Once a small clearing in the woods, Montpelier today sits at the center of Vermont s civic and cultural life. Its artists, legislators, innovators and leaders have made the nation s smallest state capital a crossroads for all. Glimpse the only surviving photographs of the second State House taken just years before it burned and the welcome given to Admiral George Dewey, fresh from victory in the Spanish-American War, by the largest crowd the city has ever seen. Survey the wreckage of the 1927 flood, learn how Montpelier s glorious historic district came to life and follow the footsteps of presidents passing through town.Gathered together for the first time, these timeless images show Montpelier s citizens in their grittiest, saddest, happiest and most triumphant moments."