Unifying & Awe-Inspiring: The Full Coverage Eclipse of Vermont
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont! Much like many of my fellow bloggers, I felt the need to write about this recent sensation near campus, an event that simultaneously stunned and unified Dartmouth students across New Hampshire and Vermont.
At 10 am following Monday morning classes, my friend and I joined busloads and car-fulls of other Dartmouth students setting out north along I-91. Our destinations: a plethora of Vermont cities scattered within line of the eclipse. For my friend and I traveling in our own vehicle, we directed our navigation to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, a small town approximately an hour north of campus and a central location for the eclipse's path of totality. Here, we joined nearly 15,000 people from around the world in a day of eclipse-related festivities.
Between exploring the thrift stores, record shops, and bakeries in this new town and taking part in activities preceding the solar eclipse, our schedule for the day was jam-packed. Our first stop was Boule Bakery on the corner of Railroad Street and Portland Street for a refreshing breakfast after the drive: an iced matcha and cheddar jalapeno bagel!
For the next three hours, we explored the abundance of small businesses and historical structures that lined the criss-crossed streets of St. Johnsbury. At around 2:30 pm, we found a grassy, open area near other eager eclipse chasers and watched for the next hour as the street before us darkened and the air around us chilled.
With digital camera in hand, I quickly snapped as many photos of the sun's total coverage as I could, in awe to have captured this unbelievable sight in such clarity.
At around 5 pm, after stopping for some quick tabletop s'mores at a local cafe, The Campfire, my friend and I set off back towards campus, where hundreds of Dartmouth students and Hanover community members alike had gathered on the Green to view the solar spectacle as well.
Although my personal eclipse viewing was situated away from Hanover, the deep sense of community associated with Dartmouth's undergraduate classes followed across state lines. I couldn't be happier to have witnessed such an incredible natural phenomenon with other students from the Big Green.