The Towns That Built a Country

The Northeast Kingdom is full of towns like Kirby: small communities, mostly without stoplights, run by people who do the work without compensation, or close to it, because someone has to and they happen to live there. When you drive through Vermont in July and see a flag on a porch, a parade lining up on Main Street, a chicken barbecue at the church, or a historical society opening its doors for the afternoon, you are not seeing nostalgia.