A placard in downtown Middlebury commemorates the famous inventor and businessman's roots in the Green Mountain State, and in rural Vermont, you're never far from some John Deere equipment.

John Deere is a giant of professional agricultural equipment, but the brand makes some lawn-sized riding mowers as well. Here are some of the best of them.

The tractor, with its familiar green and yellow paint job, was a Deere, and I was a mere 5 miles from where John Deere invented his first plow in 1837. It was the beginning of an empire.

The company was founded in 1837 by entrepreneur and blacksmith John Deere, inventor of the steel plow. It is now an international corporation.