Worth a Listen: 10 Podcast Episodes About New England Forests and Backroads
By Joshua Smith
By mid-October, a drive down a back road feels a little different. The leaves are thinning, old stone walls become easier to see, abandoned cellar holes peek through the woods, and a dirt road can leave you wondering where it used to lead.
This week, we are listening to specific podcast episodes about the forests, old roads, forgotten places, and working landscapes of Vermont and New Hampshire.
1. “A Brief History of Vermont Road Names” — Brave Little State
Vermont Public takes a road trip to find out how places like Kelley Stand Road got their names, uncovering logging camps, old mills, turnpikes, and local history along the way.
2. “How Vermont Got So Many Town Forests” — Brave Little State
Why do so many Vermont towns own pieces of forest? This episode explores old farms, water supplies, logging, sugaring, conservation, and the curious history behind these public woods.
3. “Where Did All Vermont’s Stone Walls Come From?” — Brave Little State
Those stone walls running through the middle of the woods once bordered fields and farms. This episode explains how Vermont went from a largely cleared landscape back to the heavily forested state we know today.
4. “Vermont Fire Towers: From Smoke Spotters to Thru-Hikers” — Brave Little State
A trip into the history of the fire towers that once stood watch over Vermont’s forests — including one forgotten tower slowly being swallowed by the woods.
5. “What Is a Forest For?” — Outside/In
Produced by New Hampshire Public Radio, this episode heads into the White Mountain National Forest to look at recreation, wildlife, logging, conservation, and the different ideas people have about how public forests should be used.
6. “Logging By Hand” — Rumble Strip
This Vermont-made story follows old-school loggers working in the woods with chainsaws, cables, and skidders. It is a glimpse into a kind of work still very much part of the Northeast Kingdom landscape.
7. “The Ghost Town of Livermore” — New England Legends
Deep in New Hampshire’s White Mountains are the remains of Livermore, once a busy logging and mill town. Fire, flood, and hard times eventually emptied the community, leaving its ruins behind in the forest.
8. “Your Ultimate Guide to Vermont’s Covered Bridges” — The Thought Card
Vermont Covered Bridge Society President Beth Brown Limmer talks about Vermont’s nearly 100 covered bridges, their history, hidden gems, and how to plan a backroad trip to see them.
9. “The Wood Devils of Coös County” — New England Legends
Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head into the woods of northern New Hampshire to investigate an old North Country legend about tall, mysterious creatures said to hide among the trees.
10. “The Quest for Vermont Covered Bridges with Phill Gatenby” — Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Phill Gatenby talks about his personal mission to visit and document all 100 of Vermont’s covered bridges — and the stories and places he discovered along the way.
One of the pleasures of a New England back road is realizing that the woods are not always as untouched as they look. Old farms, mills, logging roads, bridges, stone walls, and even entire communities can disappear beneath the trees while leaving clues behind for anyone willing to look.
Don’t forget: The St. Johnsbury Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Outdoor Edge, hosted by Gary Moore, spends plenty of time talking about the woods, working forests, wildlife, local history, hunting, fishing, and the people who know the back roads of northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Find Outdoor Edge wherever you get podcasts and on the WYKR app.
New to podcasts? Open Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon Music, or another podcast app on your phone. Search for the episode or podcast name and press play. If you find a show you enjoy, tap “follow” or “subscribe” and new episodes will be easy to find.