Okemo Mountain Resort, Vermont: from Ludlow businessmen to Vail Resorts

Okemo's first chairlift, the Sachem double, was installed for the 1965-66 season; the South Ridge double chairlift, added for 1971-72, gave the mountain top-to-bottom chairlift service for the first time, per New England Ski History's Okemo Mountain page. On August 2, 1982, Tim and Diane Mueller took a principal ownership stake in Okemo, beginning a period of Mueller family ownership that lasted 36 years, until 2018. The Muellers developed the Jackson Gore base area expansion: the main lift opened for the 2002-03 season, and the base area and lower mountain lift followed for the 2003-04 season, per New England Ski History's Okemo Mountain page.

In 2008, Triple Peaks LLC -- the Mueller family's operating company for Okemo -- sold the resort's underlying real estate to CNL Lifestyle Properties for $132 million, per New England Ski History's Okemo Mountain page. On June 4, 2018, Vail Resorts announced it would acquire Triple Peaks LLC -- the Mueller family's operating company for Okemo, Mount Sunapee Resort (NH), and Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CO) -- for $82 million, plus $155 million to buy out the three resorts' underlying lease agreements, ending the Muellers' 36-year ownership of Okemo, per VTDigger's June 4, 2018 report.

Black River Academy, chartered in Ludlow in 1835, occupies a brick, Richardsonian Romanesque building at 14 High St. built in 1888 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, per Wikipedia's "Black River Academy" article; future U.S. President Calvin Coolidge attended the academy, and since 1972 the building has housed the Black River Academy Museum, operated by the Black River Historical Society. Built in 1891-92 to a design by New York City architect Edward T. Hapgood, the Congregational Church of Ludlow at 48 Pleasant Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2004; its congregation, established in 1806, merged in 1930 with the local Methodist congregation to form the United Church of Ludlow, which continues to hold the property. Built in 1871-72 on the site where the original Black River Academy building had burned in 1844, the Ludlow Graded School served as the town's primary school until 1938, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979, and is now owned by the Black River Historical Society as a senior services center. The Fletcher Memorial Library building at 88 Main Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 9, 2024, per Wikipedia's list of NRHP listings in Windsor County, Vermont. The Ludlow Village Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, runs along Main Street and Depot Street and encompasses contributing properties across about 9 acres, including the former Ludlow Woolen Mills (now condominiums and retail space), the post office, a meeting hall, Black River Academy, and a fire house, per Wikipedia's "Ludlow (village), Vermont" article. The Downtown Grocery, at 41 South Depot Street, is a small-format restaurant run by chef/owners Rogan and Abby, seating guests on reservation dates the owners release monthly, according to the restaurant's own website.