ST. JOHNSBURY

St. Johnsbury is the cultural and commercial capital of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, a Caledonia County town at the confluence of three rivers where Victorian architecture and 19th-century industrial heritage frame a working arts center.

Catamount Arts, the only full-service arts center in northeastern Vermont, draws 40,000 visitors a year to its two movie theaters, 80-seat performance space, and gallery. The programming spans independent film, live music, dance, theater, and art education — a one-stop cultural anchor for the region.

Downtown divides between Railroad Street in the Passumpsic River valley, where the old commercial district clusters around the 1883 union depot, and Main Street on the plateau above known as The Plain. The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, an 1871 National Historic Landmark with an attached art gallery, and the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium ground the town's identity in its Victorian-era ambitions.

Tip: St. J Final Fridays bring live music and vendors to the streets in summer. The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, New England's longest at 95 miles, passes through town for pre-show walking or biking.

Neighborhoods: Main Street • Railroad Street • The Plain