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Yawgoo Valley: Richard Downs' 1964 Trails, Rhode Island's First Chairlift, and the de Wardener Family

Exeter, RI

Part of Skiing and Snowboarding in the United States

Part of Skiing New England

The idea for Yawgoo Valley reportedly dates back to the early 1960s, when Richard Downs was working on his parents' summer camp property and sought to develop a winter business, per New England Ski History's page on Yawgoo Valley. At the suggestion of a neighbor, Downs acquired property on Yorker Hill and, circa mid-1964, commenced cutting ski trails; a University of Rhode Island student named Maxwell de Wardener was part of the construction crew. Yawgoo Valley likely opened as a small rope-tow-served area for the 1964-65 season, per that source's own hedge. One year later, a new Hall double chairlift was installed, making Yawgoo Valley Rhode Island's first chairlift-served ski area.

  1. Rhode Island's only operating alpine ski area, cut into Yorker Hill starting in 1964.

  2. A 17th-century stone Narragansett fortification on Stony Lane, state-managed since 1931.

  3. A museum describing itself as Rhode Island's only Indigenous museum.

The de Wardener family takes over

After graduating from college and becoming a business teacher at Coventry High School, Max de Wardener took over management of the Yawgoo Valley ski school circa 1968, per New England Ski History. After operating the ski school for over a decade, de Wardener learned the ski area was for sale; concerned he could lose his own business, his Ski Pro, Inc. purchased Yawgoo Valley from Richard Downs for $300,000 in December 1980. A second double chairlift, named Conan, was installed for the 1989-90 season. Seeking to diversify, Yawgoo Valley added a water park and a nine-hole pitch-and-putt golf course in the 1990s.

Rhode Island's only ski area — and a claim that outruns its source

With the closing of Ski Valley after the 1984-85 season, Yawgoo Valley became Rhode Island's only ski area, per New England Ski History, whose page opens by stating plainly that "Yawgoo Valley is Rhode Island's only operating alpine ski area." The New England Lost Ski Areas Project's roundup of the state's five ski areas similarly states of the lost ones, "Only one still exists today-Yawgoo Valley." New England Ski History's page, dated November 5, 2019 per its own footer, states that "Yawgoo Valley continues to be owned and operated by the de Wardener family to this day, as Max and Patti's daughter Tracy Hartman has taken over as General Manager" — a claim attributed and dated to that November 2019 source here, rather than asserted as a present-tense fact years later. Yawgoo Valley's own homepage carries the phrase "Rhode Island's ONLY Year Round Family Fun Destination!" — but only inside the page's HTML title tag, not in visible body prose. The homepage's separate meta description gives a different self-description: "Rhode Island's only Ski Area & Water Park located just a short drive from Providence in Exeter."

Queen's Fort and Tomaquag Museum

Exeter has no other places published in this corpus yet, so this guide carries two confirmed surroundings directly. Queen's Fort, per its National Register of Historic Places nomination form, is "located in the northeast portion of the town of Exeter, Rhode Island. Standing at the crest of a wooded hill, the structure consists of dry-laid stone walls (now in disrepair) set between groups of glacial boulders." Since 1931 it "has been the property of the Rhode Island Historical Society and managed by the State of Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management," per the same form, which lists its street location as "NE of Exeter on Stony Lane." The fort "is traditionally associated with a Narragansett squaw sachem of the seventeenth century named (Queen) Quaiapen and a Narragansett male known to the English as Stonewall John," whom "many writers have suggested" built the stone defenses "early in King Phillip's War," and the site "is also reported to have been the site of the first punitive raids against the Narragansett Indians during King Phillip's War." Tomaquag Museum, at 390 A Summit Road, Exeter, describes itself on its own website as "Rhode Island's only Indigenous Museum."

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Yawgoo Valley?
Richard Downs, who began cutting ski trails on Yorker Hill circa mid-1964; the area likely opened as a small rope-tow area for the 1964-65 season, per New England Ski History's own hedge.
Is Yawgoo Valley still Rhode Island's only ski area?
Yes — per New England Ski History and the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, Yawgoo Valley became the state's only ski area after Ski Valley closed following the 1984-85 season. It has been owned by the de Wardener family since 1980; a New England Ski History page dated November 2019 describes the family's ownership as continuing "to this day" as of that date.
What's near Yawgoo Valley in Exeter?
Queen's Fort, a 17th-century stone Narragansett fortification on Stony Lane managed by the state on behalf of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Tomaquag Museum, which describes itself as Rhode Island's only Indigenous museum.