Making the Rounds of the Chicken Pie Circuit

Richmond

THE SUPPER: Wednesday, Oct. 3, Richmond Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), corner of Bridge and Church streets (Exit 11 from Interstate 89). The Colonial Revival-style church, built in 1903, has held chicken pie suppers for 60 years. All the chicken pies and desserts are still made at home by churchwomen. Men of the community organize schedules, recruit cooks, do setups and cleanups: A father and son peel all the squash, a team of men peels the potatoes, and one man is in charge of coleslaw. Four seatings, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ("And we do takeout.") Price: $8.50, $4 for children 12 and younger, free for preschoolers. Reservations: 802-434-2516.

WHAT'S SPECIAL: The gravy. "Serving the gravy hot is our specialty," says volunteer Daniel Peet. "If it sits on the table very long, we take it back and reheat it." The coleslaw's a blend of green and red cabbage, peppers, carrots, celery and onions plus a secret dressing. Richmond's menu includes cottage cheese and dill pickles; "a chunka cheese" accompanies the pumpkin or apple pie.

THE TOWN: Richmond is a valley town of 4,000 on the Winooski River between Montpelier and Burlington. The town's Old Round Church, a National Historic Landmark across the Winooski from the supper site, is a 16-sided building completed in 1814. The much-loved story goes that the church was built round to deny the devil a corner to hide in. The church, with its box pews and 12-over-12 windows, is open to visitors daily during foliage season.

Montpelier

THE SUPPER: Saturday, Sept. 22, and Saturday, Oct. 6, Trinity United Methodist Church, 137 Main St. (Exit 8 from I-89). The big, red-brick church with its slate roof and steeple is home to many outreach activities, from a food pantry and free weekly community lunch to the chicken pie suppers held here since 1960. A professional kitchen means that most cooking can be done on-site; the large dining room can serve 160 comfortably. Two seatings each day, at 5 and 6:30 p.m. Price: $10, $5 for children 10 and younger. Reservations: 802-229-4287.

WHAT'S SPECIAL: Patricia Alger's sweet-hot horseradish/beet relish, served with the conventional cranberry sauce, is unique to Montpelier's event. Buttercup squash is roasted in its shell with butter and brown sugar. Green Mountain Roasters contributes good coffee to accompany those iconoclastic chocolate cream and peanut butter pies.

THE TOWN: Montpelier was chartered in 1781 and, with a population of about 8,000, is the nation's smallest state capital. It's a lively, walkable city, with several good independent bookstores and a number of locally owned restaurants. The Vermont Historical Society Museum (109 State St.) tells the story of Vermont history through such exhibits as a 17th-century Abenaki Indian dwelling, a Revolutionary War tavern and an early-19th-century general store.

Waterbury Center

THE SUPPER: Thursday, Oct. 4, Waterbury Center Community Church, 3582 Waterbury-Stowe Rd./Route 100 (five miles north of Exit 10 off I-89). Lilac bushes bracket the entrance to this classic village church, a religious and social gathering place since it rose among surrounding farmsteads in 1833, built four bricks thick and underpinned by a foundation of native stone. The suppers are served on the first floor. Three seatings: noon, 5 and 6:30 p.m. Price: $8, $4.50 for children. Reservations: 802-244-1192.

WHAT'S SPECIAL: Not only is Waterbury Center's chicken pie Vermont's best, volunteer Betty Jones vows, but "our coleslaw is the best, made with red cabbage, lemon juice, vinegar and mayonnaise." Inside tip: "All the apple pies are good, but Harriet Guyette's are the best."

THE TOWN: Established in 1796 in a fold of the Green Mountains, Waterbury Center is a postcard Vermont village, a place of white clapboard houses and red sheds, stone doorsteps and sugar maples.

A river of Champlain Valley McIntosh apple cider flows from the 1920s-era press at Cold Hollow Cider Mill. Pick up a gallon, or try the cider doughnuts that Gourmet magazine cited among America's best. Cold Hollow's store is a good one-stop shop for Vermont products, including buttermilk honey, medium amber maple syrup and raspberry peach jam. A Cabot cheese outlet is a mile or so away on Route 100; just beyond that is Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory.

Jericho Center

THE SUPPER: Saturday, Oct. 6, Jericho Congregational Church, on the Town Green (about 6 1/2 miles from Exit 11 off I-89). The church, built in 1835, dominates the green, which is edged by maples, oaks and evergreens. Four seatings hourly from 4:30 p.m. Price: $8.50, $4.25 for children ages 2 to 12, free for younger kids. Reservations: 802-899-3313, beginning Sept. 15. Don't call before that date, but don't wait much later: This supper always sells out.

WHAT'S SPECIAL: Jericho Center's suppers offer more than food and fellowship. "We do this primarily not to make money, but to glorify the Lord," supper coordinator Martha Frost observes. "Before the supper, we have a musical presentation by a choir or quartet, usually a Christian song or old spiritual." The pastor says grace before servers bear forth the chicken pies, all made in home kitchens. Variations on the typical menu include home-baked dinner rolls, sweet pickles and cheddar cheese served with the pumpkin or apple pie. This year's suppers will be held in a newly renovated fellowship hall.

THE TOWN: Jericho Center was the home of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, the man who discovered that no two snowflakes are alike. A self-educated farmer, Bentley was a pioneer in photomicrography, the first to photograph a single snowflake. Jericho Center winters gave him an abundance of raw material; he's believed to have photographed 5,000 crystals before his death from pneumonia in 1931. Learn more about him at the library on the Town Green.

Groton

THE SUPPER: Saturday, Oct. 6, Groton Community Building, next to the fire station on Route 302, about 25 miles east of Montpelier. "This is truly a town event," chairwoman Mary Grant says. "Rarely is any family able to escape the determined efforts of the coordinators of the supper. . . . Once you have committed to volunteering, the only way to escape is to leave town." The supper benefits community projects, including a scholarship fund. Hourly seatings, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Price: $9, $4 for children 3 to 12, free for younger kids. Reservations: 802-584-4748. Be quick; some seatings sell out a year in advance.

WHAT'S SPECIAL: All the chicken pies, biscuits and rolls, and apple and pumpkin pies come from local home kitchens. "The squash is a secret recipe," Grant says. "Everyone wants our squash!" It takes 400 pounds to satisfy the demand, plus 832 pounds of chicken, 52 gallons of gravy and 300 pounds of potatoes.

THE TOWN: Groton lies in one of Vermont's most sparsely populated regions, known as the Northeast Kingdom, a place of deep woods and glittering ponds and lakes. Its isolated setting led to its choice as a location for the 1993 film of Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome." Each October, the community of fewer than 1,000 residents comes together for Festival Day, with a "lumberjack breakfast," a book sale, a concert at the bandstand, a parade and an evening hymn sing at the Baptist church. The October color that drenches this region is on exhibit at five nearby state parks; the sharp scent of evergreens spices wood-smoke evenings.

-- C.M.