Space Shuttle Memorial

Montpelier, Vermont

An upright granite block is engraved with an image of the Space Shuttle Challenger and the names of its seven crew members. It was dedicated in the summer of 1986, only a few months after the Challenger exploded.

Montpelier Granite Works carved the memorial, and for a while visitors would place apples on top of it in memory of shuttle crewman and doomed schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who came from neighboring New Hampshire.

By 2015, no one could remember who put up the monument, and why it stood on land owned by an insurance company.

In November 2021 the city moved the memorial to a more visible spot near Montpelier High School and an apple tree.

Space Shuttle Memorial

Address:: 1 Bailey Ave., Montpelier, VT
Directions:: Along the walking path between the Winooski River and Montpelier High School. Park at the VSECU Credit Union, follow the path across Bailey Ave. toward the High School, and you'll soon see the monument ahead, on the left.

Nearby Offbeat Places

Cloth Stained With Lincoln's Blood, Montpelier, VT - < 1 mi.

Hubbard Tower, Montpelier, VT - < 1 mi.

Clothespin Grave Marker, Middlesex, VT - 5 mi.

In the region:

Floating Bridge, Brookfield, VT - 15 mi.

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