Blazing red and orange maples frame a gleaming white Federal-style steeple rising against a cobalt autumn sky — this chrome-era card captures the Old First Church of Bennington, Vermont at its most photogenic, dressed in New England's finest seasonal colors. Built in 1805 and designed in the Federal style by Lavius Fillmore, the church is one of the most photographed in all of New England, its octagonal lantern belfry and graceful proportions a textbook example of early American ecclesiastical architecture. The card's back notes that the building has been restored to its early 19th-century appearance, and that its churchyard serves as the final resting place of Vermont's governors, founders, and defenders — including the poet Robert Frost. Photographer Frank L. Forward captured this scene for Forward's Color Productions, a Manchester, Vermont publisher known for their vivid regional chrome cards. The white picket fence and gate at left hint at the historic cemetery just beyond frame, lending the scene a quiet, reverential air.