Work by well-known Vermont painters fills the walls of Visions of Vermont art galleries in Jeffersonville, but it's not just the art that's worth noting.The gallery's buildings - the Victorian House Gallery, and Carriage Barn Gallery - are of historic and architectural interest. 

       

Built in 1878, both buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and have a long history.  The first owner and resident of the buildings was Harry Varnum., a talented  engineer who later co-founded the Rock of Ages quarry in Barre, and sho helped create the passage way through Smuggler's Notch.

       

Current owner Jane  Shaw faithfully restored these two structures after buying them in the 1980's, and she  and her husband Terry, are just the third owners in 136 years.

       

Visitors  can roam through the 18th century styed rooms as they view collections of art by such noted painters as Karen and Jack Winslow, Alden Bryan,  Eric Sloane, and Thomas Curtin. 

       

A couple of surprises await visitors on thr grounds of the property. Thile not on the historic registry, the Sugarhouse Gallery has an interestingpast. In 2003, the Shaws bought the building - originally in pieces that filled 17 boxes - for $5,000. The building had been a mobile display house for a woodstove manufacturer; the Shaws turned the building, so named because it resembles an old Vermont sugarhouse, into a thrid gallery.