A massive mountain park in Vermont celebrates the bond between dogs and their humans

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ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — Anne Pace has been hearing about Dog Mountain for years, but until earlier this month, had never made a trip to the park.

“I really wanted to see this place,” she said, during a visit to the grounds with her one-year-old border collie, Tam. “I put a note up for my previous border collie. He was my best buddy.”

Set on 150 acres tucked away on a hillside in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Dog Mountain has become a destination for dog lovers looking to explore nature, take in art, or pay tribute to a pet.

The park was created 25 years ago by Vermont folk artist Stephen Huneck and his wife, Gwen, and features hiking trails, swimming ponds, an art gallery and a Dog Chapel where visitors can add to the thousands of photos and notes to pets that cover the chapel walls.

“It is absolutely breathtaking. That’s a lot of love when you think about each picture that’s here,” said Vanessa Hurley, who was visiting with her husband and two dogs from Ohio. “Dogs and cats both, they just bring so much enjoyment to our lives,” she said.

Inspired by the bond he shared with his dogs, Huneck wanted to create a space where other animal lovers could celebrate their beloved pets, gallery manager Pam McCann said.

“Dog Mountain is really a pilgrimage place and a sanctuary,” she said.

Huneck’s sculpture, prints and furniture are featured in the gallery and scattered throughout the park, including inside the chapel he built himself. With black labs and golden retrievers carved into the ends of each pew and images of his own dog, Sally, in the stained-glass windows, his love of dogs is evident in every detail.

Scott Ritchie and his wife, Julie, have been traveling the country in an RV with their three large dogs and thought Dog Mountain would be the perfect place for them to stretch their legs. They enjoyed it so much on their first visit, they decided to come back the next day.

“It’s very rare you see something like this anywhere. We’ve been traveling all over the U.S. for five and a half months. Just a beautiful area,” he said.

McCann says the park was made for visitors like Ritchie.

“That’s what it’s for, people who really care and people who are very connected to everything around them,” she said. “Including the animals that they are the guardians of.”