|
|
|
|||||||
|
Stowe, Vt. Mount Mansfield. Skiing is what made Stowe famous, legions of skiers having been attracted to New England's most storied mountain since the East's first chairlift was installed in 1940. Today, Mount Mansfield has sleek eight-passenger gondola cars among its eight lifts and vastly expanded snowmaking. Nearly one-third of its slopes are for expert skiers, including the awesome “Front Four” – the precipitous National, Goat, Starr and Liftline trails, so steep that on the Starr you cannot see the bottom from the ledge on top. They almost make the fabled Nosedive seem tame. There's easier terrain, including the 3.7-mile-long Toll Road, and the related Spruce Peak area across the way is an entire mountain with gentle trails, a sunny southeast exposure and a special section for new skiers. Combined with accommodations and nightlife, the total skiing experience ranks Stowe among the top ski resorts in the world. And it’s getting even better. Stowe Mountain Resort’s ten-year expansion plan through 2010 calls for more lifts and snowmaking, a 35-acre ski village at the base of Spruce Peak, a 200-room slopeside hotel, 335 condos, a 60-unit private lodging facility and an eighteen-hole golf course. Summer at Mount Mansfield. The Stowe Gondola takes visitors 7,700 feet up to the Cliff House, just below Vermont's highest summit (adults $9, Memorial Day to late October). Cars can drive up the 4.5-mile Stowe Auto Road, known to skiers who ease down it in winter as the Toll Road (cars $15, daily late May to mid-October). The Alpine Slide at Spruce Peak appeals especially to children; you take a chairlift up and slide down (single rides, $9; daily in summer, weekends in late spring and early fall). Smugglers' Notch. Up the Mountain Road past the ski area you enter the Mount Mansfield State Park, passing picnic areas and the Long Trail. A couple of hairpin turns take you into Smugglers' Notch, a narrow pass with rock outcroppings jutting into the road in places and 1,000-foot cliffs looming on either side. It's a quiet, awe-inspiring place to pause and gawk at such rock formations as Elephant Head, King Rock and the Hunter and His Dog. Stop at Smugglers' Cave and, farther on, hike into Bingham Falls. The road is not for the faint-hearted (it's closed in winter, for good reason). We drove back from Jeffersonville after a summer thunderstorm and found waterfalls that had been trickles on the way over suddenly gushing down the rocks beside the lonely road. The fledgling Vermont Ski Museum at 1 South Main St. in the restored 1813 Old Town Hall in the center of Stowe traces the evolution of skiing, ski facilities and ski equipment in Vermont. You will see the lifts that took the first skiers up Vermont mountains and the skis that brought them down. You’ll learn how the ski resorts developed and discover the more than 85 Vermont ski areas that disappeared along the way. Open daily except Tuesday, 10 to 6; donation. The Arts. The hills are alive with the sound of music as the Stowe Performing Arts series offers Sunday evening concerts in summer in the concert meadow near the Trapp Family Lodge. The Vermont Mozart Festival also presents concerts there. More concerts are staged at the Stowe Mountain Performing Arts Center, a 12,000-seat amphitheater at the base of Spruce Peak. The Stowe Theatre Guild presents its summer season at the Town Hall Theater. The Helen Day Art Center hosts rotating exhibits in a restored 1863 Greek Revival structure that once was the high school on School Street. The Stowe Recreation Path is the pride of the community. Opened in 1984 with an extension in 1989, the much-used, nationally recognized 5.3-mile walking and biking greenway starts in the village behind the Community Church and roughly parallels the Mountain Road up to Brook Road. It meanders through meadows and glades, criss-crossing the West Branch River eleven times over wooden bridges.. The Cold Hollow Cider Mill, south of town along Route 100, consists of a pair of large and intriguing red barns where you can watch cider being made (and drink the sweet and delicious free samples). For more than 25 years the Chittenden family also have sold tart cider jelly, cider donuts and other apple products as well as cookbooks, wooden toys, gourmet foods and about every kind of Vermont jam, jelly or preserve imaginable. Nearby, all kinds of cheeses and dips may be sampled (and purchased) at the large Cabot Annex Store. Also part of the complex are branches of Burlington’s Lake Champlain Chocolates, which caters to Stowe's sweet tooth, Vermont Teddy Bear Company and Snow Farm Vineyard. Shopping. Shops and galleries are concentrated along Main Street in Stowe and scattered in ever-increasing numbers along Route 100 South and the Mountain Road. Along Main Street in the village, Shaw's General Store considers itself 108 years young and carries almost everything, especially sporting goods, sportswear, gifts and oddities. Nearby are the Old Depot Shops, an open, meandering mall of a place containing Vermont Furniture Works, Stowe Mercantile and Bear Pond Books. Tread the creaky floorboards of Val’s Country Store for T-shirts, maple syrup, candy and such. Gracie’s Gourmutt Shop features dog-emblazoned clothes and gifts as well as specialty foods from Gracie’s restaurant. Up the Mountain Road at the Straw Corner Shops are
the Stowe Craft Gallery and the Stowe Coffee House.
Farther along at 108 West are Stowe Kitchen, Bath & Linens,
with everything for the home. The gourmet-to-go Harvest Market is
the place for specialty foods, wine and espresso. Wendy’s Closet
at the Gale Farm Center carries women’s clothing and accessories.
Local artists are among those showing at the Robert Paul Galleries
in the Baggy Knees Shopping Center. At the Red Barn Shops, Mountain
Cheese and Wine carries an impressive selection, Samara
features works of Vermont craftsmen and The Yellow Turtle offers
"classy clothes for classy kids," the kind that well-heeled
grandparents like to buy. Extra-Special
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, Route 100, Waterbury. Just south of Stowe, this factory producing 130,000 pints daily of the ice cream that transplanted Vermont characters Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield made famous is one of Vermont's busiest tourist attractions. And with good reason. During half-hour guided tours, you see a humorous multimedia show, watch the ice cream being made, learn some of the history of this intriguing outfit that donates one percent of its profits to peace and, of course, savor a tiny sample, obtained by lowering a bucket on a rope to the production area below. At busy times, the place is a madhouse – with live music outside, lineups of people waiting to buy cones, a gift shop filled with Vermont cow-related items, and every bit of publicity Ben and Jerry ever got decorating the walls. If you can't get inside, at least buy a dish or cone of ice cream from the outdoor windows. (802) 244-8687 or (866) 258-6877. Tours daily 9
to 8 in summer, to 6 in fall, 10 to 5 rest of year. Adults $2, under 12
free. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. E-mail feedback to: Wood Pond Press Home
page |
Full destination index | |
||||
