Back twenty years to... Friday, September 22nd, 2006. Day 167. 'Leaf-peeping' country in the fall. The esteem of a US post office, three Rules for Robots, peace, protest and disaffected youth. Ben and Jerry's, Norman Rockwell, 'Ticonderoga' and beer-can and cardboard recycling – at last.

"Next stop is my Vermont target town of Montpelier, which is rather an odd one – because with a population of only a little over eight thousand – it is also the State Capital. The glinting, golden dome of the Capitol building is visible from the highway as I drive in. It is also, as all my guidebooks happily exclaim: "The only State Capital without a McDonald's restaurant." This omission – or prohibition, more like – being by popular, public demand. Such is the 'green and stroppy' attitude in this particular small State. I cross over the Winooski River, and follow the signs for a parking-lot. The ticket machine is out-of-order, and a hastily prepared sign on it says: "Park your car and have a nice day."

The downtown area is absolutely brimming and buzzing with life – and with no doubt at all – this is 'Liberal America Central'. Democracy-ville. Chock-full with whole-food stores, vegetarian, vegan and sushi restaurants. Edgy, militant bookshops – and 'alternative' gift-shops – selling crystals, and other such hippie paraphernalia. Such a mellow and enchantingly laid-back feel. On Main Street there's: "Yoga Mountain. Sanctuary for the Spirit. Meditation and Massage."

Guys with long, straggly grey beards, baggy corduroy trousers and socks-on with sandals. Proudly promenading mothers and fathers, carrying their 'designer kids' in tie-dye shoulder-slings. Then there's the 'barefoot brigade'. Pipe smokers. Chess and backgammon players, and a band of older folk, practising their so beautifully choreographed Tai-Chi, in the central town park.

Walking all around the place, I get chatting with 'the rebellious youth'. Her with bright pink hair – and her friend, with a piercing in his nose, and an anarchic knee-patch: "Destroy Everything." Counterculture appears to be the beating heart of Montpelier, and the Green Agenda is apparent everywhere. From 'organic fare', lactose-free – a tiny red mowing tractor fuelled by biodiesel, the multitude of recycling bins all around the town – to an apparent spat, about the high size of white – but oh-so 'green' windmills."

In Search of Small-Town America: Volume 1 is a free-of-charge Pdf digital download – available from our shop. A table of contents, the introduction, the route-map – and featuring content on the first two States travelled: New Mexico and Arizona.

Jeremy Hammond I am a British writer and photographer, and have travelled through India, China, Southeast Asia and Australia, but most extensively in North America. In the late seventies and early eighties, I worked as lighting crew, and later designer, for many top-named British bands, on tours through Europe, Japan, and the USA. I’ve worked as a cruise-ship photographer, in office and store design, database design, visual arts book publishing and as a London-based freelance photographer, specialising in interiors and architecture.