The Vermont Marble Museum

Located on the grounds of an abandoned quarry, The Vermont Marble Museum (52 Main St., Proctor, 800/427-1396, www.vermont-marble.com, 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. daily mid-May–Oct., $7 adults, $5 seniors, $4 teens, free for children) is filled with exhibits and photographs that tell the story of the Rutland marble industry and the thousands of immigrants who once labored in the quarries. A grand gallery contains marble bas-reliefs of all of the nation’s presidents, along with other marble statuary carved over the years. Modern-day marble carver Allen Dwight, the museum’s artist-in-residence, gives demonstrations on the craft.

Wilson Castle

Nearby is Wilson Castle (West Proctor Rd., Proctor, 802/773-3284, www.wilsoncastle.com, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. daily late May–mid-Oct., $9.50 adults, $5.50 children 6–12, children under 6 free), built in the late 19th century by a doctor with a taste for extravagance. The five-story mansion is a mishmash of European styles, with 19 proscenium arches, a turret, parapet, and balcony. Inside, the building is filled with antiques from around the world, including Chinese scrolls, Tiffany chandeliers, and a Louis XVI crown jewel case. Guided tours lasting 45 minutes, are given throughout the day. (Last tour leaves at 5 p.m.) If you can, time your visit for a Sunday morning, when an electronic organ fills the art gallery with church music. Combination tickets for the maple museum, marble museum, and castle give a discount on admission.

Norman Rockwell Museum

More humble than royal, pop artist Norman Rockwell lived and painted in nearby Arlington for fifteen years, On the eastern outskirts of Rutland, the small Norman Rockwell Museum (654 Rte. 4, 802/773-6095, www.normanrockwellvt.com, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. daily, $5.50 adults, $5 seniors, $2.50 8–17, children under 8 free), located just across the Rutland city line on Route 4, doesn’t contain any original work by the artist. It does, however, present an impressive overview of his career with several thousand original magazine covers, books, and reproductions—from Rockwell’s beginnings in the 1910s as art editor of Boys’ Life magazine to the illustration of Johnny Carson he made for TV Guide shortly before his death in 1978. A sizable gift shop has both original covers and reproduction posters.

Covered Bridges

For your own fix of Rockwellian America, take a driving tour around the towns of Pittsford and Proctor north of the city, where no fewer than four covered bridges crisscross the creeks. They include the 145-foot-long span that takes Kendall Hill Road over Otter Creek, which was dislodged during a 1927 flood and—remarkably undamaged—towed a mile back upriver to be put back in place.