Vermont State House

You can visit and walk around inside. All the volunteers who greet visitors are lovely people. The sliced marble tiles on the floor have marine fossils. They have excellent restrooms. They host events on the lawn, and occasionally monsters visit (like red giraffes).

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Vermont State Capitol in Montpelier. While this building is less than impressive than some others in size and ornament, it was still enjoyable to see. We got there first thing and parking was readily available in front of the building. Trying to see them all, so this checks this one off the list.

The building is beautiful and steeped in history. I particularly liked the self-guided tour. It was fascinating to see the old Senate and House chambers, which are so well-preserved. It's a great stop for anyone interested in American history and architecture.

Fun time at the smallest state capital! The Vermont State House in Montpelier is absolutely beautiful with a gold leaf dome. Surrounded by gorgeous landscaping, it’s one of the oldest U.S. state capitols still in use, where legislators sit in original 1859 desks. Inside, you’ll find elegant chambers, historic portraits, and hand-carved furnishings. Montpelier itself is the smallest state capital by population—making this gem feel personal, peaceful, and full of charm. A must-see for any traveler!

Beautiful afternoon to revisit the capital building in Montpelier. First visit was in 1984 and it did not disappoint. The weather was perfect and setting was amazing.

Great state house, with awesome guides tour, tons of history

Free tours hourly with very knowledgeable guides. Wonderful history. Worth the visit.

We went around 10 am and somehow had the whole place to ourselves. (Minus anyone who works there) The free self guided tour is available with a talking device you can put up to your ear to help guide you along. (You get these in the middle of the building in the office to the left-free) You are also able to use your phone to listen through it if you choose. There is a QR code in the middle near the front doors after you walk in. It gives you a lot of interesting information about the numerous paintings, statues, and items stretched across 2 floors as well as allowing you to see the different rooms.(one of which was the representative hall) I did feel that sometimes the audio went off on tangents unrelated to the area it was for. It is handicap accessible and has an elevator up to the second floor. It also looked like there was also a cafeteria on the 2nd floor available for us to eat at but we didn't eat there or look into it further. We spent about an hour here but depending on how long you like to spend at each area, I'd say between 1-2.5 hours to visit the state house. We parked on the street with meters but I'm not sure if there's a parking lot available as well. Overall, it was really interesting, the building itself is beautiful, there are tons of paintings, and the audio about the outside is well worth a listen!

We were driving by on the interstate and decided to stop. I am so glad we did. This is a beautiful capitol with rich history. We took the free guided tour and learned so much. The small city was fun to look around at as well. You definitely need to stop here if you are driving by. The tours are offered on the hour, so don't be late.

I visited the Vermont State house in the summer of 2022. This review is long overdue. I'm trying to visit most of the state houses in the country. This beautiful historic structure really stands out in the small town of Montpelier. The gold dome draws your attention to it. I arrived just in time, as a tour had just started. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable about the building and the work that goes on there. The building is well designed, with gorgeous artwork and statues throughout. It's smaller than most state houses and there is no rotunda, which is the most impressive part of the bigger state houses. Worth a visit and a tour if you find yourself in Vermont.

Very much enjoyed the state Capitol tour and learning about vermont's history and people. The live tour was very interesting. The guide covered a lot. Questions were not encouraged, but were answered when asked. Free parking on residential streets.

Strictly based on the walk up and appearance. No idea what is inside or goes on inside. Montpelier is a great city to visit and live.

It's fine. Nice architecture but fights often take place on the steps. While looking at pictures of me an my wife in front of the golden dome, I noticed an unconscious man in the background. Will return in the future.., maybe.

My 22nd State Capitol, I stopped by on a holiday and had a chance to enjoy at least the outside as it was closed and locked up. Quite a majestic building, even if it is a little smaller than most of the state capitols I have visited to date. Montpelier became the Capital in 1808, when the first State House was built. Ammi B. Young's 2nd State House, built in 1838 and destroyed by fire in 1857, was similar to this third structure on the site, completed in 1859. My 9331st review overall and my 900th review for 2018!

Whenever I am at a new state and I am in their capitol city I love to visit their Capitol building. The Vermont Capitol building was built before the Civil War and it is a stately building. The building is currently under renovations so we were not able to get a thorough visit but what we were able to see was beautiful and well maintained. We were lucky enough to be granted permission to visit the House and Senate chambers. The actual building itself was not as large as I expected it to be but it definitely has plenty of character. Glad to have been able to visit. The one thing I found interesting was the people who work in the building; they treated us so well. At the end of the day in buildings like these it is not necessarily about the building but the people and they left a great impression.

Good lawd, this place is beautiful. Sitting in downtown Montpelier, this building stands out among the surrounding buildings. I passed by it as I stopped by for lunch. After I ate, I came back to check it out. I found metered parking along the street. I took some good shots, but did not hang around too long. The long paved pathway towards the building leads to a stone stairwell and to the front doors of the building. The doors were open, but I did not go inside. I just took in the sight of this magnificent place and moved along my journey to Portland.

One of the smaller, yet most beautiful state capitals. I was there on a chilly, rainy, autumn day and there were very few tourists around. I believe they were having an event the next day, so there were people moving things around. I drove up to the right side of the building and parked in a small lot. Upon exiting, there was a gate that was down that had not been down when I entered. I guess I wasn't supposed to have parked there. The interior is so pretty and handsomely decorated. The town of Montpelier isn't one of my favorite capital cities, but I am glad I was able to come here and cross this one off my list.

You know Vermont is the safest state in USA when you visit their state house and this happened : 1. No metal detector greeting you, you just walked through side door. 2. The only security guard were busy chatting & simply ignore you. 3. There was a protest going on but we didn't see any armed force police. 4. You walked freely along the rooms,took pictures,some doors were left opened. 5.The governor walked pass you and he only had 2 secret service guys behind him. Did we mention there was a protest? All that said,the building is small (comparing to others) ,they use every space in the wall to put painting of past governors,some old and modern rooms. Come visit when you are in Vermont, Montpelier is a nice little city and after this now you only have to visit 49 state capitols. There is free parking across the building.

First of all, I am totally impressed with Montpelier hospitality. I was driving through New England and had already made stops in Maine and New Hampshire and was really looking forward to visiting Montpelier and the State House. The folks in charge of tours are absolutely amazing: Angelica and David were so gracious to let me do the tour even though they were closing early. Many, many thanks to them both! It was a fabulous tour! This is an awesome stop for anyone interested in history and/or politics. The restoration/preservation work they did was remarkable. I didn't stay long in town--I had to drive to Albany for an event that evening. But I plan to come again sometime in the future and bring other folks so we can spend more time in the town and so they can see the State House too!

I love visiting state capitol buildings and I couldn't pass up the chance to stop in here when driving through Vermont. The building is very, very small and is located on one of the downtown streets in Montpelier, the smallest state capital of any state. Touring is free and surprisingly, you don't have to go through security to get into the building. It's a neat building to see and it should only take about 30 minutes to go through the whole building. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes visiting state capitol buildings or anyone who's in the area looking for something to do.

Wonderful place to visit! Ellie was our tour guide and we honestly just loved her so much! The tours are free and completely worth it! You get so much history knowledge about Vermont and get to see the hope state house. Amazing place to stop and beautiful inside and out.

This is worth checking out. You can roam around the inside of the building freely, or take the free tour. This building is a well preserved piece of Vermont history. Here is my big tip: Upstairs there is a very nice cafe with reasonable prices and a large and very comfortable dining area that has dynamite nature views. I had the "house hoagie." It was more like a hybrid steak sandwich. Cost: $5.28. This sandwich was tasty and an excellent value for the quantity of food it contained. Merely thinking about it makes me want another house hoagie right now. Mmm... Probably the cafe is intended for the government workers, but visitors are welcomed too.

Who doesn't love a little state history? Take the free tour - totally worth it! See the chair made from wood from Old Ironsides, the original marble floors from the 1800s with visible fossils in them mined from Isle la Motte (which used to be underwater), and all sorts of other historical goodies. Montpelier is an awesome little (town). The smallest state capital in the nation, Montpelier tops out under 8,000. The Statehouse is delightfully beautiful, yet super accessible. Beautiful gardens and lawn. And it wouldn't be VT without it's own veggie garden, too.

Really pretty place. Very small for a state capitol. This is the first state capitol I've visited where you don't have to go through metal detectors as soon as you walk through the door. Instead, the entire building seems to be protected by one bored, jolly, smiling guard. There is a self-guided cell phone tour with accompanying map at the entrance. Guided tours are out-of-season as of the back half of June. Their guided tour season is very short, and rolls into fall foliage season instead of summer. The downstairs is three hallways arranged in an upside down "T" (if entering from the front). The Lieutenant Governor's office was actually open with real, live human beings in there doing some sort of "work"? A first on our tours of state buildings! Upstairs are your senate and house rooms and some other chambers. Very pretty, bring your camera. The third floor is mostly offices. There is also a cafeteria somewhere up there. We didn't eat, but it looked nice and the prices seemed good. My favorite thing about this state house is it's informal nature in a time of impeding security everywhere. You can pull up and park just a few feet from the Capitol grounds. It's all right there; right in front of the thing. We stopped by at sundown and every night people were sitting in the grass, playing soccer, walking their dog, and generally enjoying the cool Vermont summer nights. If more state buildings were like this one, we'd be better for it. Subtracting one star only because I wish the guided tour season was a little longer, and the building really is quite small.

It's a gorgeous building with a nice front lawn area. People were milling around, and the general atmosphere was peaceful and pleasant. It's also a decent picture spot. Parking is available on the street (pay to park). There's not much of it available, but it's a small town so there's less traffic. It's a refreshing place to be, especially during the cool fall evenings. We went around sunset and had a great view outside.

Small but very well renovated to bring out many of the ornate original decorations and interiors altered over three decades. Vermont is known for its granite and marble so there are copious amounts of both here. The chambers themselves are grand 19th century interiors. If you do the full audio tour it could take 1.5 hours, but you won't be bored. Wander through to the additions at the rear of the complex to find the cafeteria, which should probably get its own yelp listing. Simple, affordable VT food in a big, airy dining room with a super friendly staff. And amazingly, they are open during Xmas week, out of session, in the depths of a frigid Vermont winter!

This is a gorgeous capital building. And they are even open on Saturdays (April - mid October). They have guided tours or walk about by yourself. Our tour guide was super informative. Parking on the side (if looking at the capital, on your left) was free (no meters). Handicapped parking is up the hill. They have marble floors from Vermont and still have the fossils in each tile. Pretty cool.

Make it a priority to visit this State Building and take the tour. It is worth the time and drive to get there. I took photographs from the inside of the Governor's office through the windows toward the outside. You will learn much about history and be taken to the Senate rooms to sit. Lots of national historical figures came from Vermont and you will learn about them.

This is small compared to the one in Sacramento, beautiful nonetheless. It is accessible so take the free tour! They have a lot of historical information in there that are definitely worth reading. Great place to visit if you like history.