Brave Little State

Wesley Davis grew up in the woods of Mount Holly. But there was always one place where he could get high above the trees: the fire tower on top of nearby Ludlow Mountain. He’s been curious to learn more about the history of these remote towers scattered across Vermont peaks ever since.

In this episode from 2023, reporter Sabine Poux searches for answers and arrives at the doorstep of a couple that found a lifetime of artistic inspiration as fire tower lookouts in southern Vermont.

For photos from our reporting, and a map of fire towers around the state, check out the web post for this episode.

This episode was reported by Sabine Poux. Editing and additional production from the rest of the BLS team: Burgess Brown and me, Josh Crane. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg. Angela Evancie is our executive producer. Theme music is by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Mark Haughwout, Ron Kemnow, Peter Hayes, Alan Thompson, Keegan Tierney, Prudence Doherty, Juls Sundberg and Liam Elder-Connors. And thanks to Danielle Kovacs and the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center at the University of Massachusetts for finding the copy of Visitors, Hugh Joudry’s radio play.

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

McKayla Baker has two dogs, Casey and Nettles, who for years she took to the same local veterinary clinic — until a few years ago, when she noticed changes like extra fees and recommendations for expensive treatments. 

She found out that the clinic she thought was still independently owned had been acquired by a big corporation backed by private equity. That got her wondering:

To what extent has private equity quietly consolidated Vermont's veterinary market? And what are the primary hidden risks for pet owners like me?

Click here for photos and a full episode transcript.

Update 9/16/26: Before publication, we contacted McKayla’s vet to give them an opportunity to respond to the concerns she raised in the story. The practice didn’t respond until after publication. They did not address the specific treatment decisions McKayla described, but said while the practice is part of a larger network, clinical decisions remain with its local veterinarians and care teams — and added that being part of a network provides additional resources and treatment options. 

Further resources:

This episode was reported by Josh Crane. Editing and production from the rest of the BLS team: That’s Burgess Brown and Sabine Poux. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Zoe McDonald and Francis Wong, Kathleen Lanphear, Pam McCann, and Kim and Scott Martin.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Vermont is home to tons of peculiar road names. Every year, you nominate your favorites — and we crisscross the state looking for answers. Dive right into our exploration of Green Dolphin Drive in South Burlington. Wade into the origin story of Butternut Gutter in Arlington. And crack open our investigation of Old Shincracker Lane in Baltimore (and, yes, that’s Baltimore, Vermont). 

If you’re craving even more weird road name stories, explore all eight previous installments in this annual road names series. You can also submit your favorite road name for consideration in the future!

Also – get a wicked cool limited-edition BLS Road Names tote bag by supporting our work for $10/month. Click here to get started.

This episode was reported by Burgess Brown, Sarah Bokelberg and Josh Crane. It was produced and edited by Sabine Poux. Angela Evancie is Brave Little State’s Executive Producer. Our theme music is by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Mikaela Lefrak, Karen Jamiel, Maddison Potter, Al Farrington, Missy Marcell, Rick Hecht, Amanda Gustin, Steve Picazio, Gail Weisse, Sandy Rich, Carla Westine, Andy Kolovos, Theo Avent, Ellen Clattenburg, Josh Morse, Marla Krueger, Dale Bergdahl and Katie Dixon.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

Today, instead of chasing down leads and crisscrossing the state to satisfy your curiosity about one Vermont story or another, we’re going to indulge your curiosity about the show itself. 

A few months ago, the BLS team welcomed friends and fans to Northern Stage in White River Junction for an event we called “Behind the Mic with Brave Little State.”  We lifted the hood on how we make the show, dissected all-time favorite episodes and answered questions from the audience. We even revealed a mortifying “blooper” (eek!).

We had a great time, so we decided to share a (lightly condensed and edited) recording from the event with all of you!

To mark a decade of BLS, we’re releasing a limited edition tote bag! It features original art with some of our favorite Vermont road names from episodes past. To get one, support our work for $10/month. Click here to get started.

Sign up for our (free) newsletter to get updates about future events.

This episode was edited and produced by the BLS team: Burgess Brown, Sabine Poux and Josh Crane. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg and our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons.

Special thanks to Amy Zielinski, Jason Smoller, Joshua Davis, Milena Zuccotti, Rachel Thomeer and everyone who joined us for a special evening at Northern Stage.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

Bethel, Vermont is home to a rare geological treasure: a brilliant granite that’s often described as the whitest in the world. The stone has been quarried there for generations and sent as far as Paris and Abu Dhabi. Two local residents want to know: Why is this stone found in Bethel, of all places? And is it found anywhere else?

Thanks to Bennett Law and Owen Daniel-McCarter for the great questions. Click here for photos and a full episode transcript.

For more on granite in Vermont, here are some suggested resources:

This episode was reported by Sabine Poux. Editing and production from the rest of the BLS team: That’s Burgess Brown and Josh Crane. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Gail Wiese, Timothy Rath, Laurie Grigg and Denise Guilmette.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

Last year, a listener question inspired us to spend 12 whole hours at a park-and-ride lot in Richmond. This year, we posted up at another Vermont mainstay – a popular ice cream shop near the beaches of Lake Champlain, in Colchester. 

The Village Scoop is the kind of place where, if you stay put long enough, you can watch a whole Vermont summer unfold in one day. So, we arrived hours before the shop opened and stayed long after the last customer was served.

During our marathon day there,  we got a real taste of Vermont summer at its peak, in all its sweltering, melting glory.

Click here for the web version of this episode, including photos and a full transcript.

This episode was reported and produced by Josh Crane, Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg. Our Executive Producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Catherine Hurley, Scott Waterman, Chelsea Blais, Hannah Smiley, Emma Foss and Meg Hershman.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

You might have heard that the U.S. turns 250 this year. It’s a big, corporate to-do — the phrase “America 250” is plastered all over baseball hats and bags of potato chips. 

But what do Americans really make of this anniversary? The historian Jill Lepore and audiomaker Sophie Crane wanted to find out. They sent reporters all across the country, from California to Louisiana to Vermont, to listen to what people had to say about it.

This piece is part of a project called The Listeners, an experiment in hyperlocal documentary storytelling from the Transom Story Lab. 

You can find the Transom post here and the New Yorker Radio Hour presentation here.

Reporting by Eve Abrams in Louisiana, Scott Carrier and Jenny Ament in Utah, Erica Heilman in Vermont, Yohance Lacour in Illinois and David Weinberg in California. It was produced by Sophie Crane. Mix and sound design by Josh Crane with music from Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans of Stellwagen Symphonette. 

Special thanks to Jay Allison, Jen Jerrett and David Krasnow.

The Brave Little State team is Josh Crane, Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

Right now, there are around 150 Vermonters behind bars in Tutwiler, Mississippi. 

Question-asker Devon Kurtz is wondering: Why does the state send these men to a private prison more than a thousand miles away — especially since there's a vacant prison in Windsor, Vermont? 

Click here for the web version of this episode, including photos and a full transcript. And read an in-depth dispatch from Liam’s visit to Tutwiler here. 

RSVP to our upcoming event in Winooski!

This episode was reported by Liam Elder-Connors. Editing and production from Sabine Poux, Burgess Brown, Alicia Freese and Josh Crane. Our intern is Sarah Bokelberg. Angela Evancie is our Executive Producer. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Zoe McDonald, Catherine Hurley and Tom Marsh.

This episode was made possible with support from the Vermont Public Journalism Fund.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

There’s a saying that twins are “in the water” in the town of Sheldon. Our journey to get to the bottom of this curious bit of local lore takes us from a dairy farm in Franklin County to a university in Amsterdam and back.

Thanks to the amateur investigators who aided us along the way, and to Ellen Stanley, our winning question-asker. She’s wondering:

“I live next to a community — Sheldon, Vermont — that has so many twins. Are twins really 'in the water'? What might cause this over generations?” 

Click here for the web version of this episode, including photos and a full transcript. 

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

Inside a cavernous redemption warehouse in the Upper Valley, customers come to exchange bottles and cans for coins — and to see bottle-sorter Teera “Sweet T” Paye. 

We visited thanks to a question from Kevin Donohue of Thetford. He asked,“Who redeems bottles and cans in Vermont? Why are there so few places to do so?”

Click here for photos and a full episode transcript. And here to sign up for the BLS newsletter!

This episode was reported by Burgess Brown. Editing and additional production from Sabine Poux and Josh Crane. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Catherine Hurley and Marcie Gallagher.

As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.