Crack open a Vermont food sampler and you'll probably find a hunk of sharp cheddar next to the maple syrup. But farmstead alchemists in the Green Mountain state also create award-winning gorgonzola, gouda, feta, chèvre, and other artisanal varieties. In central and northern Vermont, you can drop in on a half dozen cheese wizards, all of whom offer cheesemaking tours and sell their products on-site.

Overview
This roughly 280-mile (450-kilometer) loop of the Cheese Trail begins in Plymouth Notch, accessible from I-89 via Route 4 and Route 100A, then follows Route 100 north to Lincoln Gap Road, which descends to Route 7 in the Champlain Valley. Route 7 links several cheesemakers and other attractions along with Burlington, Vermont's biggest city, and connects near the Canadian border with I-89. Vermont's varied terrain of steep wooded hills, broad dairylands, and meandering river valleys unfolds throughout the drive, which skeins together attractions as varied as the childhood home of a president, a superb museum of Americana, and one of the world's largest granite quarries.

Start in Plymouth Notch
The time-capsule hamlet of Plymouth Notch is where Calvin Coolidge was born in 1872. The entire village, just off Route 100A, is a state historic site (www.historicvermont.org/sites) comprising not only the Coolidge birthplace but the house where John Coolidge administered the oath of office to his Vice President son, Calvin, when President Harding died. Penny candy and old-time toys are for sale in the Coolidge family's 1920s general store, and a visitor center interprets Silent Cal's era.

Plymouth
Frog City Cheese (3780 Route 100A; Plymouth; 802-672-3650; www.frogcitycheese.com) is located in the old Coolidge family cheese factory. "We use the original Coolidge recipes for our moist, creamy Plymouth cheese, a cow's milk variety that isn't made anywhere else," says cheesemaker Tom Gilbert. Tom and his wife, Jackie McCuin, use half-century-old equipment to make what Tom calls "an old-fashioned, unsophisticated cheese" offered in ages ranging from four to 24 months.