LOWER WATERFORD, Vt. -- Talk about romantic. The Rabbit Hill Inn, circa 1795 and no children under 14 allowed, has been the scene of countless weddings and anniversary parties over the years -- along with some of the marriage proposals that preceded them. A horse-drawn sleigh ride through snowy woods near the inn might encourage a person to pop the question.
Brian and Leslie Mulcahy left corporate lives, as so many innkeepers seem to have done, in Rhode Island to take over the inn -- which they first visited in 1992 to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary.
Rabbit Hill may be one of the few inns that actually started as one, and while it has not been reconfigured from an old house, the place has been upgraded in ways important to the romance it engenders: gas fireplaces in the bedrooms and a Jacuzzi tub big enough for two. But no television sets mar the decor of giant four-poster canopied beds and comfortable antique furniture, and why would we want to look at an electronic screen when we can see both Rabbit Hill and Cannon Mountain from our bedroom windows? There isn't even a telephone to jar your senses from the soothing selection of soft, reflective music on the CD player.
The Federal-style, white-columned inn is one of the few buildings in Lower Waterford. The village is so small, Leslie Mulcahy told us, that when one of its matriarchs passed away this summer, a baby was born to take her place within the week, keeping the population at a nice, round 50. Lower Waterford is so small that in 1919, J.W. Davies, a philanthropist who had made his money bringing the process of homogenization to this country from Europe, bought the whole place so he could use every building as houses for his wife and family. Mrs. Davies had all the buildings painted white with dark green shutters, after which everyone called it ''The White Village of Vermont." A most photographed area, with a clapboard Congregational church and an ''honor" library (borrow a book and bring it back whenever you want), it is now a state historic district.
While we were tempted to hang out in the four-poster, or try to put one of the famed Vermont Stave jigsaw puzzles together in the Federal parlor, the late summer weather was too nice for us not to get outside, so the Mulcahys arranged for us to enjoy the steep up-and-down St. Johnsbury Country Club golf course, a 20-minute drive from the inn. There are also seven miles of walking or cross-country ski trails near the inn, and a path between the church and Town Hall (across the street from the inn) leads down to the banks of the Connecticut River, where you can kayak or canoe.
In the late afternoon, Brian Mulcahy tends bar in the Snooty Fox Pub just off the parlor. Later, we had a sophisticated, romantic dinner of wild mushroom risotto, burgundy-braised Vermont lamb or mustard-seed-crusted king salmon with Israeli couscous and beet salad, and a bourbon caramel tart in the inn's candlelit dining room, prepared by executive chef Jeff Fairman. Fairman's career has wended its way through restaurants in Boston and the Portland, Maine, area.
For guests who would like to explore this still unspoiled area of the three counties that make up the state's so-called Northeast Kingdom, the innkeepers have devised a day trip, ''Taster's Tour." You drive a circular route from the inn visiting antiques stores, a bird carver, a Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory, and a winery, among other things. Edmond Menard, the ''Birdman of Cabot," typifies the independent spirit of the artisans of this region, whittling beautiful birds for Christmas ornaments and the like from single pieces of wet, green cedar in his home just off rural Route 2.
The remote and beautiful Max Gray Road in East Calais led us to the mountaintop Grand View Winery, where Phil Tonks and his wife, Julia, make fruit wines from dandelions, pears, elderberries, even cucumbers and rhubarb.
''I can finally use my chemistry background," says a smiling Phil Tonks, who ''retired" here from New Jersey, as he pours blueberry wine from his latest fermentation. At Rabbit Hill, Fairman creates regular wine dinners using these wines to complement his food.
All seasons, except for early-spring ''mud," are beautiful here, but if you want to come in the high season, during fall foliage, it's best to book well in advance. The innkeepers note a high number of returnees, year after year in all seasons, of couples who know how easy it is to reignite the romance at Rabbit Hill.
Contact Julie Hatfield, a freelance writer in Boston, at juliehatfield@adelphia.net. 
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