Stowe Mountain Resort, Vermont: Mount Mansfield, from rope tow to Vail Resorts

AIG founder C.V. Starr began financing the ski area around 1946 and by 1950 had consolidated five separate operating companies into the Mount Mansfield Company, establishing majority ownership that continued under AIG-affiliated control for decades, per New England Ski History's "Stowe" area history page. Vail Resorts' acquisition of Stowe -- its first resort on the East Coast of the United States -- is dated to February 21, 2017 in Vail Resorts' own corporate resort listing, per Wikipedia's "Vail Resorts" article. New England Ski History states the Stowe sale to Vail Resorts closed in June 2017 for a reported $41 million, ending roughly 70 years of AIG-affiliated ownership dating back to C.V. Starr. The Sunrise Six detachable chairlift replaced the older Mountain Triple chairlift in the 2022-23 season, per Wikipedia's "Stowe Mountain Resort" article.

Billy Kidd grew up in Stowe and raced with the Mount Mansfield Ski Team before becoming, with teammate Jimmie Heuga, the first American men to win an Olympic alpine skiing medal, taking silver in slalom at the 1964 Innsbruck Games at age 20, according to Wikipedia's "Billy Kidd" article.

Maria and Georg von Trapp, who fled Austria after its 1938 annexation by Nazi Germany, settled in Stowe in 1942 and in 1950 began operating their home as a commercial ski lodge, the origin of today's Trapp Family Lodge, per Wikipedia's "Trapp Family Lodge" article. The original lodge burned down on December 20, 1980, and was replaced by a new Austrian-style lodge that opened in December 1983; the property remains family-owned and was rebranded "von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort" in February 2025. The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum was established in 1988 in Brandon, Vermont, relocated to Stowe in 2000, and reopened at its current Main Street location -- a building originally constructed in 1818 as the town's Old Town Hall -- after a 2002 renovation; "Snowboard" was added to the museum's name in 2011. Green Mountain Inn was built in 1833 by Peter C. Lovejoy and took its current name in 1893; it is a contributing property to the Stowe Village Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1978, per Wikipedia's "Green Mountain Inn" article. The Alchemist was founded in 2003 by John and Jen Kimmich as a brewpub in Waterbury, Vermont, known for its Heady Topper IPA; Tropical Storm Irene flooded the Waterbury pub in 2011, and the brewery opened a second, visitor-accessible brewery and cafe at 100 Cottage Club Road in Stowe in 2016, per The Alchemist's own "Story" page. The Current, an art center and library, is housed in an 1863 Greek Revival building originally built as the Stowe Village School; it opened there in 1981, funded by a bequest from the late Helen Day Montanari, and rebranded itself as "The Current" in 2021, per Wikipedia's "Helen Day Memorial Library and Art Center" article. Gold Brook Covered Bridge, south of Stowe village, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Smugglers' Notch State Park's official address, according to Vermont State Parks' own page, is 6443 Mountain Road in Stowe, placing the park's office and campground roughly 6.5 miles northwest of Stowe village on VT Route 108 near Mount Mansfield.