Area Information

Mount Snow Valley Area Information

Shopping |
Antiquing |
Sporting Goods |
Winter Activities |
Summer Activites
Event Calendar |
Camp Sites/National Forest |
Area History |
Schools/Education

Shopping

The Mount Snow Valley is filled with charming boutiques and shops where unique clothing, Vermont specialty products, jewelry, recreational gear, collectibles, quilts and unusual gifts are found. Many local and regional artists and craft persons’ works are sold in art galleries in historic Wilmington Village, West Dover and nearby towns. A variety of local shops on Main Street, Wilmington and all over the valley

Antiquing

If antiquing is your passion, visit one of our many antique shops and reminisce about yesteryear. Vintage books, fine old furniture, signed glassware, heirloom linens, colorful tableware and children’s toys are just a sampling of the many items that the Mount Snow Valley offers to collectors.

Sporting Goods

Sporting goods stores can be found in numerous locations all over the valley!

Winter Activities

Mount Snow Ski & Snowboard Videos

Welcome to Vermont's closest Big Mountain Skiing and Riding.

Southern Vermont is a mecca for snowmobiling. Our annual snowfall ranges from 190 to 300 inches.
Cross country skiing takes you off the beaten path. Avoid the crowds and ski along trails that offer the sights and sounds of Vermont - beaver ponds, babbling brooks, birds and other wildlife.
Snowshoeing is one of the the fastest growing winter sports. It allows for the option of traveling through Vermont snow-filled forests at a slow, non-strenuous pace.
Ice fishing shanties can be found throughout the winter months on most lakes in the area such as Lake Raponda, Lake Sadawga and Lake Whitingham (Harriman Reservoir), the largest and most popular. The lake is mostly unadorned with homes or buildings of any kind, and most areas offer a quiet, scenic place to fish.
Living Memorial Park in Brattleboro, VT: Enclosed outdoor rink just off route 9 in Brattleboro. Call for skating hours and class hours. Rentals available.
Several area farms offer horse drawn sleigh rides in the winter months (weather permitting).
Snowmobiling on some of the best trails in Vermont.

Summer Activities

Jet skis, kayaks, canoes and aluminum fishing boats and more, can be rented by the day on Harriman Reservoir.
Did you know that Mount Snow is the Mountain Biking Capital of the East? Each year more than 30,000 people attend the east's largest mountain bike race.
Did you know the Mount Snow Valley is home to the largest man-made lake in the state of Vermont?
Did you know The Mount Snow Valley has two championship golf courses?
Did you know The Mount Snow Valley has clay and hard surface courts? Buzzy Town Park, School St., Wilmington, 2 Courts (Free)
Did you know that The Mount know Valley is the perfect base camp for day hikes and is convenient to the AT, Long and Catamount Trails too?
Did you know the Mount Snow Valley offers both sporting clays and release hunting?

The Mount Snow Valley offers activities for all seasons. Visitors can enjoy the natural beauty of Southern Vermont along with the New England spirit. Although best know for alpine skiing in the winter, Southern Vermont offers foliage and harvest activities in the fall and hiking, biking and outdoor adventures in the summer.

Picture this…It's a beautiful summer day and you are in the heart of the southern Vermont Green Mountains. You've just opened up the throttle and are accelerating through a turn as you come down through a mountain pass on one of the hundreds of roads that snake through the region. The ride offers a truly majestic view of both unpopulated regions as well as picture-perfect Vermont towns. Whether you ride solo or with a group, enjoy leisurely cruising or sport touring, motorcycling in Vermont is as good as it gets. Try some major routes such as:

• Scenic Route 100 through the heart of Vermont
• The Molly Stark Trail on Route 9 from Brattleboro to Bennington
• Historic Route 4 from Fair Haven to Rutland

Event Calendar

You can find an ongoing events calender at: http://www.visitvermont.com/events.html.

Camp Sites/National Forest

Woodford State Park
142 State Park Road
Bennington, Vermont 05201-9468
Park Phone: 802-447-7169
Website: http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/woodford.cfm

Woodford State Park comprises 398 acres located on a mountain plateau (2,400 feet, the highest of all Vermont's state parks) and surrounds Adams Reservoir. The high elevation spruce/fir/birch vegetation provides an ideal setting for the park. Several lakes and ponds, as well as the vast Green Mountain National Forest, surround the area.

The campground has 103 sites including 20 lean-tos. The heavily wooded area surrounds the reservoir and offers great camping opportunities. Flush toilets, hot showers ($), and a dump station are provided. There is a small beach and picnic area near the dam with pit toilet facilities. Rowboats, canoes, and paddle boats are available for rent. There are several hiking trails, including a 2.7 mile trail around the lake.

Molly Stark State Park
705 Route 9 East
Wilmington, Vermont 05363
Park Phone: 802-464-5460
Website: http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/mollystark.cfm

Molly Stark State Park is named after the famous wife of General John Stark of the Revolutionary War. The park is located along the "Molly Stark Trail," Route 9, which bisects southern Vermont.

Two camping loops consist of 23 tent/trailer sites and 11 lean-to sites. One rest room with showers ($) is located in each loop. There are a play area and a picnic pavilion for large groups. A hiking trail starts from the park and goes up to the Mt. Olga fire tower.

Area History

Dover
Dover was first settled by Captain Abner Perry in 1779. The earliest part of town was on the eastern side of Dover hill with scattered hilltop farms. On Dover Hill, the “little red schoolhouse” and other houses along that road date back to the 1790s and are now the oldest structures in town. Spurred by a need for lumber for farm buildings, Vermont's early subsistence farmers built a sawmill in 1797 around which the town of East Dover grew. Following the North Branch of the Deerfield River, West Dover village was similarly developed and stands as one of Vermont's most splendid examples of homogenous historic districts. Consisting of just over 20 buildings dating from 1805 to 1885, the entire district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village showcases a number of well-preserved buildings. The visual center of town, the West Dover Inn (c. 1846), with its wide columned porches, remains an unspoiled example of vernacular Greek Revival architecture, and is the area's oldest continuously operating hostelry. Next door, the West Dover congregational Church was built as a Meeting House “in the modern style” in 1858 with money raised by selling pews at auction. The adjacent Dover Town offices was the district #6 schoolhouse erected in 1857. Across the street, the Harris House (c. 1820), one of the oldest houses in the village, is now home to the Dover Historical Society. The Handle Road in West Dover represents a most unique summer colony in Vermont. Bostonians and New Yorkers began buying up old farms in 1858 and devoted great energy to restoring them to their original condition. Several of these houses remain in the holding of these original summer families. Separated geographically by “challenging” terrain, East and West Dover developed separate identities over the years. The development of Mt. Pisgah into the Mount Snow Ski Resort in 1954 has fueled the West Dover area's growth as a world-class vacation destination, while East Dover has maintained its quieter rural appeal. Together with their fine inns, restaurants, natural attractions and bucolic scenery, they provide a definitive Vermont experience. Visit the Town's website at www.vermonttowns.org/dover.
Wilmington
In 1750, Benning Wentworth, Lt. Governor of Massachusetts, was given “The Grants” of New Hampshire and New Connecticut (Vermont). This land between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers was wild and unsettled. Wentworth was pressured by his political peers to sell off the land and pay them royalties, with the trees going to the British Navy. Wilmington was the third parcel (“land grant”) sold by Wentworth not once but twice…in 1751 and again in 1761. There were contests between the arriving Connecticut settlers and the New York Albany County Sheriff, which led to the formation of “The Green Mountain Boys” when Sheriff Tenecht said of Ethan Allen, “I'll chase those boys back into those damn Green Mountains.” A second surge of settlement took place in the 1830s with the introduction of water power saw mills on the river and the town began its move off Lisle Hill to the present historical district. By the late 1800s, a third surge of travelers was arriving by rail. That lasted until the late 1920s, when the railroad finally succumbed to the harsh weather and hard economic times. The current wealth of visitors began in the 1930s with the dedication of “The Molly Stark Trail” (Rt. 9) and car traffic replaced the train. Walk in any direction from the stoplight in the village of Wilmington and you'll come upon superb examples of 18th and 19th century construction. In as many as eight distinct architectural styles - from Late Colonial (1750-1788) to Colonial Revival (1880-1900), the architecture is so well preserved that the major part of the village has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Typical of the architectural gems are Crafts Inn, the massive wood-frame hotel on West Main Street and the adjacent Memorial Hall. These Late Shingle-Style structures, built in 1902, are the work of America's foremost architect of the time, Stanford White. With its long, sweeping porches, a large central gambrel roof and heavy cedar shingles, Shingle-Style architecture was popular in Newport, Rhode Island, and other wealthy enclaves as the first homegrown architectural style. Crafts Inn (formerly Child's Tavern) catered to summer tourists who flocked to Wilmington when the railroad finally reached town in 1891. Among the famous guests who left their names in the register were President Taft and Admiral Perry. (After his architectural triumph in Wilmington, Stanford White became even more celebrated when jealous husband, Harry Thaw, killed him in 1906. This led to a sensational society trial and the best-selling book and movie called “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.”) The town library is a jewel of a red brick building in the Classical Revival style. Its most striking feature is the front entrance, a classic portal with Ionic columns and a heavy oak paneled door topped by a fanned window and guarded by a sculpted Union soldier on the front lawn. At the edge of the street stands a charming granite fountain, which, in times gone by, quenched passersby on the sidewalk side and horses on the street side. The stone carries the nostalgic legend, “How Dear to My Heart are the Scenes of My Childhood.” One of America's most popular authors of the time lived just across the road. Clarence Budington Kelland, though not well remembered today, became the nation's highest paid writer with his stories about Scattergood Baines (a crafty Vermonter based on a real-life Wilmington resident). Kelland wrote hundreds of books-adventures, westerns, mysteries-as well as stories for movie scripts and short stories that ran in the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers during the 20s, 30s and 40s. The oldest village building is the 1760 Norton House, a well-preserved Colonial Cape Style structure on the west end of town. This timber-frame house was dragged to its present site by oxen in the 1830s, about the same time the entire village of Wilmington was moved to its present site from its original hilltop location one-half mile to the north. A stroll through the Village of Wilmington provides a visual journey back in time, with many houses restored and some yet to be. A shoppers Mecca of privately owned specialty shops, restaurants and a pub, Wilmington has such an attraction of events, activities, demonstrations, shopping and dining that visitors are encouraged to use the parking areas on E. Main Street and walk to the Historic District (W. Main Street)

Dover

Dover was first settled by Captain Abner Perry in 1779. The earliest part of town was on the eastern side of Dover hill with scattered hilltop farms. On Dover Hill, the “little red schoolhouse” and other houses along that road date back to the 1790s and are now the oldest structures in town.

Spurred by a need for lumber for farm buildings, Vermont's early subsistence farmers built a sawmill in 1797 around which the town of East Dover grew. Following the North Branch of the Deerfield River, West Dover village was similarly developed and stands as one of Vermont's most splendid examples of homogenous historic districts.

Consisting of just over 20 buildings dating from 1805 to 1885, the entire district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village showcases a number of well-preserved buildings. The visual center of town, the West Dover Inn (c. 1846), with its wide columned porches, remains an unspoiled example of vernacular Greek Revival architecture, and is the area's oldest continuously operating hostelry. Next door, the West Dover congregational Church was built as a Meeting House “in the modern style” in 1858 with money raised by selling pews at auction. The adjacent Dover Town offices was the district #6 schoolhouse erected in 1857. Across the street, the Harris House (c. 1820), one of the oldest houses in the village, is now home to the Dover Historical Society.

The Handle Road in West Dover represents a most unique summer colony in Vermont. Bostonians and New Yorkers began buying up old farms in 1858 and devoted great energy to restoring them to their original condition. Several of these houses remain in the holding of these original summer families. Separated geographically by “challenging” terrain, East and West Dover developed separate identities over the years. The development of Mt. Pisgah into the Mount Snow Ski Resort in 1954 has fueled the West Dover area's growth as a world-class vacation destination, while East Dover has maintained its quieter rural appeal. Together with their fine inns, restaurants, natural attractions and bucolic scenery, they provide a definitive Vermont experience. Visit the Town's website at www.vermonttowns.org/dover.

Wilmington

In 1750, Benning Wentworth, Lt. Governor of Massachusetts, was given “The Grants” of New Hampshire and New Connecticut (Vermont). This land between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers was wild and unsettled. Wentworth was pressured by his political peers to sell off the land and pay them royalties, with the trees going to the British Navy. Wilmington was the third parcel (“land grant”) sold by Wentworth not once but twice…in 1751 and again in 1761. There were contests between the arriving Connecticut settlers and the New York Albany County Sheriff, which led to the formation of “The Green Mountain Boys” when Sheriff Tenecht said of Ethan Allen, “I'll chase those boys back into those damn Green Mountains.”

A second surge of settlement took place in the 1830s with the introduction of water power saw mills on the river and the town began its move off Lisle Hill to the present historical district. By the late 1800s, a third surge of travelers was arriving by rail. That lasted until the late 1920s, when the railroad finally succumbed to the harsh weather and hard economic times. The current wealth of visitors began in the 1930s with the dedication of “The Molly Stark Trail” (Rt. 9) and car traffic replaced the train.

Walk in any direction from the stoplight in the village of Wilmington and you'll come upon superb examples of 18th and 19th century construction. In as many as eight distinct architectural styles - from Late Colonial (1750-1788) to Colonial Revival (1880-1900), the architecture is so well preserved that the major part of the village has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Typical of the architectural gems are Crafts Inn, the massive wood-frame hotel on West Main Street and the adjacent Memorial Hall. These Late Shingle-Style structures, built in 1902, are the work of America's foremost architect of the time, Stanford White. With its long, sweeping porches, a large central gambrel roof and heavy cedar shingles, Shingle-Style architecture was popular in Newport, Rhode Island, and other wealthy enclaves as the first homegrown architectural style.

Crafts Inn (formerly Child's Tavern) catered to summer tourists who flocked to Wilmington when the railroad finally reached town in 1891. Among the famous guests who left their names in the register were President Taft and Admiral Perry. (After his architectural triumph in Wilmington, Stanford White became even more celebrated when jealous husband, Harry Thaw, killed him in 1906. This led to a sensational society trial and the best-selling book and movie called “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.”)

The town library is a jewel of a red brick building in the Classical Revival style. Its most striking feature is the front entrance, a classic portal with Ionic columns and a heavy oak paneled door topped by a fanned window and guarded by a sculpted Union soldier on the front lawn. At the edge of the street stands a charming granite fountain, which, in times gone by, quenched passersby on the sidewalk side and horses on the street side. The stone carries the nostalgic legend, “How Dear to My Heart are the Scenes of My Childhood.” One of America's most popular authors of the time lived just across the road. Clarence Budington Kelland, though not well remembered today, became the nation's highest paid writer with his stories about Scattergood Baines (a crafty Vermonter based on a real-life Wilmington resident). Kelland wrote hundreds of books-adventures, westerns, mysteries-as well as stories for movie scripts and short stories that ran in the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers during the 20s, 30s and 40s.

The oldest village building is the 1760 Norton House, a well-preserved Colonial Cape Style structure on the west end of town. This timber-frame house was dragged to its present site by oxen in the 1830s, about the same time the entire village of Wilmington was moved to its present site from its original hilltop location one-half mile to the north.

A stroll through the Village of Wilmington provides a visual journey back in time, with many houses restored and some yet to be. A shoppers Mecca of privately owned specialty shops, restaurants and a pub, Wilmington has such an attraction of events, activities, demonstrations, shopping and dining that visitors are encouraged to use the parking areas on E. Main Street and walk to the Historic District (W. Main Street)

Schools/Education:

DEERFIELD VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Address/Location City/State Abbreviation/Zip: 360 ROUTE 100 N / WILMINGTON / VT / 05363-9634
Principal: MS KATHY LARSEN
Telephone Number: 802-464-5177
School Type: ELEMENTARY
Grade Span: K-6
Number of Students: 135
Number of Classrooms: 12
Teachers and Professional Staff: 8
Students per Teacher: 16.9
Average Students per Grade: 22.5
Internet Access: Yes

WARDSBORO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Institution Address/Location City/State Abbreviation/Zip: RT 100 / WARDSBORO / VT / 05355
Principal: MS JEAN KORSTANGE
Telephone Number: 802-896-6210
School Type: ELEMENTARY
Grade Span: K-6
Number of Students: 73
Number of Classrooms: 4
Teachers and Professional Staff: 4
Students per Teacher: 18.3
Average Students per Grade: 10.4
Internet Access: Yes

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL

Institution Address/Location City/State Abbreviation/Zip: 131 FAIRGROUND RD / BRATTLEBORO / VT / 05301-6328
Principal: MR JAMES DAY
Telephone Number: 802-257-0356
School Type: HIGH
Grade Span: 9-12
Number of Students: 1100
Number of Classrooms: 60
Teachers and Professional Staff: 100
Students per Teacher: 11
Average Students per Grade: 275
Internet Access: Yes

LELAND AND GRAY MID - HIGH SCHOOL

Address/Location City/State Abbreviation/Zip: 2042 VERMONT RT 30 / TOWNSHEND / VT / 05353
Principal: MR BILL LINCOLN
Telephone Number: 802-365-7355
School Type: HIGH
Grade Span: 7-12
Number of Students: 436
Number of Classrooms: 32
Teachers and Professional Staff: 46
Students per Teacher: 9.5
Average Students per Grade: 72.7
Internet Access: Yes

TWIN VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Address/Location City/State Abbreviation/Zip: 1 SCHOOL ST / WILMINGTON / VT / 05363-9648
Principal: MR FRANK SPENCER
Telephone Number: 802-464-5255
School Type: HIGH
Grade Span: 9-12
Number of Students: 256
Number of Classrooms: 21
Teachers and Professional Staff: 30
Students per Teacher: 8.5
Average Students per Grade: 64
Internet Access: Yes

STRATTON MOUNTAIN SCHOOL

Address/Location City/State Abbreviation/Zip: WORLD CUP CIRCLE / STRATTON MOUNTAIN / VT / 05155-9800
Principal: MR CHRISTOPHER KALTSAS
Telephone Number: 802-297-1886
School Type: HIGH
Grade Span: 7-12
Number of Students: 140
Number of Classrooms:
Teachers and Professional Staff: 30
Students per Teacher:
Average Students per Grade: 23.3
Internet Access: No