Norcross-West Marble Quarry

The first marble quarry in the country is also an arrestingly beautiful swimming hole, with smooth rock terraces rising up to ten feet above the clear water. When the weather creeps past 80 degrees, locals from this tiny town in southern Vermont plunge into a natural swimming pool stretching 360 feet long and 90 feet across. The quarry opened in 1785, and supplied marble for the New York Public Library. The Dorset Union Store, the oldest continuously operating general store in Vermont, is a good post-swim pit-stop for homemade baked goods, a bottle of wine, or lunch to-go—it has been Dorset’s communal heartbeat for over 200 years.