BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein. We hope you can join us again next week for in VOA Special English.
Lila Vanderbilt Webb founded Shelbourne Farms in eighteen eighty-six. The Vanderbilts are an important family in American history. She was the granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built his wealth in shipping and railroads.
Vermont did become the fourteenth state, however, when it joined the Union in seventy ninety-one. And it became the first state to declare slavery illegal.
BARBARA KLEIN: What Vermont lacks in size, it makes up for in beauty. It is known as the Green Mountain State. The name comes from the Green Mountains, which divide the state up and down the center. In fact, the name Vermont comes from the French "verd mont," meaning green mountain.
Only about six hundred thousand people live in Vermont. That makes it the second least-populated state in the country after Wyoming. And the state is small not just in population. Vermont is forty-fifth out of the fifty states in territory. It has just twenty-four thousand square kilometers of land. In addition, it has almost nine hundred fifty square kilometers covered by water.
And the philosopher John Dewey was from Burlington and attended the University of Vermont. Dewey is considered the father of modern progressive education in the United States.
STEVE EMBER: Intervale does not support dairy farming, but Shelbourne Farms near Burlington does. This nonprofit working farm is one of the biggest and oldest cheese producers in Vermont. Its award-winning cheddar is made from the milk of Brown Swiss cows.
BARBARA KLEIN: Our trip to Vermont would not be complete without a stop at Huntington Gorge. This is a deep, narrow cut in the earth. Water from the Huntington River flows fast through the gorge. Officials estimate that more than forty people have drowned over the years while swimming in Huntington Gorge.