Christmas movies set in Vermont: From least accurate to most accurate

April McCullum | Burlington Free Press

Movie studios have ramped up their production of low-budget Christmas movies, and that means we'll be seeing a lot more depictions of Vermont.

In the confines of your television screen, Vermonters love nothing more than Christmas. People live in harmony, and only the intrusion of a corporate profiteer could ruin their peace.

In these movies, which are almost never filmed in Vermont, everyone wears much more makeup and hair product than you'd ever see in a school gymnasium on Town Meeting Day. The clothes tend to be more L.L. Bean than Carhartt. Few people wear winter hats, despite constantly talking about how cold they are. Mountains are usually too large.

Every town has a mayor, no matter how small. (This concept really got to me, for some reason. Vermont has 251 towns but just eight mayors — not counting Fair Haven's goat mayor.) Career-minded women never fail to learn what's truly important, and something beloved is always being saved.

I watched as many Vermont Christmas movies as I could find. Here's my totally subjective ranking from least accurate to most accurate. Which movies ring true to a lifelong Vermonter?

'The Tree That Saved Christmas' (UPtv)

Synopsis: A little girl serenades her favorite Christmas tree with a guitar and prevents it from being cut down on her family's Christmas tree farm in Vermont. Years later, as an adult, she stumbles upon that same tree in New York City. She straps it to her car and brings it back to Vermont to see her family, where she learns that the bank is foreclosing on her parents' farm and turning it into a golf resort. Can the family manipulate historic preservation laws to save the farm — and the town?

See also: All the Vermont Christmas tree stats you've ever wanted

Setting: The fictional town of Danbury Falls, Vermont, a tiny town that also somehow has a City Council with meeting chambers fancier than Burlington's. Filmed in British Columbia, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Key quote: "This tree brought me home for a reason. It's a sign."

Accuracy: The filmmakers weren't trying too hard. They did use green Vermont license plates in key shots.

The main character's mother, who lives in what we are told is an 1800s-era log cabin with cathedral ceilings, makes sandwiches with orange cheese. (Unthinkable!)

But what lands this film at the bottom of my accuracy ranking is the moment the main character's brother takes a sip of Vermont beer and winces: "The beer tastes the same. A little skunky, a little rank." I dare him to tell that to Hill Farmstead.

More: Meet the South Burlington man who's helping to make your draft beer taste good

'Christmas in Evergreen' (Hallmark Channel)

Synopsis: Allie, a small-town Vermont veterinarian, has plans to move away to be closer to her boyfriend. When a massive snowstorm cancels her flight, she's forced to remain in town with a handsome stranger and his daughter, giving them all a chance to experience the magic of Christmas.

Setting: The fictional town of Evergreen, Vermont. Filmed in British Columbia, according to IMDb.

Accuracy: My beef with this film starts with the opening narration: "In northern Vermont, so far north that on clear days you might be able to see the North Pole, lies the magical town of Evergreen." (Go ahead and try this at home, Vermonters, but I think you'll have to really squint. For reference, Highgate, on the Canadian border, is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.)

In fact, I spent much of the film trying to figure out where Evergreen might be located. The film would have us believe that Evergreen is an "exit" off U.S. 7, but when the main character shuts down her veterinarian practice, she repeatedly tells people to take their pets to a vet in Montpelier, as if that's the closest alternative. So ... New Haven?

But then a storm causes a rock slide that cuts the town off from the rest of the world and its tourists: "There's only one road in and out of town," the main character notes ruefully. At this point, I'm stumped.

The filmmakers take inaccuracy to an impressive level of detail in a scene at Burlington International Airport. Yellow taxi cabs pull up to "Terminal 1." (The real airport only has one terminal.)

The airport in the movie has an attached hotel, which is called "Burlington Central Hotel" and has — I kid you not — a logo identical to the red-and-white B that once marked the old Burlington Town Center mall. How did the filmmakers know that there was a hotel planned for the airport?

And the town has a mayor.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. The film does get a few things right: The filmmakers use green Vermont license plates. Characters mention Montpelier and pronounce it correctly. There is a dairy farm. And the film captures the shortage of primary care doctors in Vermont: Evergreen's "town doctor" just retired, and the mayor is desperate to recruit a new one.

'Romance at Reindeer Lodge' (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)

Synopsis: Hard-working Molly wins a radio contest for a Christmas getaway to Jamaica. It’s not until she’s on the plane, wearing a floppy sun hat, that she learns that she has won a trip to a Jamaica, Vermont. Molly settles in reluctantly at Reindeer Lodge, not realizing that handsome fellow guest Jared is planning to shut down the inn. Can they save it?

Setting: Jamaica, Vermont (a real town in Windham County), but filmed in Connecticut, according to IMDb.

Key quote: A local townsperson offers this excuse for being late to an event: "Mrs. Elliott’s cows got out, blocked the main highway. Nobody could pass. We all had to take the side road."

Accuracy: This movie gets points for using the name of an actual Vermont town, which enables the “Jamaica” mixup gimmick to dominate the first act. Beyond that, there’s not much attention to geographic accuracy. Molly boards a tiny plane in Chicago and lands at a building labeled “Rutland Vermont Airport,” which has no direct flights from Chicago. A man greets her by saying “Welcome to Jamaica,” which is actually about an hour’s drive from Rutland.

A car lacks a front license plate, which is required by state law, but at least the back plate is green.

The setting at a reindeer preserve is reminiscent of the real-life Vermont Reindeer Farm in Orleans, though a character’s excitement over seeing reindeer in their “natural habitat” of Vermont is a bit of a stretch.

More: Which real Vermont town is featured in a Hallmark Christmas movie?

'A Christmas in Vermont' (ION)

Synopsis: Riley arrives in Vermont to shut down a struggling outerwear company on behalf of its out-of-state corporate owners. As she falls in love with the town and with the CEO, she begins to have second thoughts.

Setting: An unnamed town in Vermont where most people wear flannel most of the time and there are no sushi restaurants.

The film was shot around Buffalo, N.Y., according to IMDb. At least there's a ski hill in the background of most of the shots.

Key quote: "You don't export any old winter boots. You export Vermont. The shine of an apple, the sparkle of the night sky, the amber shade of maple syrup."

Accuracy: It's not a great movie, but the plot reflects Vermont's aversion to corporate ownership and the reality that some towns rely almost entirely on a single family business.

In a fight between the romantic leads, the Vermonter exhibits realistic snobbery against outsiders: "Things from the city don't work here. You're just another import from New York that doesn't belong." (Spot on: More taxpayers move to Vermont from New York than from any other state, according to the Legislature's Joint Fiscal Office.)

At other times, it feels like the scriptwriters just tried to incorporate as many references to maple syrup and cheddar cheese as possible, even though neither product features in the plot. A company stooge warns his boss that something is wrong: "I have to tell you, something just doesn't smell right." The boss, played by Chevy Chase, replies, "Well, it's Vermont. It's probably just the cheese."

'The Spirit of Christmas' (MarVista)

Synopsis: I can't say it any better than the filmmakers: "As Christmas approaches, attorney Kate Jordan travels to Vermont to oversee the sale of an inn, where she falls for a handsome but cursed ghost."

Setting: The haunted Hollygrove Inn in fictional Ashford County, Vermont. (Filmed in Massachusetts, according to IMDb.)

Accuracy: A significant plot point involves a rum runner who brought alcohol from Montreal to Vermont during Prohibition. Plenty of parts of this movie will make you scratch your head, but that detail is plausible enough.

More: History Space: How Vermont handled Prohibition

'Entertaining Christmas' (Hallmark Channel)

Synopsis: Candace's mother is "the queen of crafts," a Martha Stewart type with a national television and magazine empire. There's just one problem: Unlike her mother, Candace can't cook, knit or develop recipes to save her life. She will be asked to do all of those things during a visit to Vermont, where a handsome local reporter starts getting suspicious.

Setting: The fictional town of Cedar Falls, Vermont.

Accuracy: Vermont features little in the overall plot, except for the scenes of the Cedar Falls holiday festivities. The town has a mayor (again with the mayors), a newspaper, an inn and a massive Christmas festival with a gingerbread competition.

'Always and Forever Christmas' (Lifetime)

Synopsis: Marketing executive Lucy travels to Stowe to close down her grandfather's year-round Christmas store, which she has recently inherited. She plans to sell the property to an athleisure company, but begins to reconsider when she meets a handsome local diner owner and discovers the store's Christmas magic.

Setting: Stowe, but filmed in Manitoba, Canada, according to IMDb.

Accuracy: I enjoyed watching the main character running around holding up her cell phone, searching for a signal. That's a frustration many Vermonters and visitors know well.

Otherwise, movie Stowe looks nothing like the real Stowe. The movie gives Stowe a mayor (again with the mayors!).

'Road to Christmas' (Hallmark Channel)

Synopsis: Television producer Maggie prepares for a live Christmas broadcast of a cooking show at a farmhouse in Vermont. To pull it off, she will need to make peace with co-producer Danny, played by Chad Michael Murray, who has very different ideas.

Setting: Various towns throughout the United States; the film concludes in an unnamed Vermont location. Filmed in British Columbia, according to IMDb.

Accuracy: Most of the movie takes place outside of Vermont, but watch for the scene when the lead characters take a train to a Vermont town called "Springsfeld." (Springfield? Your guess is as good as mine.) From there, they take a horse-drawn sleigh to the farmhouse where they will film the live broadcast.

'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa' (Hallmark Channel)

Synopsis: A Boston retail designer returns to her hometown of Evergreen, Vermont, and is dismayed to find that the historic general store has closed and fallen into disrepair. With the help of a handsome local contractor, she resolves to fix the store and get it ready to sell in time for Christmas.

Setting: The fictional town of Evergreen, Vermont. Filmed in British Columbia, according to IMDb.

Accuracy: Do your best to ignore the fact that the main promotional image for this movie features Burlington's Church Street Marketplace. This movie has nothing to do with Burlington.

The central conceit of losing a beloved general store will feel familiar to many Vermonters. When the owners of the Ripton General Store retired in 2018, author and activist Bill McKibben took to the pages of the New York Times in search for new owners who would preserve its glory and save the town.

Evergreen's location continues to confound me. A character takes a train from Boston straight into Evergreen. This raises the question: Why was it such a problem when the "one road in and out of town" was blocked by a landslide in the first "Evergreen" film?

Lastly, a character mentions that Evergreen has a "maple syrup sugar shack." That sounds a little too Canadian. We call them sugarhouses, Hallmark.

'Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy' (Hallmark Channel)

Synopsis: A magazine writer searches for the story on Evergreen's Christmas fascination as the townspeople buzz with rumors about a magical Christmas time capsule hidden 50 years ago.

Setting: The fictional town of Evergreen, Vermont. In this film we learn that Evergreen's first major industry was a hat factory.

Key quote: "Our dating scene is small, which is a shame because it's fairly romantic around here."

Accuracy: The film makes up for a lack of plot with an abundance of Vermont trivia. At the local library, the main character quickly learns that famous Vermonters include Rudy Vallee, Alison Bechdel and Robert Frost. Her love interest later tells her that Calvin Coolidge was from Vermont and was the first American president to light a national Christmas tree. ("He ordered a balsam fir not too farm from here.")

As the movie ends, town leaders resolve to build another road.

'Last Vermont Christmas' (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)

Synopsis: Megan returns to her Vermont hometown to discover that her parents are planning to sell their house and retire to Arizona. To make matters more confusing, her high school sweetheart Nash has moved back to town and is planning to buy the property.

Setting: Woodstock, Vermont. Though picturesque Woodstock would have been a perfect filming location, the filmmakers instead chose Rhinebeck and Kingston, New York, according to IMDb.

Key quote: "Things change. Now I see the appeal. It's a great little family town."

Accuracy: This movie plays with the real-life struggle of Vermonters who have made their careers elsewhere, only to be drawn back home. There are no major flaws. A mention of Coolidge State Park, about 20 minutes from Woodstock, shows the filmmakers did their research.

The Woodstock of the film goes all out for Christmas celebrations in a way reminiscient of the real-life Wassail Weekend.

Characters take turns splitting wood. The door of a local real estate office displays a phone number with a New York area code.

'Moonlight and Mistletoe' (Hallmark Channel)

Synopsis: When her father gets injured on a sleigh ride, Holly returns to her Vermont hometown. She discovers that her father's Christmas-themed tourist attraction, Santaville, has fallen on hard times. Locals blame television and the internet. Can Holly and a childhood friend save Santaville, or will they be forced to sell to a profit-hungry investment company?

Setting: Set and filmed in Chester, Vermont.

Key quote: "There still is a place where people care in this world."

Accuracy: "Moonlight and Mistletoe" benefits from being the only movie on this list that was actually filmed in Vermont. Scenes feature a covered bridge, an inn, the Chester train station and other real-life buildings.

Subtract accuracy points for a scene that features Holly arriving in Chester on a Green Mountain Railroad train from Boston. There is no such route.

'White Christmas' (Paramount Pictures)

Synopsis: Entertainers travel to a Vermont inn to perform a Christmas show, only to find the inn in crisis because there's no snow.

Setting: The fictional town of Pine Tree, Vermont.

Key quote: "Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, with all that snow."

Accuracy: This 1954 film helped form Vermont's image as a tourist destination, and there's nothing much to quibble with other than the fact that it was filmed in California.

I thought of "White Christmas" a few years ago, when it was so warm on Christmas Eve that local kids organized a baseball game. They didn't seem to mind.

More: 'White Christmas' puts imaginary Vermont town in spotlight

'Christmas Around the Corner' (Lifetime)

Synopsis: Venture capitalist Claire books a month-long vacation at a Vermont bookstore that allows guests to try their hand at running the store. It's the worst possible time to visit: A recent flood has devastated the town and forced the cancellation of traditional Christmas activities. With the help of a handsome blacksmith who owns the bookstore, Claire sets out to revive the business and the town.

Setting: Glastenbury, Vermont — a real unincorporated community in Bennington County that is frequently described as a "ghost town." The movie was filmed in Ontario, according to IMDb.

Key quote: "You have to be careful about stereotyping small towns."

Accuracy: Despite having been filmed in Canada, "Christmas Around the Corner" gives viewers a better sense of Vermont than many other films of the genre.

A woman who manages the bookstore takes one look at Claire's shoes and can tell that she's from New York City. "Vermonters are notoriously suspicious of outsiders, especially those from New York," the older woman cautions.

Later in the film, Claire's love interest tells her she's picked the wrong food for a party in the bookstore. "This isn’t even Vermont cheese," he says. "This might be fine for your Upper East Side friends, but not going to cut it here."

THE SCHEDULE: Stowe is having a Christmas party and it sounds pretty adorable

TOWN FOCUS: Which real Vermont town is featured in a Hallmark Christmas movie?

HO-HO HOLIDAY: Enjoy these Vermont shows and events

This was the only movie I watched where the female lead wears a substantial winter coat that looks warm enough for a real Vermont winter. The townspeople are not all supermodels, and most people attending a church choral concert have gray hair. A local teenager longs to pursue a career elsewhere but feels obligated to take over her family's Christmas tree farm.

This is the rare movie that acknowledges not all problems in Vermont can be solved by one snow storm and a bit of Christmas magic. "We’re a small town, but we have a homeless problem just like every other city in America," a local pastor tells Claire.

WHERE CAN YOU GO?: Vermonters hunt for Christmas trees

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: 'White Christmas' puts imaginary Vermont town in spotlight

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Campaign to give cookies to temporary shelter families

Astute viewers will notice a few small details: A sign says Glastenbury was chartered in 1799. (The real town was created in 1761. Close enough?) At the local chamber of commerce office, watch for a framed certificate from the "Vermont Historic Preservation Society" that says Glastenbury has been named "the most Christmassy place on earth."

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum.