In 1978 Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took over an abandoned gas station in Burlington and, with a modicum of training, launched the outlandish flavors that forever changed the way ice cream would be made. While a tour of this factory is no over-the-top Willy Wonka experience, there is a campy video that follows the company's long, strange trip to corporate giant – albeit a very nice giant with an inspiring presence of community building and environmental leadership.
You'll head to a special glassed-in room where you glimpse the production line in action and a staff member explains how it is done. After chowing your (very teeny) free scoops, linger a while in the final hallway, which is festooned with mementos of how they've changed the world one scoop at a time. Behind the factory, a mock cemetery holds 'graves' of Cool Britannia, Holy Cannoli and other flavors that have been laid to rest. In summer, cows roam the pastures surrounding the factory. The factory is 1 mile north of I-89.