Stowe has been welcoming
visitors to its breathtaking mountains and valleys for almost 200 years. The first
tourists came for the summer; escaping the burgeoning, sweltering East Coast cities to
bask in the crisp air, cool breezes, stunning mountains, and pristine lakes and rivers. In
1858 an inn was built atop Mt. Mansfield and the Mansfield House hotel in the village
accommodated 600 guests. At the turn of the century, Stowe truly began its transformation
from a small vacation community into the number one resort in the East as rated by both
Ski and Skiing magazines. Swedish families began to move to the town in 1912, using skis
as their main means of locomotion. Serious skiing didn’t begin until 1933, when the
Civilian Conservation Corps cut a four-mile trail down the mountain. It cost 50 cents per
day or $5 per season to ski in Stowe in the thirties! Nowadays, Stowe is not only the
‘ski capital of the East’, but also Vermont’s premier summer resort. Lang McLaughry Spera is an authorized agent of Spruce Peak Development
