The  many attractions of Southern Windsor include the American Precision Museum in Windsor, featuring a collection of hand and machine tools that turned this area into “Precision Valley.”

The Machine Tool Trail, showcasing many inventions that began in Vermont, passes through Springfield. Springfield, located south of Windsor, is known for its inventors and creative spirit.

Windsor is also home to the Cornish Colony Museum, the Simon Pearce glass and potter factory and Harpoon Brewery.  You can take a factory tour of both these facilities; shop the Simon Pearce factory store and get a sample at Harpoon.

Springfield emerged as a machine tool center due largely to the visionary daring and inventiveness of James Hartness. The Hartness House Inn showcases the Hartness Equatorial Turret Telescope, built in 1910, one of the first tracking telescopes in America. From 1886 to 1933 Hartness patented 120 different machines, from the flat turret lathe and optical comparator to a safety razor and a telescope. Springfield became such a major manufacturing center that it was listed as number seven on Hitler’s list of cities to bomb during World War II.

The Springfield Art and Historical Society is located above the head of the square in the Miller Art Center. A movie theatre, The Gallery at the Vault art gallery, a mix of restaurants and three churches are all located in downtown. On Route 11, the Eureka Schoolhouse and the “town lattice type” Baltimore Covered Bridge both offer a taste of the 18th century.

On VT Route 103 you’ll find the Town of Chester with one of the finest collections of stone houses in Vermont and perhaps in New England.

Further north on Route 103 brings you to Ludlow, home of  Okemo Mountain Resort. A drive south on Route 100 from Ludlow to Weston brings you to the Vermont Country Store, where you can shop for anything from plaid pajamas to espresso beans.   

Weston, which has a population of 630, is also home to the Weston Playhouse, Vermont’s oldest professional theater, and the Weston Priory, a community of Benedictine monks.

Annual events in Southern Windsor County include the Ludlow Winter Carnival, Zucchini Fest, Springfield Apple Festival, Sugar on Snow Chili Cook-Off and Windsor Heritage Days.