Stowe Mountain Auto Toll Road foliage
— — the road that drives you straight into October.
Not only on a wall.
“A 4.5-mile gravel road that climbs from Route 108 to the Nose of Mansfield, opening in late May and closing again with the first hard snow in mid-October. Drivers stop at the pull-offs as the maple and birch turn through orange and red. The Stowe valley falls away to the east, and the Worcester Range stands behind.
Stowe Mountain Auto Toll Road foliage, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Stowe Mountain Auto Toll Road is a 4.5-mile private gravel road climbing the western flank of Mount Mansfield from Route 108 to a parking area near the Nose, at roughly 3,850 feet of elevation. The road operates from late May through mid-October, weather permitting, and is run by Stowe Mountain Resort. From the upper turn-outs the view drops east into the Stowe valley and across to the Worcester Range. Mansfield is Vermont's highest peak at 4,395 feet; the summit ridge above the road is named for the parts of a face in profile.
The road earns its reputation in foliage week, which in most years falls in the first ten days of October. Sugar maples colour first along the lower switchbacks, then yellow birch and beech up through 3,000 feet; the spruce-fir cap at the top stays green, framing the colour below. The road closes for the season as soon as snow makes the gravel unsafe, typically mid-October but sometimes the first week. Weekday mornings are quieter than the weekend rush from Boston and Montreal.
Access is by car only; the toll covers the driver and all passengers and is collected at the lower station. Bicycles are not permitted. The road dead-ends at a parking area below the Nose, from which the Cliff Trail and a half-mile spur to the summit ridge begin. Most visitors stop at the pull-offs on the way up and again on the way down. Cell service is unreliable above the second switchback, and there is no fuel or food along the road beyond the entrance station.