| Vol.
I, No. 3 | Winter
Solstice & Holidays | Dec.
15th, 2000 |
Links
to Out & About On-Line The
amount of info on the web is enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a
search can attest to. And, to put it all in context, best estimates say
that only a fraction, maybe 20 - 40 % of what's out there is actually making its
way to the search engines.
Well ...
Here at DownStreet, we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we
post a few links in Out & About to sites that might interest you.
Sometimes the links will be related to one another ... sometimes
we'll just offer up a somewhat random sampling. In either case, we think
we might be able to help you find the kind of site you've been looking for.
Of course, while we can't vouch for the fact that every link we provide will be
of interest to everyone, we do our best to filter out the noise and the
bustle. ...
We hope you enjoy the following sites as
much as we do. Touring Vermont
The
following sites provide some nice information about location throughout the
State. ... Vermont
Historic Sites Guide
This is a State-owned site run under the
auspices of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Department of
Housing and Community Affairs, Division for Historic Preservation. Got
that? ... Actually, you don't need to get it. All
you need to do is visit this site for a listing of historic sites throughout
the State. The sub-sections include News, Events 2000, Guide to
State-Owned Sites, Historic Roadside Markers, and Related Web Sites.
Unfortunately, at least during our visit, the sub-section that interested us
most -- about Historic Roadside Markers -- was unavailable. Among the
Historic Sites included in our neighborhood are the Shoreham Covered
Railroad Bridge {1897}and the Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison,
a spot with about 12,000 years of human history behind it.
.
We hoped
for more from the State on this one, especially given Vermont's historical
significance. But it's a starting point worth a look. Rating ***
[3 stars]
. BlueMap
Attractions
A better listing of what's going on can be found at
Blue Map Online, a site that provides "Information for travelers
to the Lake Champlain region of Vermont, New York and Canada, with special
emphasis on Burlington, Vermont." The attractions listed
here go well beyond historic sites. And though they're aimed at
tourists, you can find a solid listing of places you may never have made it
to yet, as well as brief descriptions and directions on getting there,
including clickable links to fairly detailed maps. Also, since the
focus tends to be fairly local, most everything listed is within relatively
easy driving distance.
.
The folks who've put Blue Map together knew
what they were doing. It's an easy-to-navigate site, fairly fast, and
has just enough going for it so that even those of us who've been in the
neighborhood for plenty of years can scare up an interesting day trip or
two. Rating **** [4 stars]
. Vermont
Forests, Parks & Recreation
Here, the State has done a solid
service. The Vermont Forests, Parks & Recreation site is chock
full of useful info. The Parks
Locator Map offers up a simple-to-use image map of the State, with gold
dots for each of the parks. Simply click on a dot and you're taken to
a quick-loading page of a few paragraphs of info about the park, including
Facilities and Area Attractions, as well as a link to a map of the park that
provides decent detail. There are also links to other sites of
interest related to / close by the park. Finally, if you know the name
of the park you'd like to visit already, you can also check out the site's Alphabetical
Park Locator.
.
The Vermont Historic Sites Guide -- the first link
we reviewed above -- can learn something from the folks who put this site
together ... and so can you. Rating ****1/2 [4-1/2 stars]
*******
******* If you know of any
links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to ...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to include
them in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks. *******
******* .
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