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West Dover/ Skiing. Mount Snow virtually put West Dover on the map and remains the stellar attraction today. Long known as a great beginners' area and a lively place for après-ski (with the stress on après more than ski), it nonetheless has always appealed to us for its wide-open, almost effortless intermediate skiing. Since founder-showman Walter Schoenknecht sold to the business types from Killington (now the American Skiing Co. behemoth), Mount Snow has been upgraded in terms of snowmaking and lift capacity. Gone is the heated outdoor swimming pool, an icon of its era, in which teenyboppers shrieked in lieu of skiing. More emphasis is on the North Face, a challenging area for advanced skiers, blessedly away from the crowds. Haystack, a smaller mountain (1,400-foot vertical drop, compared with Mount Snow's 1,900), is connected with Mount Snow by a free shuttle. Since 1997, the new owners have poured millions into Mount Snow/Haystack and new lifts, including the world’s longest “magic carpet,” a 400-foot-long surface lift moving people in the base and hotel area around the Grand Summit Resort Hotel. Mount Snow now claims five mountain areas and the most lifts in the East. Cross-Country Skiing. Where skiers gather, cross-country is usually available, too. So it is with the Deerfield Valley, which has three major touring centers. The Hermitage Ski Touring Center, run by the Hermitage inn, has 50 kilometers of groomed trails next to Haystack. It is part of the rugged Ridge Trail, a five-mile-long mountaintop touring trail that winds up and down four peaks between Haystack and Mount Snow. Timber Creek Cross Country Ski Center offers a meandering, groomed trail system across from Mount Snow. The White House Cross Country Ski Center, run by the White House Inn in Wilmington, has fourteen miles of trails through woods and hills east of Wilmington. Other Seasons. Two of Vermont's largest lakes are close at hand for boating, fishing and swimming: Somerset Reservoir in the wilderness northwest of Mount Snow and Harriman Reservoir/Lake Whitingham south of Wilmington. Golf is available at the eighteen-hole Mount Snow Golf Club and the eighteen-hole Haystack Golf Club championship course. Special events are scheduled throughout the summer and fall. Transportation. For those who want to get around without wheels, ride the MOOver, the Deerfield Valley’s community-sponsored shuttle system. A free bus makes stops at more than 30 points along Route 100 between Mount Snow, West Dover and Wilmington. In the making is the ten-mile Valley Trail, a state-funded recreational pathway connecting the center of West Dover with Mount Snow and Wilmington. With an impressive mountain biking center and the country’s first mountain bike school, Mount Snow claims to be the mountain bike capital of the East. Southern Vermont Natural History Museum, Route 9, Marlboro. This little-known attraction began as the collection of Luman Range Nelson, a noted taxidermist. More than 650 birds, including three extinct species, in 100 dioramas represent one of the largest collections of mounted birds in New England. A small raptor facility holds live hawks and owls. Meteorologists staff a weather station. (802) 464-0048. Open daily 10 to 5, Memorial Day
through October, and most winter weekends, 9 to 4. Adults, $3. Shopping. West Dover is little more than a hamlet with some landmark structures that make up what one innkeeper calls an emerging “Historic Mile.” Most of the shopping opportunities are down the valley in Wilmington, where there are fascinating shops. The usual ski clothing boutiques abound, of course, and more trendy little shopping clusters open along Route 100 almost every year. Hayloft Gallery claims the most eclectic display of fine art in Vermont, including an outdoor gallery of architectural artifacts around gardens and a pool. Swe Den Nor Ltd. offers Scandinavian furniture, accessories and gifts. The Cupola and Equipe Sport are leading sports outfitters. Taddingers is an expansive country store with seven unusual shops under one roof, including Orvis, a Christmas room and all kinds of antiques and accessories. We’re partial to the Vermont specialty foods section, the Wilcox Ice Cream parlor and the Nature Room full of more kinds of birdhouses than we thought existed. The Marlboro Music Festival, Marlboro. Popular with West Dover visitors is the summer tradition at Marlboro College in nearby Marlboro, where chamber music concerts are presented each weekend from early July to mid-August. The music school was founded in 1952 by pianist Rudolf Serkin. Considered the nation’s best chamber music series, the concerts by 70 festival players are incidental to their studies. Tickets usually are sold out by spring, but seats may be available on the screened porch outside the 650-seat concert hall in Persons Auditorium. For advance tickets, contact Marlboro Music Festival, 135 South 18th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103, (215) 569-4690; after June 6, Marlboro Music Festival, Box K, Marlboro 05344, (802) 254-2394.
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