this National Register-listed arena in the heart of downtown Burlington.

• Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (Burlington)

  Burlington's Flynn Center for the Performing Arts makes its home in a refurbished Art Deco movie palace.

• Church Street Marketplace (Burlington)

  Picture a one-day street fair in 1971 drawing 15,000 people to what would become the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington.

• Montgomery Ward Building (Church Street Marketplace)

  Erected in 1929, the Montgomery Ward Building at 52-54 Church Street brings Classical Revival to the pedestrian mall of downtown Burlington, Vermont.

• United States Post Office and Customhouse (downtown Burlington)

  At 175 Main Street in downtown Burlington, you face the marble and granite U.S. Post Office and Custom House of 1906, now the Chittenden County…

• City Hall Park Historic District (Downtown Burlington)

  Paths radiate from a central fountain in the grassy quarter of City Hall Park, at the southern end of your Church Street walk.

• Wells-Richardson Complex (downtown Burlington)

  A single city block holds the Wells-Richardson Complex, the historic commercial-industrial district in downtown Burlington bounded by Main, Pine, College, and St. Paul Streets just…

• Champlain College (Hill Section)

  Champlain College began in 1878 as Burlington Business School, here in Burlington, Vermont.

• Main Street-College Street Historic District (Main Street–College Street Historic District)

  Between downtown and the University of Vermont campus lies the Main Street–College Street Historic District, once Burlington's most exclusive address.

• Daniel Webster Robinson House (University of Vermont)

  Peabody and Stearns designed the Daniel Webster Robinson House at 384-388 Main Street in 1885.

• University of Vermont (Burlington)

  Founded in 1791, the University of Vermont was planned in the days of the Vermont Republic, and you're on its campus now.

• University Green Historic District (University Green Historic District)

  Since 1801 the University Green has been the heart of the University of Vermont's campus, three blocks of grass sloping up toward the east.

• Old Mill (University Green)

  Fire cleared this site in 1824, and the Old Mill rose on it in 1825 as UVM's oldest campus building, along the central-eastern side of…

• Billings Library (University of Vermont)

  Henry Hobson Richardson designed Billings Memorial Library in 1883 for the University of Vermont campus in Burlington.

• Ira Allen Chapel (University Green)

  On the northeast corner of the University Green in Burlington rises Ira Allen Chapel, a secular chapel dedicated on January 14, 1927 and named for…

• Converse Hall (University of Vermont campus)

  Converse Hall has housed students since 1895.

• Morrill Hall (University Green)

  Senator Justin Smith Morrill gives his name to Morrill Hall, anchoring the southeast corner of the University Green at Main Street and University Place.

• Grasse Mount (Burlington)

  Captain Thaddeus Tuttle had Grasse Mount built in 1804 at 411 Main Street in Burlington, where it now serves the University of Vermont.

• Dudley H. Davis Center (Burlington)

  Completed in 2007, the Dudley H. Davis Center at the University of Vermont was the first student center in the United States to earn LEED…

• Follett House (Burlington Waterfront)

  Lake Champlain was the intended view when the Follett House rose at 63 College Street in 1840, and its temple front still faces west toward…

• Redstone (Redstone Campus)

  Redstone began in 1889 as a 66-acre estate on South Prospect Street in Burlington.

• South Willard Street Historic District (South Willard Street Historic District)

  Uphill from downtown Burlington, South Willard Street between Pearl and Beech Streets was once the city's most fashionable address, and you're walking its historic district…

• Lakeview Cemetery (Burlington)

  High ground off North Avenue holds Lakeview Cemetery, the rural cemetery Burlington created in 1867 in Chittenden County, Vermont.

• Howard Mortuary Chapel (Lakeview Cemetery)

  Hannah Louisa Howard gave Burlington the Howard Mortuary Chapel at 455 North Avenue, built in 1882 on the grounds of Lakeview Cemetery.

• Old Ohavi Zedek Synagogue (Burlington)

  Vermont's oldest Jewish congregation built the Old Ohavi Zedek Synagogue at Archibald and Hyde Streets in 1885.

• Ohavi Zedek (North Prospect Street)

  Lovers of Justice is the Hebrew meaning of Ohavi Zedek, the Conservative congregation at 188 North Prospect Street in Burlington, Vermont.

• Unitarian Church (Head of Church Street Historic District)

  Built in 1816, the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House you see here, long called the Brick Meeting House, is the oldest remaining place of worship established…

• Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Burlington)

  Organized in 1830 and formally elevated on May 6, 1966, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul serves as the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of…

• Cathedral of Saint Joseph (North End)

  Versailles inspired the design of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph.

How it works