Eliza Fitzhugh & Andrés Gutierrez

South Burlington, VT

Eliza and Andres outside her father’s home in Northfield, Vermont where the two found shelter from the pandemic to welcome their son. Photo by Anna Watts.

Eliza Fitzhugh and her husband Andres Gutierrez already had a lot on their minds when the pandemic shut down New York City in mid-March. The couple was expecting their first child, due on April 9th, along with a packed household of ten guests, from Eliza’s Vermont family to Andres’s parents from Bogota, Colombia. Flights were booked and the couple had reserved space in the apartments above their Brooklyn brownstone to accommodate the big household .

In early August, the couple packed up all the belongings from their Brooklyn apartment that have been housed in Eliza’s father’s garage in Northfield, in preparation for their move to their new home in South Burlington. Photo by Anna Watts

By mid-March, everything began to change. Both Eliza and Andres were still working, but now from home. The neighborhood parents’ group was buzzing with dozens of daily emails as soon-to-be parents across Brooklyn assessed the risk of delivering their children in New York hospitals, which were already overflowing with cases of COVID-19. “We had been going back and forth, back and forth,” said Eliza, about the possibility of going to Vermont to have their child, “and we had decided no.”

Andres packs up the couple’s bikes during their move from Northfield to South Burlington while Eliza’s mother takes care of their son. Bikes are a big part of their life —Eliza and Andres’s first date five years ago was a long New York City bike rid… — Andres packs up the couple’s bikes during their move from Northfield to South Burlington while Eliza’s mother takes care of their son. Bikes are a big part of their life —Eliza and Andres’s first date five years ago was a long New York City bike ride! Photo by Anna Watts.

But on March 22nd, she received an email in the parents’ group that informed her partners would no longer be allowed in the hospital during a birth. This was a heavy blow. “It’s his kid too. He should see the beginning of his kid’s life,” said Eliza of the possibility that Andres would miss the birth. “In this moment, I lost it and said, ‘OK, let’s see about Vermont.’”

Eliza and her child on the steps of her father’s home in Northfield, Vermont. Photo by Anna Watts.

Growing up between the small urban center of Montpelier and rural Northfield, Eliza said hers was the type of Vermont childhood where you just “know everybody.” Her father, who also ran his own business, also hayed the fields below his Northfield home and tapped the maple trees in the surrounding woods.

Eliza, Andres, their child, and Eliza’s father walk around the Northfield home, during a break from packing. Photo Anna Watts.

“Everyone is really busy in New York, working insane hours,” said Eliza. “I really like the idea of community, knowing people around, and really getting involved in the lives of the people around you.” For the last two years, the couple had begun to look for a potential home in Vermont. “We wanted to give [our son] a safe place to grow up, a sanctuary,” said Andres. But prior to the pandemic, this had still felt distant from their current Brooklyn life, still a year or two away.

In late August, after their move to the new South Burlington home, Eliza ended her maternity leave to begin working remotely again as a creative director for a company in New York City. Photo Anna Watts.

A disastrous month of altering plans, searching for new doctors, and assessing risks altered this timeline completely. “The stress level in New York was insane,” said Andres, of the start of the pandemic in New York City. “I felt like I was crying every couple of days,” Eliza added. The knowledge that they couldn’t be together during the birth was the deciding factor. By early April, they had moved into Eliza’s father’s home in Northfield, breathing a sigh of relief for the space and safety it afforded. In New York, even taking their dog, Limón, for a walk had begun to feel like too high of a risk.

While Eliza works, Andres is in charge of the baby and often spends time with him outside in their new backyard. Photo by Anna Watts.

Still, future plans were murky. Maybe they would shelter in Vermont a few months before returning to the city, they thought. Yet the news of New York did not improve. By May, Eliza and Andres ended their lease in Brooklyn and officially moved everything to the garage in Northfield.

Eliza’s mother drops by to take care of the baby, giving the couple the freedom to go out for a bike and grocery run. Photo by Anna Watts.

They began the search for a Vermont home, which proved difficult. “We looked at every single property in the market,” said Eliza. Almost nothing seemed available. They considered buying the home in Northfield, but the isolation of the rural location and the lack of immediate neighbors didn’t feel like the community that they had hoped for. When a home appeared in a cozy suburban corner of South Burlington, a few minutes away from Lake Champlain on the Burlington bike path, they were thrilled. South Burlington, with its excellent school system, diversity, and urban proximity, felt right.

Biking along the Burlington bike path, Eliza and Andres take a moment to look out at Lake Champlain. Photo by Anna Watts.

Other plans have shifted as Eliza and Andres adapt to their new surroundings in South Burlington. Andres’s architectural firm in New York, though it kept him employed as long as possible, no longer has enough work. Andres will begin the job hunt for work in Vermont soon and worries about the opportunities available. Eliza, who had planned a 6-month maternity leave, is back at work as a creative director earlier than planned. For now, remote work is the only option for the company’s employees, but as regulations increase and offices resume work in person, the couple may face a return to the city.

At City Market, the two mask up and fill saddlebags with groceries, ready to return home on bikes. Photo by Anna Watts.

For now, the proximity to safe spaces, nature, bike paths, and extended family has provided a critical sanctuary for the couple’s transition to new parents. Although raised in the urban landscape of Bogota, Andres always hoped to live somewhere with, “access to outdoor activities, beautiful landscapes, and a more relaxed way of living. Even before I met Eliza, it’s always been a dream to live in a place like Vermont.”