Howling at the moon on a Monday afternoon. Eclipse brings thousands to Vermont.

As the shadow passed over Lake Champlain, daytime paused as the world turned to darkness. From the shoreline, thousands of people began cheering – howling at the moon on a Monday afternoon.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It totally exceeded expectations the way everything in the world totally went dark and how the temperature dropped. My son saw bats come out,” says Boston-area dad Bob Hatcher, who had been planning his trip for nine months with his wife and two kids. ”I’ve been looking forward to this for years, and it was everything I could’ve hoped for.”

The last time the Green Mountain State was in the path of totality of a solar eclipse was in 1932. The same year, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean.

Eclipses have long inspired myths. This year, the story in the sky was being written on the ground. For over a year, the city of Burlington had meticulously planned for the moment the moon’s shadow passed overhead. It was nothing short of a citywide mobilization to prepare. The state of Vermont estimated some 200,000 people – one-third the size of the state – were coming by cars, planes, trains, and RVs to be in the path of totality. In a society that spends a lot of time staring down at smartphones, the total eclipse made the country, as one, look up in wonder.

“Whatever happens in the sky on April 8, the story that we’ve been writing together on purpose to prepare for this moment in history – that story happened on the ground,” said Deb Ross, co-chair of Solar Eclipse Across America. Ms. Ross had been helping her town in Rochester, New York, and hosting workshops with other cities across America to prepare for the eclipse.

“The world was different in a way it never is for just a couple minutes,” says Ms. Ross of her experiences with eclipses.

Monday’s was the longest continuous eclipse across the continental United States, stretching from southwest Texas to northern New England, crossing through 13 states. Over 32 million people live on that path. Compare that with the 12 million who lived in the path of totality during the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. on Aug. 21, 2017.

Cities big and small spent months planning to host millions of visitors. They came from around the world to witness this special celestial event that happens once – or if you’re fortunate, two or three times – in a lifetime. People interviewed made reservations a year in advance, and hotels in this small city were seeing rates above $1,000 a night.

The eclipse has given people a reason to go outside and share a moment together – and they took it, by the thousands. In a seemingly fractured society, some saw hope in the ability to retain a sense of communal wonder.

“It was such a feeling of excitement. It felt joyful and we’re so lucky to be here,” says Mary Payne, who traveled with her husband and two sons in an RV to Shelburne. “It was more of a feeling of community. We’re all experiencing the same thing.”

Burlington City Arts festival and event director Zach Williamson typically plans summer festivals with 40,000 visitors in mind. The record is being eclipsed by, well, the eclipse. The citywide celebration — dubbed Obscura BTV — was a full weekend of infotainment of astronomical proportions and merchandising galore. Before Monday, Burlington officials estimated that up to 70,000 visitors were planning to attend, with most arriving on eclipse day itself.

Mr. Williamson and Burlington businesses have been preparing for a nomadic community of umbraphiles. The eclipse-chasers arrived in force. They were joined by parents who pulled students from schools all over New England to witness a once-in-a-childhood event, and friends flying in for reunions on the shores of Lake Champlain. Burlington schools were closed for the day. The University of Vermont also canceled classes.

On Monday, thousands of enthusiasts with lawn chairs and filtered cameras gathered at the seven viewing sites in local parks, which hosted live music performances and food trucks, complete with Obscura BTV booths, magnets, T-shirts, and sunglasses. 

Astronomers from the University of Vermont live-streamed the eclipse with narration, and the ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain hosted a weekend-long family festival.

At Oakledge Park, the city offered accessible solar eclipse displays in Braille and LightSound, a Harvard-developed tool that converts light energy into sound. As a shadow slowly passes over the sensor, it sounds like a descending staircase of musical notes.

Bob Hatfield, a retired air traffic controller from Dallas, says his eyes have always been on the sky. Even though Texas was in the path of totality, Mr. Hatfield is in Vermont for the clear skies and better weather. This is his third total solar eclipse, he says, and it was still just as indescribable as his first.

“Each one is a little different but it’s just so impressive and fantastic,” says Mr. Hatfield, who brought two telescopes and a wide-lens camera for company. “It’s emotional.”

Down the road from Burlington’s main street bustle but still within totality, out-of-state travelers pitched their base camps at the Shelburne Campground.

Retirees Bobby and Wynne Parker drove nearly 14 hours from their home in Blacksburg, Virginia, to Burlington. In 2017, Mr. Parker drove to Greenville, South Carolina, and watched that eclipse from a minor league baseball stadium. Experiencing totality from the bleachers, he says, brought him to tears.

“It’s like the sun went down in every direction, and there was a glow on the horizon for 360 degrees. It was unlike anything you’ve ever seen,” says Mr. Parker.

“It was beautiful and unusual and overpowering and impressive in every way that you can imagine. I was just reminded of our place in the universe, if you will. I mean, just to think that there are things that beautiful and that powerful that I’ll never get to understand, but I get to experience. How beautiful is that?” he says.

“If you ever get a chance to a see a total eclipse, take it, take it,” he says. “You won’t be sorry because there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, like it I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Mark it on your calendars: Next up, August 2044.